Welcome to the Challenge Day 9.

Its’ time to talk about the money.  So many speakers make the mistake of speaking lots, but not being intentional about the next step.  You always need to be thinking- what is the next logical step in the development of this individual in my audience.  And make sure to make them an offer.

In this video I discuss:

• What you can make an offer on in your presentations
• The most important tool you need to make your offers well
• A free gift to help you craft your offers superbly

I speak in detail about how to make offers at our Presentation Secrets training which starts on Tuesday in Perth.  Seats for Australian events are really starting to sell out fast now.  So grab a seat quickly if you’re in Australia here.

If you’re in there UK join the Early Bird List so that as soon as tickets go on sale you can grab your seat (and all the bonuses) quickly.

Today’s Project

1. Think about a presentation you have coming up (or one you could plan to have soon)
2. Ask yourself what do these people need to further their development- what would be the next logical step for them?
3. What offer could you make
4. Familiarise yourself with the 7-Shift Effective Presentation Formula (you can download it for free using the option box to the right of this article or by going to www.shiftspeakertraining.com/blueprint)

Write your comments and questions below

Share any challenges you have with designing or making offers below and we’ll see how we can help. Let us know what has and hasn’t worked in your business.

See you tomorrow!

Joanna

PS Remember the Competition: on the 5th of March I’ll be reviewing the video responses to the Challenge. That means you have just 4 days to get your responses in.  All you need to do is shoot a short 2 minute video on what you’ve got, or what you’re up to.  I’ll choose my favourite and the winner will receive 2 FREE TICKETS to my Presentation Secrets Event in London or Australia (you can see the details here); plus a signed copy of my new book which I’ll be launching in March.  Good luck!

The Challenge Continues…

Before I launch into today’s post I wanted to give you a quick update about seat availability for our Presentation Secrets events around Australia.  The first one is next Tuesday the 6th of March in Perth, then Melbourne on the 9th.  We had a big surge in Perth ticket sales in the last 24 hours (everyone leaves things til the last minute right?!) So if you are planning to attend the event in Perth I advise you to book today.  Don’t worry- if you win the price I will refund your booking fee of $97! But it would be awful for you to miss out waiting to hear if you’d won the competition.  Its called covering your bases!!) Book by clicking here or call the office on 1300 856 939.

And then onto today’s video!

Yesterday I introduced you to the main reason most people can’t fill rooms: because they have no COMMUNITY.  Speakers  think that if you decide to run an event, that people will come just because you ask them to.  It doesn’t work that way.  However if people know you, like you, love to hear from you- then they will be anxiously awaiting you running an event, and as soon as you announce it they will pounce.

For example- we traditionally sell the first 40-50% of our tickets to Presentation Secrets within the first 48 hours as a result of simply opening doors to our won community.  Our affiliate promotions support that effort- but our community have already pounced!

This could be you too if you have a great community.  Remember this equation:

COMMUNITY = LIST X RELATIONSHIP

Yesterday we talked about building the list.  Today its al about the relationship with that list.

Discover ways to build relationship so you have people anxious and waiting to buy your products and services and attend your event.

Today’s Project

Make a plan for what you are going to do to build your relationship with your list.  Make it simple, easy to implement and something you can do consistently.  If you are already doing something like a newsletter- how could you repurpose the information in a clever way to reach more people with very little extra effort?

The Competition

So far I’ve only seen 2 entries to the competition- so the odds are looking pretty god for those ladies! I’m sure everyone is waiting til toward th end to post their entry.  Remember it closes at midnight Aussie time on the 4th of March.  I’ll be announcing the winner on the afternoon of Day 14! (5th of March) You can win over $244 worth of great prizes including:

A signed copy of my brand new book “The Presentation Profits Blueprint”

2 Free Tickets to my 1-day Training “Presentation Secrets”. It will be held around Australia in March and London in May.  Here are the dates. You can see more details on the webiste here.

