How Can Speaking Grow Your Business Faster? | 004

If you're tired of hiding your brilliance behind

stage fright scripts or playing it safe, then you are in the

perfect place. This is the inspired speaker podcast, and

I'm your host, Danielle Benson, professional rebel voice coach,

and your guide to speaking with confidence, charisma and zero BS

around here, we don't chase perfection. We choose

connection. So grab a hot beverage, warm up those vocal

cords and get ready to fall wildly in love with the sound of

your voice. Let's get inspired. Welcome. I think by now you

figured out that I am really biased towards speaking as a

marketing practice, because I really care about connecting

with humans. I think it's it's more real, it's more authentic,

and people get a better sense of who you are. But from a purely

business perspective, speaking makes a lot of sense as well.

Now I am a creative business was not my first choice when I was

thinking about what I was going to do with my life. It just kind

of worked out that way, because it was the only way I could do

what I wanted to do in the world. But I've learned a lot

since then, and as a creative business owner, I've learned a

lot about which rules to break and which rules to keep. Most of

the rules can be broken, but there are lots of best practices

as well and some things that are just true. And one of the things

that is just true is that speaking is extremely efficient

when we do it well. As far as marketing and conversion, you

know, finding leads, converting leads, selling from stage. As

far as leveraging our business goes, speaking is one of the

best ways to do it, if you do it well, there are a lot of people

who spend a lot of money and a lot of energy speaking and not

getting the results that they want. That's due to a number of

things. Usually it's because they're kind of mismatched

somehow, and their audience is feeling it, or they're just, you

know, they've got something small they need to tweak. So

typically, the reason this works so well is because, as a

speaker, you're getting me, you're getting the person you're

doing business with. You're getting me on a personal level.

So we're getting to build the know, like and trust extremely

quickly. You're You're it's kind of like us having a one on one

conversation, but I can do it with multiple people at the same

time. I can connect on a real, authentic level with multiple

people, and I can embody my values in a way that a brand

logo or an article just may not it's also harder to skip if

you're actually engaged, you're going to engage. You know you're

either engaged or not speaking. So there's a lot of reasons why

people turn to speaking when they're growing their business,

when they're starting their business, and also when they're

leveraging, when they're elevating, when they're taking

that extra step up to reach more people, to build group programs,

instead of working one on one, to reach a larger international

audience, speaking is the way to do it. Now I'm using speaking,

definitely in the broad sense, not necessarily on a stage,

although it absolutely could be. It also might be a YouTube

channel or a podcast, anything where you are being real in

front of your people. Because if people can see what's on the

tin, if they get a really good sense of exactly what it's like

to work with you, they can make a better informed decision about

whether or not you're a good fit. It just makes total logical

sense. Also, the pipeline can be very clean. You know, you can go

and speak at someone else's event, and then you can offer

either like a call or a lead magnet, and then you have a

sales call with that person, and then they might become a client.

It could be three or four steps. You could, even, once you get

better at speaking, sell from stage and it's just one step.

Literally you speak, they buy like it's it's a much cleaner,

shorter pipeline than many others out there, especially

when it comes to content marketing, especially when it

comes to reaching cold leads or expanding your market into

places where you haven't before speaking becomes so useful in

those situations. The thing is, we don't want to rush into it.

We don't want to run before we can walk, and we don't want to

waste a lot of money and time and not get results. So one of

the things that I offer, one of the things I really love to do,

is help speakers get a sense of the entire speaking industry,

what's out there, what's optional, what's not optional,

what they're like, what their what their paths could be, and

then help them make those decisions, because it's not my

business, it's your business, and you're the one who knows

your clientele best, so together, I can kind of orient

you. To show you the map, and you can kind of plot your path

on it. For example, when you're at the beginning of your

speaking journey, you don't want to be investing you don't want

to be investing money. You don't want to be investing too much

time. Now we've already spoken about not writing a script, so

I'm not going to go back to that my little soapbox. I'm not going

to go back to that little soapbox, and we have already

talked about nerves, but there is just general practicality

that comes with experience. So before you really know your

style, before you've tested your product, before you've done all

that market research, you're essentially like a baby speaker,

and you want to be speaking. You want to be, you know, getting

out there and building your experience, if you want to be

getting feedback, but you don't want to be investing too much.

