How to attract new clients and increase the sales of your personal brand through speech

Every time you have to speak, you’re auditioning for leadership.

-James Humes

Public speaking is a golden ticket for raising awareness and generating leads. It’s where you can really let your personality and experience shine. It’s also great for getting insight into your audience’s problems, which is crucial for refining your services. However, surveys of people’s fears commonly show that public speaking is at the top of the list.

American comedian Jerry Seinfeld sees the funny side of this perplexing situation: “People’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Sounds good? This means that for the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the coffin than doing the eulogy.” So true, isn’t it?

Fear does not discriminate. You may be someone who has achieved phenomenal success in your professional career, but you shudder at the thought of speaking in front of an audience. I know, I’ve been there.

I was terrified the first time I spoke in front of a group of people. It was 2002 and I had to teach an audience of 20 people one of the most basic things you can think of: how to tie your shoelaces! Now, tying my shoelaces is something I’ve been doing automatically since childhood, but I was afraid to explain it to a bunch of strangers!

Here are five ways to build your confidence as a public speaker and make sure your presentations are a success:

1. Know your key message. What message do you want your audience to take away with? Keep the objective of your presentation at the forefront of your mind when writing and delivering your speech. It will keep your message focused so you don’t get sidetracked.

2. Tell stories. Personal stories help create a bond between you and your audience. Look for emotional anchors that resonate with others to nurture their faith in you. For example, a client in one of my shops needed to explain to his team that they needed to be aware of their expenses and keep a close eye on their resources. He related his own story of when he was a college student working three jobs to make ends meet. Every dollar I earned counted. It was an effective story that his team members could relate to.

3. Speak clearly. Don’t speak too fast or too low. The public will find it difficult to follow and will quickly lose interest. Clear enunciation is key. If you are not easily understood, your message will not have an impact and you will quickly lose confidence in your own abilities.

4. Invest in good quality graphics. Photos, infographics and illustrations grab attention and help your messages stick. They walk people through what you’re saying and give them something to focus on so they don’t “turn off.” Choose one image per slide, making sure it is clearly visible. Stick to high-resolution images (300 dpi). A low-resolution (72dpi) image can look blurry when scaled up on a large screen, and it’s embarrassing when you have to tell your audience, “I’m not sure you can see this on the graph, but…”

5. Emphasize points one at a time. Cramming your slides with too much information will confuse your audience. You’re also more likely to get off track if you try to juggle too many points at once. Focus on a single point per slide.

And of course, you have to practice, practice, practice!

How to position yourself as a speaker

To get speaking engagements, you need to position yourself as a speaker. Sounds obvious, right? Well, maybe not if you’ve been promoting yourself as a coach. An event professional will typically hire a speaker to speak, not a trainer. Therefore, he must ensure that he is positioning himself effectively for this type of activity.

To build awareness of your speaking experience, you must:

Create a SAM website. Matt Church, the founder of Thought Leaders Global, says that a SAM (speaker, author, mentor) website is essential to position yourself as an expert in your industry. Simply adding a speaker page to an existing business website will not have the same kind of impact. You need a separate website to make a lasting impression, and it should be under your name.com. List companies he has worked for (include his logos for validity) and events he has spoken at. Include testimonials, as well as photos and videos of you speaking. If you haven’t spoken at many events, or any, yet, record yourself. You must provide evidence that you can speak effectively. And be sure to constantly update and refine your website. You are less likely to get presentations to speak if the information on your website is out of date.

Write a book. Books build trust. They are a powerful way to emphasize your extensive knowledge and help people get to know you and your message. If you’re in the middle of writing your book or about to start, you don’t need to wait until you’re done to organize your cover design. Get a cover created early and use it everywhere you can: on your homepage, website banners, social media, and promotional material. You want to generate interest in your book as soon as possible.

Say yes. If someone asks you to speak, start speaking! No matter how small the event, you should get as many speaking engagements under your belt as possible. And be prepared to give a lot of unpaid speaking engagements to get things rolling. Neil McCallum, one of my first public speaking coaches, once told me, “Come back and talk to me when you’ve done 250 gigs. Then you’ll be really ready to start talking about more paid speaking engagements.” So, that’s what I did! I aimed for volume, did my 250 speaking events, and my career as a keynote speaker skyrocketed.

Create a flyer. Create a keynote speaker flyer that people can download from your website. This shows that you are serious and that speaking is not just a side job for you. Include your speaking topics, a short bio, and list any inclusions with your presentations, for example, fact sheets, workbooks, and access to your webinars and podcasts.

Share pictures of yourself talking. Whenever you speak at an event, arrange for someone to take photos of you on stage and share them on your social media accounts to raise awareness. Include images of you speaking in your profile banners. Get a designer to create a custom LinkedIn background image for your profile that includes a high-quality image of you speaking.

Create calls to action. Make it as easy as possible for others to engage you as a speaker. Use your email signature to make it clear that you are available to talk. Includes a hyperlinked tagline. For example, “To have John speak at his next event, click here.” Put this tagline on your email newsletters and letterheads. You have to take every opportunity you can to raise awareness.

Ask for references. Make a call on social media. I always get inquiries whenever I create a post asking people if they would like me to speak at their next event. If you’ve given a keynote address, remember to ask the event manager, “Do you know anyone else who hosts events that you can help by hosting a session?”