Australian Dates: are on sale now!
• Perth – 6th March
• Melbourne – 9th March
• Brisbane – 12th March
• Adelaide – 19th March
• Sydney – 21st March

UK Dates: not on sale until 15th March 2012 (so just put the date in your diary and get your video up to win your place)
• London #1 – 11th May
• London #2 = 12th May
• London #3 – 25th May

I’ll be announcing the winner on the 5th of March- so I look forward to seeing your responses! All you have to do is film your response to what you’re learning in the challenge, post it to youtube with a link here on the blog… and I’ll give my favourite entry the prize!

(By Guest Blogger Kate Engler)

So often when people think of publicity and getting their names in the media, they think of national TV, major daily newspapers or high rating radio. And all these outlets are great – no question. But there is an often overlooked ‘poor cousin’ in the media world which can yield HUGE results for speaking businesses.

What is this ‘hidden’ poor cousin? It’s your local paper. (ok, so it doesn’t have the ego factor of national TV – but this isn’t about ego – it’s about results!)

Recently I worked with one speaker in my community Dr Maura McGill. (She’s also one of Joanna’s students so you’ll probably recognize her name. Anyway- she used publicity in a local paper where she was holding her event and DOUBLED THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE IN HER ROOM! So it’s not just local papers in terms of where you LIVE, it’s local papers in terms of where YOU ARE SPEAKING TOO!

Businesses everywhere are sitting on an absolute gold mine of publicity when it comes to their local paper, and many people don’t realize just how powerful it is.

Firstly, the local paper is ALWAYS interested in stories about local people and local businesses. They don’t tend to cover the big national events and there’s a couple of reasons for this:

1. Most local papers come out weekly and their deadlines are usually 3-5 days prior to publication. This means that they may have already printed this week’s edition when a big national story ‘breaks’. They simply are not nimble enough to cover it.
2. They also realize that the major daily papers, radio and TV will be all over BIG stories, and they don’t want to be seen as an ‘also ran’. Local papers understand it’s their job is to cover what’s going on locally –either from people who live locally or people who are coming to the local area like my speaker client I mentioned.

And this is where YOU can benefit.

Simply tell a story that is interesting about something which is going on in YOUR local area and you will almost certainly get a run in the local paper. The same rules apply about making sure your media release is a news story and not an ad for your business – that goes without saying. But local papers are ALWAYS keen to cover what’s new and different in their local area.

Let me give you another real-life case study in more detail….

In preparation for a seminar I was speaking at, the event organizer asked if I would do a ‘preview’ interview with him which he could send to his database so they had an understanding of the types of material the seminar would cover. Sure, no problems.

We conducted the interview and it was sent out to his database. One person who heard this interview latched on to a suggestion that I offered and immediately prepared a media release and sent it to his local paper. The result was a great story with a pic that appeared in his local paper.

The man’s name is Rob Castro. Rob took one of the headlines I mentioned in the interview and adapted it to HIS industry and his local area and BANG!! The result was immediate! His local paper was on the phone straight away and sent out a photographer within 2 days. How easy was that.

The one key thing about publicity (and about anything to grow your business for that matter) is to take action. No one is going to write a story on you if you don’t get your message out there. So start local and who knows, tomorrow, you could be on national TV!

With more than a twenty years hard-core publicity experience, Kate Engler AKA The Publicity Princess, knows what it takes to get your name in the newspaper quickly and easily. Kate can take your story and turn it into a gold mine of free publicity. She’s done it for the little guys, as well as some of the big guns including Mal Emery, Sean Roach, Roberta Faddoul, P&O Cruises, World Vision, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Bedshed and Dilmah Tea just to name a few. Kate helps her clients fast track their fame and fortune, skyrocket their credibility so customers come searching for THEM, quickly and easily get their names in the paper and STOP being an ‘advertising victim’.

And as a special SHIFT SPEAKER TRAINING bonus, Kate is offering $200 off her upcoming workshops – especially for the Shift Community – thanks Kate! Simply visit www.freemediaworkshop.com and use the code JM200 to save your $200. Kate has events planned for all around the country, kicking off in Ballarat, Sydney and Bendigo throughout March. This is a one day workshop that can add $$ to your business and mega credibility to your reputation.

Welcome to the Challenge Day 7!

Hope you had a relaxing weekend.