You don't want it to be an expensive process, because

you're still learning. So at this point, we're doing

interviews. We're doing podcasts like a guest on the podcast,

where someone else can hold you and keep you safe, so you're not

all by yourself. You're maybe doing five minute talks at

networking events, lots of networking, lots of testing,

lots of you know, free trials. And can I test this out on you?

Buddy practice is one of the best things. Like, if you have a

friend who's doing something similar to you, and you can test

out your pitches on one another, your offers. That is amazing.

That works so well. So that's where we start. And when you're

starting, you're not necessarily selling you're giving things

away for free. You're doing your lead magnet. You're having

discovery calls. Maybe they turn into sales calls, hey, wouldn't

that be nice? But that's not necessarily what you're focusing

on. And then once you get better and you get more confident, once

the kind of, oh, I can do this and not die, kind of kicks in,

then we start to look at how we can turn this into a proper

business model. So this is when you know you speak and you

invite people on a call with you, or you invite people to

come to your workshop for free, or you have a beautiful

downloadable and get them on your mailing list, depending on

how long your sales cycle is, everyone is different. Ideally,

we want to cut it down. We don't want to spend too much time. You

want to have different options. So if people want to work with

you straight away, you want that option to be available. But for

all of the people who don't say yes straight away, but they're

still interested, you gotta give them a chance to lurk a little

bit, to stalk you a little so that they can get to know you a

bit better. So ideally you want those kind of like a fast action

option and something that's more gentle, something where they can

get to know you a little bit better. So that's where we want

to start. Now there are a lot of speaking opportunities out

there. There's lots of summits, and more and more summits than I

think there are speakers to fill them. To be honest, there's so

much going on. There isn't a lack of speaking opportunity. So

you need to be careful about where you're spending your

energy. Are you doing something that is effective, that is

useful for you in this moment? Is your ideal audience there? If

you are taking speaking gigs that aren't in front of your

ideal audience, you'd better be doing that because you are so

terrified. You just want to, you know, survive and not die as

soon as you're out of that I can speak and not die stage, you

should be choosing your stages more carefully. You should be

thinking, who's there? Who can I interact with? How can I get

something back from this, even if it's not clients? Can it be

data? Can it be market research? What can I get from this, even

if it's just a recording for your sizzle reel, looking at

ways to get something back in your investment, you're showing

up, you're putting a lot of energy into it. You're giving of

your heart and soul. You definitely want to be getting a

return. You definitely want to be getting a return now,

eventually, you're going to be perhaps doing paid keynotes or

running your own podcast or YouTube channel or your own

summits, or you're speaking on other people's stages and

selling high ticket offers from other people's stages or your

own stage. These are all absolutely possible. I would not

start there. I would not begin at the advanced level, just

because this is a difficult industry already. There's lots

of moving pieces, and if you're not feeling authentic, if you're

not super plugged in, everyone is going to feel that little

mismatch, and you're not going to get the results that you

want. Because this honestly, is the main reason why people, I

mean, other than not being in front of their target market,

like if you're in front of your target market and you have a

good offer, the main reason people don't get results is

because their body voice instrument is not in alignment

with what they're saying. So something's not feeling quite

right, and that can really sabotage it, can undermine your

message. So let's look at something that you can do.

I'm going to give you an exercise, something that you can

do if you're feeling. Yeah, you know, we talked about those

nerves. If you're feeling those nerves and you're you're feeling

insecure, you're feeling, Why does anybody, why would anyone

want to work with me? And I know this is important, but, you

know, there's always a but, you know, if you're feeling that,

and you're not totally plugged into this is an amazing deal,

and they would be silly to say no, if that's not how you're

feeling. Here's a little trick. Typically, fear creates tension.

So when we're scared, we tend to, like tense up, especially in

the throat, especially in the shoulders, and we can get kind

of and disconnected from our voices. And if we start into an

offer like this, in this kind of apologetic state. We're not

going to make any sales. It doesn't matter how good your

offer is, you're probably not going to make any sales. So what

you want to do ideally have a bit of a break before you make

an offer, and when you do, make sure that you're relaxed and

you're feeling good and comfortable. So if you have a

couple of seconds to go off camera, if you're feeling that

tension come in, that tension that is the enemy of self

expression, it is the enemy of connection. We want to get rid

of that tension, so we're going to do a wobble. And I know it's

silly, but it works. Okay. Do wobble for me.

