10 Reasons why you may not be getting any speaking engagements from your speaker profile on this online speaker directory... and what you can do to reverse your results

This article also appears on CommissionFreeSpeakers.com

David Ogilvy, the famous advertising agency executive, said "The quickest way to kill a mediocre product is to make people aware of it." So if you feel your speaker profile isn't generating any paying speaking engagements it may not be the fault of the web site or the marketing effort. It may be because your speaker profile doesn't represent your best efforts. Let's look at some possible obstacles to see if there might be some truth to this theory...

1. You aren't appearing regularly on national television and radio.
Meeting and event planners look for speakers who are "drawing cards" - experts who have achieved celebrity status - to increase attendance at their meetings. My primary practice is conducting positioning and visibility campaigns for speakers, specialists and consultants. If you aren't a celebrity... I can help you become one.

2. You don't have a best selling book or CD or DVD.
To have doors open for you as an author, you can hire me to help you write, even ghostwrite, a report or booklet pertaining to your expertise. Sometimes it takes as little as two weeks to produce a publication that will capture the public's attention. I can also help you generate a buzz through various channels of distribution.

3. You haven't provided all the information that was requested on the speaker data sheet.
Meeting planners look for specific information from speakers. If they don't see it on your speaker profile, they skip over you to someone else who does. Hire me to help you write and refine your speaker data so it meets the criteria set by meeting planners. Or you many want to purchase my report: The Speaker's Kit: Materials that You Need to Promote Yourself as a Professional Speaker.

4. You haven't provided any or enough information for your speaker profile.
There are some speakers who have requested a profile but haven't sent me the information so I can post it. What do I tell a meeting planner who asks why there is no info posted for a speaker? That it's impossible to get information from a speaker? Meeting planners don't want to work with difficult speakers. It's your job to help meeting planners, not the other way around.

5. You haven't provided a photo of yourself and photo of your book covers.
Meeting planners want to see that you have a recent, professional photo of yourself as a speaker and want to see that you have been published. They want to know that you have a wealth of information and wisdom to impart to their group.

6. You don't identify by name the organizations you would like to have hire you to speak.
I market this speaker directory in such a way that those organizations have a way to find you and reach you. When you don't identify those specific organizations you miss out on targeted marketing. So make an effort, do your homework, and tell me to whom you want to speak in the future.

7. Your lecture and seminar titles are either not understandable or not exciting.
Very generic and cutesy titles don't work well. People need to grasp what your presentation is about right away and they need to find your topic exciting and irresistible. One speaker has a keynote address called Untying the Knot. Not only did I not understand what the content of his speech was, nor could meeting planners, but he couldn't explain it either... and it wasn't about camp or marine knots. In a short phone consult I can probably help you create a far better title that excites audiences and meeting planners.

8. Your lecture and seminar titles are for a very small, limited, or low-income audience who are not organized in visible groups.
Sometimes you may need to change the focus of your presentation or change the target audience to be able to speak for payment. Low-income people usually do not organize themselves into state-wide, regional or national organizations. They do not have money to hire you. But others who work with these people do. In a short phone consult I can help you determine better and more lucrative audiences for your presentations.

9. You have few, if any credentials, and none that can be documented.
Since Oprah's uncomfortable discovery of the truth about the book, A Million Little Pieces, people have been more cautious about hiring speakers with dubious or inflated qualifications. You need to be able to document your background. If you don't have a doctorate, don't imply that you do. Be honest about who you are. If you're a high school dropout, that's no crime and it might actually lend more credibility to your topic. (Remember that ABC News anchor Peter Jennings dropped out in Grade 10. That lack of education didn't stop him from success in a field and career that demands intelligence.) If you don't have advanced academic degrees, be honest about what you do have. Maybe it's on-the-job experience, maybe it's an AHA moment - an epiphany - following a tragedy or major life event. Acknowledge and list what qualifications and successes you do have. I can interview you and write a more winning narrative biography you can use.

10. You aren't using the resources this web site offers: speaker forum, articles, tip sheets, reports, services.
I've provided these affordable services and resources, a la carte, on this web site so you have access to them without having to hire me at $15,000 or more a month through my primary company, Andrea Reynolds International.

Some of these resources cost as little as $2.00 for tips on how to attract meeting planners to your online speaker profile. If you don't avail yourself of these resources, how do you expect to get noticed and get paying engagements?

Do you think that your profile here should generate as much income-producing work as if you had paid thousands a month for my marketing services? Passivity doesn't generate business, effort does. I can't do my part if you won't do yours.

I strongly urge you to read every single page on CommissionFreeSpeakers.com. (Which web site holds more value for you?) There are so many things you can do to build your speaker platform; and quite a few of you, I see litle or no effort. It's a lot easier for me to market someone who I see is doing everything possible to further their speaking career. I won't work with dabblers and dilettantes. I work with professionals who share the same work ethic I do.

For any assistance in making your speaker profile work for you, as listed above... Send Email to Andrea Reynolds