One of the biggest challenges I hear from speakers is “I can’t get bums on seats!” My first question is always -”how many people are on your list- how big is your community”.  I can pretty much guarantee if a speaker is having trouble getting people along to events, or to buy products its because they have a tiny or non-existent community.

You can’t afford to do business this way any more.  (Actually you never could, but the marketplace was a little more forgiving a couple of years back!).

In this video I share with you:

• My take on the new economy for speakers
• The feminine source of power you need to tap into (for men and women alike)
• The Two components of a valuable community
• The 4 steps to building your list
• Today’s project

Today’s Project

1. Who are your target audience?
2. What is their biggest problem
3. What information product can you create to solve their biggest problem (video, audio, ebook, guide, report)
4. Plan an option page to start building your list (you can model our here: www.ShiftSpeakerTraining.com/blueprint- I recommend if you haven’t yet – put your name and email in so you can see the sequence that comes out after that… model the whole system!  Don’t copy… model it! It makes us passive income and you wan that too right!?)

Write your comments and questions below

Share your list building challenges below and we’ll see how we can help. Let us know what has and hasn’t worked in your business.

See you tomorrow!

Joanna

PS Remember the Competition: on the 5th of March I’ll be reviewing the video responses to the Challenge.  All you need to do is shoot a short 2 minute video on what you’ve got, or what you’re up to.  I’ll choose my favourite and the winner will receive 2 FREE TICKETS to my Presentation Secrets Event in London or Australia (you can see the details here); plus a signed copy of my new book which I’ll be launching in March.  Good luck!

Welcome to the Challenge Day 5&6!

Have a break!

Yes!  It’s the weekend.  And no matter how much I love you and your journey- my weekend is sacred.  So I’m typing this post on Friday (I’m about to finish up for the day).  My Mum and Step-father are coming over to visit us this weekend, so I envisage plenty of relaxing, lots of cuddles of nephews and nieces and Greg and I were considering a mini-break to the spa before our big tour starting in a little over a week.

What has this got to do with your Challenge?  One of the BIGGEST MISTAKES I see a lot of entrepreneurs making, especially when their business is in a growth phase is ignoring the importance of rest.  The brain and body both need time away from work to replenish.

My drama teacher once said to me “the biggest breakthroughs you’ll have in your performance occur when you’re resting between rehearsals”.  He was talking about character performances- but I know the same to be true for business.

Sure- there are times as a business owner you have to work a bit late, maybe give up a Saturday morning.  But they should be few and far between if you want to be a great speaker.  Being great requires energy.  It requires having stories to tell.  It requires a finger on the pulse of LIFE.

These are all things that come as a result of leisure time.

Your Project for Today:

Get the HELL AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER.  Close its lid, right now… switch off that monitor… and go outside.  Go spend an hour finding a delicious experience that nourishes your heart and soul, and, who knows, might be great fodder for a story from stage sometime.

The Competition

Don’t event worry about it this weekend.

Rest, replenish- and re-energuse and we can talk all about how you can win over $244 worth of prizes (including 2 free tickets to join me live at Presentation Secrets) on Monday.

Ciao!

Welcome to the Challenge Day 4!

Here we are at day 4, and the participation is extraordinary.  Thanks for the wonderful comments you’re leaving.  It makes it exciting for me to pop in and film each day’s video when I know I’m “lighting a fire in your belly” as Dawn Fry so beautifully put it.

One of the biggest mistakes I see speaker’s making consistently is not investing enough time and energy in building the relationships that will allow them to get BOOKED.  Its not enough to be good on stage- people need to know what you do.  And the only way I’ve ever really seen to work consistently  to get those first few gigs is:

1. Having a relationships with a promoter (they LIKE and ADMIRE you)

2. Being recommended to a promoter (they LIKE and ADMIRE your friend or client who refers you)

Discover 2 of the key pillars you need to be developing to become attractive to event planners and promoters. And I’ll reveal my 5-step process for getting bookings.

