7/1/2022
Editors: Rebecca Morgan & Ken Braly
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From the Editors
If you’re attending NSA’s Influence conference in Nashville this year, please say “hello” to Rebecca if you see her. If you’re there Friday evening July 8, come watch her perform her 8-minute standup bit at the Influence comedy show, 7:00–9:00 pm (she’ll be in the 8:00–9:00 window), in Bayou C&D. We’re all amateur comedians — please be nice (that means laugh at anything remotely funny and don’t expect Netflix-level jokes!). It’s scarier than it looks!
SNN Webcast Info
Mark your calendar:
- Mon., July 18 — “Creating a Certification Program: Blissful Experience or Waste of Time?” with Marc A. Pitman, CSP.
Feedback on the SNN webcast, “Winning with the NEW eSpeakers Profile” with Dave Reed and Elizabeth McCormick, CSP, CVP, CVH:
- “This was a great session that will help any speaker to develop and maintain their eSpeaker profile more strategically. Dave & Elizabeth provided insight into the online behavior of meeting planners searching for speakers, and they gave us other helpful tips for marketing on the eSpeaker site. Thanks so much!” —Bobbie O’Connell
Intensive — Enlist Others to Market Your Products/Services
Wouldn’t it be great to have a cadre of colleagues to market your services? How would you even begin to ask people to do that? What would they expect in return? Do you swap referrals? Pay a percentage? How do you pay them and how often? What if they refer a lot more people to you than you do to them, or vice versa?
These three recordings walk you thought how to enlist others to market your products and services. You’ll learn the pros and cons of joint ventures, the difference between JVs, affiliates, and referrals. You’ll hear how to approach others with this idea and what to offer for new business they bring you.
- “Use Joint Ventures to 10x Your Speaking Business” with Brady Patterson
- “Explode Your Product Sales with Zero Marketing Costs: The Art and Mastery of Joint Ventures” with Charles Byrd
- “Boost Your Business By Collecting Referrals and Testimonials” with Caelan Huntress
All SNN single-focused intensive packages are detailed here.
Miscellaneous Tips
Articles on hashtags — Bobbie O’Connell
- This article explains hashtags and how to use them on Instagram, including lots of examples. One key takeaway: “You’ll want to use a mix of high-volume hashtags to help you gain broad exposure, as well as lower-volume but higher-intent hashtags to attract potential followers and customers.”
- This article explains how to use hashtags on LinkedIn to boost your profile’s visibility.
- In a review of the top 10 ten content marketing hashtags, this article is a basic primer on social media marketing, including a brief history of marketing from its inception around 1560 to marketing in today’s online world.
Avoid these responses to questions — Roxanne Reeves
In response to questions from attendees, I avoid:
- “Like I said...”
- “As I said before...”
- “Once again...”
The Innuendo: “Weren’t you listening?” While unintended, maybe how this lands with your audience. Try instead:
- “This is a question I expect others have. I like how you phrased it.”
- “Perfect! We’re on the same page. I want to drill down further on this.”
Is your sales strategy obsolete? Probably — Vickie Sullivan
How do you get new clients when buyers have so many services from which to choose? According to the RSW/US Agency New Business annual report, business from existing clients and referrals were the top two marketing tools for generating new business in 2021. No surprise there. (Note: Free registration required to access the report.)
The incumbents had the new-business advantage both during in 2020 and 2021, with almost 75% of respondents saying new business came from those buyers. Add referrals to the mix, and it is clear buyers are streamlining the selection process by focusing on who they already know.
On the flip side, one of the biggest challenges last year for getting new business is that it’s harder to break through to prospects. A whopping 59% said that was their biggest challenge. That was followed by COVID-19 (36%) and that prospects go dark after a first meeting (32%). As you can see, we are not alone with these struggles.
Another similarity: The people in charge of sales and pitches for marketing and PR agencies are the same as in our marketplace: the owner/CEO.
What this means for us: The old stories we tell ourselves about sales — it’s a number’s game, gotta hustle, etc. — don’t work anymore. Even if buyers show initial interest, we can’t appear as the cool stranger. Buyers must know us before they will listen to us.
In our hearts, we know the old stories don’t work. That’s why we procrastinate before jumping into sales calls. What we must realize now: Marketing is as important as sales. In fact, a good market strategy paves the way for sales. Let’s plan accordingly.
Technology Tips
Password manager recommendation — Jay Arthur
My staff and I have been using Bitwarden to manage all of our passwords. There’s a free version for both Mac and PC. And there are plugins for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge browsers that make it super easy to use.
Topic of the Month (TOTM) — Your Input Wanted
Our TOTM is: If your business slows down in the summer, what projects are you taking on to accelerate your business? (Maybe your projects will inspire others to similar projects for themselves.)
Send your brief, pithy responses *that are different from those previously mentioned* to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com. Please put “Topic of the Month” or “TOTM” in the subject line.
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