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HOW TO GET "BOOKED SOLID"

Some years ago, my company sponsored several 'How To Get Booked Solid' Seminars for speakers, presented by Keith DeGreen, then a hugely successful and busy speaker; since a candidate for the U.S. Senate; now working in public relations and media relations for a financial planning firm while determining his political ambitions.

At these seminars, Keith gave "beginner" speakers a very simple, very good approach to developing their businesses: define and target three markets for your services: short-term, medium-term and long-term.

A short-term market is one where you probably won't want to keep working in the years to come; may be low fee or even no fee, product sales only; but can be penetrated easily and quickly; and uses 'short fuse' scheduling.

For me, local real estate and insurance companies and distributor-groups within MLM-companies served this purpose. I could do a mailing on Monday, phone follow-up on Thursday, and have speaking dates happen over the next two weeks.

The short-term stuff pays the bills. Puts food on the table. Helps you avoid going broke while you are getting rich and famous (a big problem in this business).

A medium -term market is a place that can lead in directions you want to go, probably pays better, but takes 6 months to a year to penetrate, and has a lead time from contact to engagement of 3 to 12 months.

For many speakers, this is the state/regional association market, in the industry or industries of preference and/or geographic areas of preference. These engagements can lead to a "chain" of other, same level associations across the country, "up" to the national association, and to corporate clients.

A long-term market is a place you want to live and work for years to come. Chances are, it offers high-end fees or superior product sales opportunities. It'll typically take a year or longer to penetrate, and most dates then have a year's lead time.

Within each time range market, you can handle attacking up to three different industries. More will so dissipate your attention, resources and positioning as a specialist that it will damage your career.

I had done a lot of this before first hearing Keith clearly enunciate it as strategy, but I was further helped by it and have since used it in consulting with speakers in almost every instance. It gives structure to your thinking and forces you to make some decisions.

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