Your Project For Today

1. Write down your target market

2. Where are they congregating in groups (brainstorm 50 places)

3. Create a plan to build trust and relationship with the people organising those events.

The Competition

We’ve already received a couple of entries for our competition where you can wil over $244 worth of great prizes including:

A signed copy of my brand new book “The Presentation Profits Blueprint”

2 Free Tickets to my 1-day Training “Presentation Secrets”. It will be held around Australia in March and London in May.  Here are the dates. You can see more details on the webiste here.

Australian Dates: are on sale now!
• Perth – 6th March
• Melbourne – 9th March
• Brisbane – 12th March
• Adelaide – 19th March
• Sydney – 21st March

UK Dates: not on sale until 15th March 2012 (so just put the date in your diary and get your video up to win your place)
• London #1 – 11th May
• London #2 = 12th May
• London #3 – 25th May

I’ll be announcing the winner on the 5th of March- so I look forward to seeing your responses! All you have to do is film your response to what you’re learning in the challenge, post it to youtube with a link here on the blog… and I’ll give my favourite entry the prize!

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the Challenge.

And a big thanks to everyone who is commenting so I don’t feel like a goose doing this for no reason!  When I asked on Facebook whether I should go ahead and do all this free training I had nearly 106 people (in various forums) say “Yes please, count me in!” So I’m grateful that people are chatting back to me now.  It was getting lonely there for a minute!

So- to today’s video.  In response to Gareth, Rebecca, Alison and many others who have said that one of their biggest challenges in their business is “Clarity on the Message” I filmed this little piece for you.

Newbies and Seasoned Pros alike miss this crucial piece.  And the shame of it all is that this is the Foundational Stone upon which your entire business is based.  I go into lots more detail in my book- The Presentation Profits Blueprint (get a free chapter here) but there’s a handsome intoriduction to the concept in this video.

Your 5 Minute Project for Today

(Yes- you could have clarity on your message within the next 5 minutes if you’re ready to be decisive.)

Take pen in hand and answer the following questions:

1. What are you passionate about?

2. Who are your target market? (when it comes to choosing a target market think “inch wide, mile deep” as my marketing coach Mal Emery used to tell me.  ”Everyone who wants to change their life” is not a target market- and will keep you broke!!)

3. What is your target market’s biggest problem?

Once you have answered these questions you can articulate your “Promise”: the founding stone upon which you base your whole business.  Some examples:

“You know how menopausal women suffer endlessly with hot flushes, mood swings and all of the other rubbish? Well what we do is show women how to not just survive, but thrive through menopause WITHOUT drugs” Dr Maura McGill

“You know how most speakers a great on stage but rubbish when it comes to making money?  Well what we do is show speaker’s the step-by-step to making 6 or event 7-figures a year as a professional speaker.” Shift Speaker Training

“You know how much information there is out there about making money online, it can be quite overwhelming.  Well what I do is show people how they can get started making money online with simple down-to-earth advice” Yaro Starak

Write your comments and questions below

If you’ve articulated your promise- your core message- post it below for feedback and support from others.  If not, share where you’re up to and we’ll see if we can help!

See you tomorrow!

Joanna

PS Remember the Competition: on the 5th of March I’ll be reviewing the video responses to the Challenge.  All you need to do is shoot a short 2 minute video on what you’ve got, or what you’re up to.  I’ll choose my favourite and the winner will receive 2 FREE TICKETS to my Presentation Secrets Event in London or Australia (you can see the details here); plus a signed copy of my new book which I’ll be launching in March.  Good luck!

Day#2 of Speaker’s 14-Day Challenge!

I’ve been reviewing some presentations for one of my 1-1 clients over the last couple of days (these are the guys that pay me AUD$15,000/ GBP £7500 a day for input).  And do you know what I’m noticing.  What holds these talented and successful speakers back is exactly the same thing that stops newbies from even beginning.

To find out what it is watch today’s video.

Your 5 minute project for today is this:

Grab a pen and paper and without thinking, answer the following questions:

1. What is the difference you want to make in the world?

2. Write 20 reasons why you absolutely MUST make that difference

3. Write 20 reasons why you absolutely DESERVE to be rewarded financially for the difference you make.

Please share your insights below the video.

(Just click on comments and you can leave a response).

