Generating Leads
There is nothing on the planet that beats the ability to generate the quality AND quantity of leads, in such a short period, than speaking to a live audience.
One of the best things about live events is that you can stand in front of 1,000 people and, within 20 minutes, generate 500 leads. Almost no source of marketing can do that in the same time frame.
I learned about this power from observing, ironically, what some of the biggest names in the online marketing space were doing – guys like Ryan Deiss, Frank Kern and Russell Brunson. If you don’t know who they are, check them out.
One thing they have in common is that they all make millions of dollars online each year.
But there’s another thing they all have in common. Although they are the biggest online marketers on the planet, they all speak regularly onstage. They leverage the power of live events.
It still amazes me to this day that although these guys can and do make a million dollars in a few days online, they still go through time-consuming pain and effort to traipse around the globe to stand up and talk for “free.”
There is nothing on the planet that will beat the amount, quality and speed of leads that you get from talking to a live audience.
Some of you may not know this, but I have been touring for speaking purposes in many different industries for easily the past five years at the time of writing this, and have conservatively pulled in seven figures from both direct and indirect means, speaking on stages around the world.
When you first start speaking internationally, the excitement and novelty of travel, hotels etc. are quite cool. But boy, that novelty wears off very, very quickly. Honestly, it’s a complete pain, especially with a young family and it would be no different for these giants.
But yet, these guys still travel halfway across the world to stand up in front of an audience for sometimes as short as 60 to 90 minutes.
I was in the room with Frank Kern, one of my online marketing heroes, live in San Diego. I think he was making about a million dollars a month online at the time.
He stood up and wrote his speaking fee for that event on the board. A big zero!
So, why did he go there and stand up in front of 700 people when he could make a ton of money lying in his bed at home?
The reason being that there is still nothing on the planet that can beat the power of a live event to position you as an expert people want to do business with.
One of the reasons is that, when you talk, you’re automatically perceived as the expert and will naturally attract the clients that you want to work with. That’s a big point to make.
For the people who actually put on these events, the costs are considerable. Those rooms are not cheap. I personally know that to put on a day at a big conference centre, you are talking, in some cases, six figures. Don’t forget, your costs aren’t limited to just hiring the room. You need to hire speakers, an AV team, employ assistants, market the events – and the list goes on.
So, why do these people go through that if they can sit at home in their underwear and make millions of dollars?
Why in the world would they go through the effort of getting people to fly all the way across the world just to sit in a room?
It comes back to the golden truth. Nothing will ever match the quality and quantity of leads you’ll get when you are in front of people in a room.
Building Relationships
Another big point is that we live in an age where people are pretty much trying to get rid of almost everything that requires human beings.
We have driverless cars and buses. We have automated telephone calls going out. We have Siri and we have AI.
Now, you’re able to simply say, “Alexa, order this,” and you can order things online without even speaking to a human being.
So, I think that one of the reasons that live events are so powerful is that when people see you physically, in the flesh, they can easily get to know, like and trust you.
Many people talk about how it’s important to educate our patients, but I sometimes think that’s slightly condescending.
The word “educate” comes from the Latin word “educere,” which means “to draw out.”
So, we are not shoving it in, we are drawing it out. This is a skill and art that I will be elaborating on later in this book. A skill you must have if you wish to become a successful speaker – live or online via video.
My teachers and the people that I spend time with subscribe to the fundamental belief that genius is within every one of us already. Your job is to draw it out.
This fundamental belief lies very closely with the chiropractic philosophy that we have everything within us to be geniuses and that the process of healing is a genius process.
Part of education is letting someone know who you are and what you stand for.
So, while education can play a role in many of our talks, there is something deeper going on.
It’s less about educating your patients and more about creating a community.
That does not mean that the education isn’t really important. It is!
But when we say “education,” it’s more than that.
Part of education is letting someone know who you are and what you stand for.
Share your philosophy and why it’s important, but you don’t want to do this in such a way that makes you lose them.
It’s called gradience. You want to make sure that you meet people where they are at in some way, shape or form.
Now, I know some people hate that saying. But I’ve shared the stage with some of the biggest names on the planet, such as Robert Kiyosaki, and I will tell you that there is a legitimate concern about meeting your audience where they’re at. However, it’s a fundamental principle that can’t be ignored.
Another part of education is selling. Yes, I said it.
You are selling the process of what you stand for. You’re also in the ideal position to address a lot of objections.
There’s a sales principle that says you should deal with objections before they come up in your sales presentations and your copywriting. So, when you are talking, you are thinking about addressing objections, like:
n “I’ve heard that when I see a chiropractor, I have to keep on going forever.” n “I’ve heard that you’re going to try sell me something.”
n “I’ve heard that it hurts.”
You need to address a lot of these concerns subtly within your education process.
For me, one of the biggest points that I hammer home when it comes to education, and this is important if you want to build a high lifetime patient value or patient visit average (PVA), is that healing takes time.
This is called pre-framing. Essentially, it’s an effort to manage the often unreasonable expectations that your audience or the potential patient may have on how quickly you can “fix” them or solve their problem.
The truth is that we live in a world where you can have anything you want at the push of a button. Speaking is an ideal opportunity to effectively and educationally manage these expectations. This ultimately helps you attract the people you want to work with and sets you up for a long-term win.
That is important especially with the orientation classes that we’re going to talk about later in this book.
Not only do you teach, but you also manage expectations and build relationships.
If you want to read more about how talks can grow your practice, get my new book Practice Growth Speaking Secrets at Ryanriederbooks.com
