Can you see it?
Standing in front of 5,000 people. You have your audience at hello and you rock them all the way until close.
As you exit the stage to thunderous applause, the leader of the organization, who hired you, greets you, shakes your hand and says “thank you so much, that was exactly what my people needed to hear! Linda will be in touch about the next two engagements.”
Linda comes to collect you to escort you over to your autograph session, where you sit and sign pre-purchased books for an hour and take selfies with your new fans.
Outside, the limo at the curb is waiting to whisk you back to the airport.
Does this sound good to you? Is it something you covet?
I know my clients Ryan Estis and Kindra Hall wanted this. When they heard me open with this sequence during one of my workshops in their hometown, they said “Yes!” that’s exactly what I want!!”
They both set out to make it happen, and now they are both playing huge stages for big paychecks.
3 Essentials for Booking High Fee Keynotes
If you want to be the speaker in the scenario above, then you need to understand the essential pieces needed to make it happen.
Being clear about your vision is the first step. I highly recommend doing the exercise, “The Perfect Day in Your Life 5 Years from Now” (you can find the exercise on page viii of The Wealthy Speaker Daily Success Planner and Journal as well as page xix of The Wealthy Speaker 2.0).
The vision is just the first step in playing big as a speaker. So, what else do you need? If you want to play big there are three essential pieces you need to consider.
BIG STAGE MARKETING
One essential piece of ‘playing big’ is showing that you can (and have) play big. When I come to your website it should be apparent that you are capable and have been on those big stages. We’re talking iMag screens on either side of a beautiful stage in front of a large, excited crowd. So your goal is to find your way on to some of those bigger stages through whatever means necessary. To be clear: Do I mean to do it for free if it means capturing those photos? Well, YES!
There’s nothing that says “this person’s fee is $15K+” like a big stage photo on a gorgeous website. Your marketing may always be a step ahead of your fees, but let’s stop short of photoshopping you onto a large stage. We do want to be authentic.
BIG STAGE VIDEO
Kindra Hall shared a great tip at our Accelerate LIVE 2017 event a few weeks back. She used the term “will speak for video.” That was a part of her strategy in the early days and those beautifully shot video segments made up her first demo video. Of course, as her business grew and she got paid to do more and more big venues, her video got better and better. Take a look at www.kindrahall.com to see her current video, which is spectacular.
So, just like the big stage photos – you need that big stage video to show those coming to your site that you are capable of ‘playing big’.
BIG STAGE TALENT
If I look at your website and you look like a $10K+ speaker, but your fee is $3,500, there may be a disconnect and that can deter someone from hiring you. So, ensure that you are ready in all ways for the big stage. If you want to ‘play big’ as a speaker, you should possess both big stage confidence and skill and your fees should reflect that.
Is 2018 going to be the year that you get on that big stage? Share with us in the comments below how you plan to ‘play big’ this year!
I’ll see you soon Wealthy Speakers.