And if you want to win 2 free tickets to Presentation Secrets (in Australia or the UK), plus a signed copy of my soon to be released book- The Presentation Profits blueprint: Just film a short video sharing what you’ve learned, or what action your taking. Post a comment here to the blog with a link to your video- and on the 5th of March we’ll choose the best!

What are your thoughts on today’s Challenge?

(Oh and please feel free to share this with your friends of course!)

In any business your database or list of subscribers is one of your most valuable assets – you’ve added your sign up box to your website (haven’t you?) you’re sending out regular newsletters of tasty tidbits of content and you are monitoring your email newsletter reports to keep track of your open rates.

But then your eyes are drawn to a number in the corner and a sinking feeling comes over you…someone has unsubscribed from your list! There in black and white is a strong message “we’re not interested in your content anymore!”

Well hey, the good news is you’re amazing and your content is packed full of value…but the bad news is that not everyone will agree and the worse news is that we can’t stop people unsubscribing…but we can reduce the chances of seeing a steady stream of readers unsubscribe.

No matter whether you have 50 names on your list or 50,000, following these simple tips will help you to keep your readers on board.

Double opt-in:
Activating double opt-ins means that after someone enters their email address into your sign up box they receive an email automatically asking them to confirm their subscription. The result of asking subscribers to confirm their agreement to be added to your list will be less ‘spam’ complaints.

Focus on one reader and speak to them personally:

When you write your newsletter copy, focus on one reader and write as if you were writing to them alone. Include their name in the body of the content as it acts as an emotional trigger to feel a connection with your words.

This leads me on nicely to my next tip

Add your business name into the ‘subject’ field as well as the ‘from’ field:
Doing so reduces the feelings of disappointment when recipients are drawn into opening the email by the subject then later realising that the title bore no relation to the content. By including your business name twice, there is no ambiguity…therefore happier readers.

Make it easier for readers to unsubscribe:
In recent times there has been a shift towards placing the unsubscribe link at the top of the email rather than in the footer. It’s a psychological trigger because most people who have opened your email are intrigued enough to want to know what you have to say so won’t unsubscribe immediately.

Once they’ve read the content they’re likely to just move onto their next email and not return to the top to unsubscribe (pretty crafty huh?). At the same time if someone is adamant they do want to unsubscribe, there is no benefit to making it difficult for them – no need to prolong the agony. But…

Add an alternative option:
Once someone clicks on unsubscribe, consider adding another prompt which includes ‘emotional copy’ saying something like “Are you sure you want to quit (or give up)?” Both these words are emotionally powerful and make the reader stop and think about whether they are making the right decision.

Remember, it is natural that some of your readers will unsubscribe from your email list over time; their circumstances may have changed or they are receiving too many emails and have unsubscribed from them all…but if you are regularly seeing unsubscribers these tips will help you slow down the exodus.

How are your unsubscriber rates? Have you found ways to reduce the numbers or even better, significantly increase the rate of new subscribers? Your experiences will be really helpful to your fellow readers and I really enjoy reading your stories so please do comment and share with us.

Welcome to Day #1 of the 14-day Speakers Challenge.

Over the next 14 days I will post a video almost every day to share with you the 10 simple strategies which if you’re doing them, you’re business will keep consistently growing. You see there’s really only 10 things you need to be doing. Keep doing a little bit of them every week and you’re business will break through its current ceiling .

We are ALSO hosting a competition.

PRIZE: A signed copy of my brand new book the Presentation Profits Blueprint, and 2 tickets to our 1-day Jam-Packed Training Event: Presentaiton Secrets (in Australia 6-21st March & in London 11th-26th of May). The value of this price is over $224. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?: Simple- just participate in the Challenge. And after any of the videos, film a response. Tell us how you’re doing, what you’re implementing, what results you’re hoping for. Put a comment here on the blog with a link to your video on youtube. So lets blast you through the ceiling of that business!

Today’s Project:

What is your intention for the Challenge? What difficulties are you having in your business? Where do you want to be? Please post your responses to today’s project below this post. Oh- and of course, feel free to share the Challenge with all your friends on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  (Just by clicking on the links below the post) The more the merrier right!?