After 24 years of working with speakers, it’s clear to me that it’s not always the best speakers on stage who achieve commercial success. Overall, this is because many speakers focus overwhelmingly on the performance aspect – what happens on stage, how do I look on stage, will I get applause, etc. Many take the commercial part for granted and think the logic must be: If I am an excellent speaker, I’ll be successful.
A speaker’s success often happens behind the scenes, so to speak, before they step onto the stage. At Speakerswatch, we therefore work with a 4P-focus model, ensuring that a speaker can more easily make efforts where it matters. Our goal is not only for you as a speaker to succeed on stage, but also personally and financially, otherwise your speaker project is likely not sustainable in the long run.
Focus #1 – Purpose and Foundation
Does it make sense for you to live as a speaker right now? Can you afford it? Do you have time? Do you want to? Does it fit into your life, or will it be a struggle every time you have to start the car, take the train, or go to the airport? Do you have the support system in place? Many speakers fail in the process if they don’t have the foundation in place.
Focus #2 – Positioning – Branding and sales
Where do you place yourself in the market? How do you differentiate yourself from other speakers on your topic? Why should buyers choose you? How do you make yourself visible to buyers? Can you sell your speaker product yourself, or do you need to establish a partnership with a speakers bureau? Many speakers believe they can create demand for their speak through, for example, publishing a book, social media efforts, etc. Most speakers need a real sales effort to get the ball rolling.
Focus #3 – Product and Pitch
Your speaker product. Are you speaking about what you’re passionate about or what the market demands? Many speaks/ keynotes are just ordinary presentations. The actual speaker product, its description, and the effort put into it are often deprioritized. This work dies in the process between Focus #2 and Focus #4. The stronger and more need-driven your product, sales pitch and script are, the easier it is to create a strong and marketable speaker product.
Focus #4 – Performance and participants
It’s great to shine on stage, and it’s fully understandable that it’s important to you. But the most important thing you can achieve with your performance is that your participants shine. That you transform a passive audience to participants. The speaker world is drowning in advice on body language and presentation techniques. Instead of just focusing on acquiring standard techniques, we focus on how you can leverage your originality as a speaker. Not all speakers are motivational speakers and extremely outgoing, and thanks for that.
