Hot To Get Clients & Build Your List From Every Talk You Give
by Alysa Rushton
You’ve heard it many times… Give talks and you’ll get clients.
And it’s true that speaking is one of the fastest (and cheapest) ways to build your list and get amazing clients that you’ll love working with.
But the sad truth most coaches experience when they give talks is… they give a talk and don’t get the results they want.
Not many people sign up for their list. And even fewer become clients.
There’s a reason for this. And it’s not what you think.
It has nothing to do with you, the presenter.
It has nothing to do with your outfit.
Or your shoes…
It has EVERYTHING to do with your talk structure!
So today Alysa Rushton, international presentation skills coach and creator of the Get Clients With Speaking System is sharing some key tips to structure your talk so you can BUILD your list and GET clients – with every talk you give.
Tip 1: Base your talk topic around your offer
Having an offer is the basis for your talk. Without an offer, your talk will fall flat. People are coming to your talk to solve a problem, so your offer should solve a main pain point for your audience.
To make sure you don’t overwhelm your audience, you’ll want to break down your content into bite sized chunks and structure your talk around your offer.
For example, let’s say you’re a digestive health coach and you have a private program where you help people heal their digestion.
Using this same example, let’s say that your digestive health program has 5 main steps.
- Clean up the diet & remove food triggers
- Replace the removed foods with healthy alternatives
- Give the gut what it needs – bone broth, L-glutamine, and other repairing foods
- Re-inoculate with probiotics and fermented foods
- Soothe the stress
Using this same example, you might do a talk on “The 7 Surprising Foods That Are Keeping You Sick and Tired.” In this talk, you would briefly describe all of the steps of your private program but you’d teach deeply on the first step.
Doing this gets your audience “hungry” to work with you. They can see that you have a lot of knowledge and they’ll naturally want more as opposed to feeling totally overwhelmed because you tried to teach them everything you know about gut health.
Now it’s time to choose your offer.
Here are a few types of offers you can try, in order from easiest to hardest…
Free Gift Offer: The free gift offer solves a main pain point for your audience and is typically a piece of digital content; a pdf, mp3 or video. I recommend giving this gift an actual price and let people know what the price is. Then give it away. That way people see and feel the value.
Strategy Session Offer: This is where you invite people into a strategy session and then upsell them to one of your programs. You can offer a paid or a free strategy session. This is great for beginners but it’s also a wonderful technique that master-level coaches still use it.
Easy Yes Offer: The easy yes offer is a lower priced offer (usually under $297.00) that you make when you’re in front of a live group or on a webinar. It’s called an easy yes because it’s priced in such a way that people find it easy to say yes to.
Tip 2: Follow the 7 Step Signature Talk Formula
(grab your free copy of the formula here)
Having a structure for your talk is crucial because it will help you lead your audience to your offer.
Most talks fail to convert into clients because the presenter is inundating their audience with way too much information. And that leaves the audience overwhelmed and unable to move forward with you. You can solve that feeling for your audience by following this super simple talk formula.
The 7 Step Signature Talk Formula
Meet and greet
The meet and greet is where you, the speaker, set the tone for the energy you want your audience to have. Every room needs a leader and that leader is YOU! Set the tone of the room’s energy by playing music. Have some quotes up on the wall or on the screen. And set your energy to be in service.
Powerful opening
As a speaker it’s really tempting to make it all about you right from the beginning. But you’ll want to show that you’re a great leader of the room by making it all about them right from the start. Open with a question and get the audience thinking and interacting.
Your story
This is a place that a lot of speakers struggle. “How much of my story do I tell?” “How do I tell it?” “Do I have to even tell my story?”
The answer is YES! You have to tell your story. Not only does it anchor your credibility, but people learn through stories. Your audience wants to know that what they’re currently going through is possible to overcome. It’s powerful for them to hear how you did it!
Now you might be thinking, “well, what if I’m not perfect yet? Can I still share my story?” The answer is of course!! No one who is alive is perfect.
Just think how powerful it will be for your audience to see how, even in your imperfection, you’re still working on things and moving forward. When you share authentically, it lets your audience know that they’re safe to try things and make mistakes. They don’t have to be perfect either – whew what a relief!
The content
This is another place where I see a lot of coaches struggle. You’re a teacher by nature and you want to make sure people have ALL the information. But the fact is that if you try to teach them everything you know they’ll be totally overwhelmed and won’t be able to move forward with you.
So instead of overwhelming your audience, follow the content delivery formula I share in the 7 Step Signature Talk Formula here. Following this formula will keep you on track and keep your audience out of overwhelm.
The gift
Here’s the place in your talk when it’s time to give your audience something that’s designed to help them solve their main problem. You’ll want to make sure your free gift is aligned with your talk.
What NOT to do example:
Talk Title: “The 7 Surprising Foods That Are Keeping You Sick and Tired.”
Free Gift: Pdf guide of your favorite smoothies (see how disconnected this gift is?)
What TO do example:
Talk Title: “The 7 Surprising Foods That Are Keeping You Sick and Tired.”
Free Gift: Pdf guide of the 7 foods and healthy replacements.
The offer
This is the place where you’ll invite people at your talk into a strategy session with you or some other offer that you might have. This is part of the talk many coaches avoid because it feels “salesly.” But did you know that 30%-50% of the people who are sitting in your audience are actually ready for help? They want to move forward! And, they want you to ask them to move forward.
Think of it as your duty to invite them to the next step. What they do with it from there is up to them. For some serious PRO tips on this step make sure you sign up for our next webinar. Part of what we’re going to cover is exactly how to make an offer in a way that it feels good to you and your audience!
The wrap-up
Now it’s time to deliver the rest of your content and call your audience into action! This is your time to inspire your audience into choosing something different for themselves. They came to your talk for a reason, so be the leader and ask them, “what actions, based on today’s talk, will you incorporate into your life?”
Tip 3: Set your energy to be of service
When you have a great offer and follow the 7 step signature talk formula the only thing left to do is make sure you set your energy to be of service. You do this by speaking from the heart and delivering value to your audience. The audience will feel your energy! You’ll get more clients, more leads, more invitations to speak, and more partnering & JV opportunities when you set your intention to show up and serve from the heart.
About Alysa Rushton
Known as The “6 figure Women’s Voice Igniter”, Alysa Rushton is a Master Certified Public Speaking Instructor and sales coach who teaches heart-centered entrepreneurs how to craft, package and promote their authentic message, and shine their light so they can magnetically attract their ideal clients.
Alysa is the founder & CEO of Magnetic Messenger’s Academy and the creator of popular programs like Get Clients With Speaking and Profitable Workshops That Rock and Raise Your Voice Online. Alysa‘s clients and students go on to do great things like publish books, speak on TED stages, become featured experts on the news and more. And guess what? You’re next!