And that wobble. It's got to be your whole body, not just that

performative wobble. No, no, no, no. We want the whole body to

wobble so your pelvis, your body, your knees, your shoulders

and your belly and your jaw. It's not dignified. That's okay.

No one's gonna watch you do it. I mean, you're all watching me

do it, but that's okay. And the reason the wobble is so

effective, it's, it's portable. You can take it anywhere. I have

a long vocal warm up that I do for myself, but it's not

something you can do, like in a bathroom or, you know, quickly

while you turn your camera off. It's the whole thing. This is

just like a reset. It's like a nervous system, body, breath,

blood reset. And it works really well because it wobbles the

tension out of you. And tension is the enemy, relaxation,

energy. Those are the things that you want. So we can wobble

the tension out, then we can be loose enough. And if we can

ground ourselves, we can be loose enough to let that passion

and that energy and that joy kick in. Because if you come at

your offer from a place of even if you've never sold it before,

you know, I've never sold this, but it's awesome, and I'm so

excited about it, if you come from that angle, you will make

sales. People will be so excited about your enthusiasm. And I'm

not saying fake it, never fake it, but tap into that part of

you that is doing is the reason that you're doing what you're

doing. Tap into that deep truth that the reason that you got

into this in the first place, and wobble that in now a quick

check test to do when you're wobbling, if you wobble and your

voice sounds like that, if you can have a controlled voice

while you're wobbling, if your voice sounds pretty good and put

together, you're doing it wrong. Hate to tell you, but the whole

point of the wobble is to recalibrate, bring everything

back together, because we've disconnected from the tension,

so we need to bring it all back together. So the wobble should

affect your voice. I shouldn't be able to talk very clearly

while I'm doing the wobble, and that is a fantastic check for

you to go. Okay, am I connected? Am I physically in my body? Am I

here? Am I ready to go? Am I feeling embodying my passion? Am

I connected and ready to connect with my audience? And if you

are, that is when speaking can become so freaking easy as a

business owner, is the easiest way to make sales, not because

you're not because you're cheating anybody, not because

you're lying, not because you're faking something or skipping a

step, but because it's an efficient way to really show who

you are, to embody your values, to connect with your audience

without all the garbage in between, we've got a clear

connection. And that is what they want. They want to know if

they can trust you. They want to know if you're going to deliver

what you have to deliver. So there's lots out there. There

are so many, so many resources out there for you to start

speaking. If you're just, if you're just, if you're just

starting out and you're nervous and you're just getting going,

there's lots of options. But if you're at the point where you're

ready to either start thinking about making sales, or if you

have tried to, but it's not really working, I invite you to

jump on a call with me. We're going to do a success. This

mapping session, a speaking success mapping session, and

it's complimentary. I will not kind of goad you into anything.

There are no strings attached. It's not a singles call. If you

decide you want to work with me, of course you are welcome to,

but that's not the point of the call. The call is a gift to you

to help you orient yourself within the speaking industry, to

figure out what your weaknesses are, what your strengths are,

and maybe what it is that you're doing that isn't serving you or

what you need to do next to get to where you want to be. So if

you're interested in that, there's a link, just click on

that and book a speaking success mapping session. It's hard to

say speaking success mapping session book that with me, and I

would be overjoyed to help you orient yourself, find your

place, where you are, where you've been, where you're going,

where you are right now, and what you're working on, and help

you get to that next step. Because sometimes we can get a

little stuck. We can get, you know, stuck in that valley, and

we can't see where we're supposed to go, and we don't

know which road to take. So from someone who has the map, let me

help you orient yourself and figure it out. Because everyone

is different. Every business is different. There's no one way.

There's no silver bullet, but speaking is efficient. It's an

efficient way to build your business. So if that's something

that you're interested in, please hit me up. I would be

absolutely overjoyed to help you out with that. Until then, I'll

see you next time you.