This week on The Digital Download, we dive into the strategic power of public speaking as a tool to grow your business. Our special guest, Lois Creamer, is a renowned consultant and author. Lois works with speakers, consultants, and subject matter experts, helping them build a successful speaking practice and unlock new revenue streams. Lois has helped countless professionals use speaking not just as a platform, but as a pivotal part of their business growth strategy.

We’ll explore questions like:

* How can public speaking be leveraged to promote your business?

* How do you turn a speech into new revenue streams?

* What are the first steps to start using speaking engagements for business development?

* What strategies can maximize the impact of every speaking engagement?

Lois’s decades of experience in the speaking industry and her innovative approach to positioning and monetization have made her a trusted partner for leading industry experts. Tune in for an engaging discussion on how public speaking can take your business to the next level.

We strive to make The Digital Download an interactive experience. Bring your questions. Bring your insights. Audience participation is highly encouraged!

This week we were joined by our Special Guest -

• Lois Creamer, renowned speaking consultant and author of Book More Business: Make MORE Money Speaking

This week's Host was -

• Rob Durant, Founder of Flywheel Results, a proud DLA Ignite partner

Panelists included -

• Tim Hughes, CEO & Co-founder of a DLA Ignite

• Adam Gray, Co-founder of a DLA Ignite, and

• Alex Abbott, Founder of Supero, a proud DLA Ignite partner

Transcript of The Digital Download 2024-10-04

Rob Durant [00:00:00]:

Good afternoon, and good day wherever you may be joining us from. Welcome to another edition of the digital download, the longest running weekly business talk show on LinkedIn Live. Now globally syndicated on TuneIn Radio through IBGR, the world's number one business talk, news, and strategy radio network. Today, we're leveraging public speaking to grow your business. We have a special guest, Lois Creamer, to help us with the discussion. With decades of experience in the speaking industry, her innovative approach to positioning and monetization has made her a trusted partner for leading industry experts. But before we bring Lois on, let's go around and introduce everyone. While we're doing that, why don't you in the audience reach out to a friend, ping them, and have them join us? We strive to make the digital download an interactive experience.

Rob Durant [00:00:59]:

Audience participation is highly encouraged. Right. With that, Adam, would you kick us off, please?

Adam Gray [00:01:08]:

Hi, everybody. I'm Adam Gray. I'm cofounder of DLA Ignite, and

Lois Creamer [00:01:15]:

speaking

Adam Gray [00:01:16]:

at events, something that I have loved in the past and loved doing, today, But but it has a it has a darker side to it as well that perhaps we can explore, when we're when we'll be going through the things with Lois shortly.

Rob Durant [00:01:32]:

Well, now I'm intrigued.

Adam Gray [00:01:34]:

It's not not that dark, frankly.

Rob Durant [00:01:37]:

Okay. Well, welcome. Alex, welcome.

Alex Abbott [00:01:43]:

Hello. It's great to be back. I felt like Great to have

Adam Gray [00:01:47]:

you back, Alex.

Alex Abbott [00:01:49]:

Oh, thank you. Thank you. So such a warm welcome back. So I'm, I'm, the bearded sales guy, otherwise known as Alex Abbott, and I've been way away for far too long. I'm really looking forward to today's session because if you recall, Adam and Rob, my first appearance on the digital download, wow, 3 years ago? It's almost 3 years ago, and I was terrified. I don't mind sharing that with you. I was absolutely terrified, and I think I spent the whole hour sitting here waiting patiently for somebody to ask me a question.

Rob Durant [00:02:30]:

How'd that go?

Alex Abbott [00:02:32]:

Yeah. It took a few weeks.

Rob Durant [00:02:38]:

Excellent. Welcome. Tim, good to see you.

Tim Hughes [00:02:44]:

Yes. Thank you. Had somebody at the front door. My name is Tim Hughes. I'm the CEO and cofounder of DLA Ignite. Welcome everybody. Great subject again this week, and I'm famous for writing the book, social selling techniques to influence buyers and change makers.

Rob Durant [00:03:03]:

Excellent. Thank you very much. And myself, I am Rob Durant, founder of Flywheel Results. I work with startups to help them scale, and I am a proud DLA Ignite partner. Alright. As I said, this week on the digital download, we'll speak with Lois Creamer, a renowned consultant and author. Lois works with speakers, consultants, and subject matter experts, helping them build successful speaking practices and unlock new revenue streams. Lois has helped countless professionals use speaking not just as a platform, but as a pivotal part of their business growth strategy.

Rob Durant [00:03:45]:

Let's bring her on. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning.

Lois Creamer [00:03:49]:

I'm happy to join you.

Rob Durant [00:03:52]:

Oh, fantastic. So glad to have you here.

Lois Creamer [00:03:55]:

Thank you.

Tim Hughes [00:03:56]:

Lois, there's a there's a rumor going around that you've got a book coming out. Is that right?

Lois Creamer [00:04:00]:

I I can't imagine how you heard that, probably from me.

Tim Hughes [00:04:04]:

Well, I just I just thought I'd get it in early.

Lois Creamer [00:04:06]:

Thank you.

Tim Hughes [00:04:08]:

Do do you have one by did you have do you have one by hand?

Lois Creamer [00:04:11]:

You know, it just by coincidence, I did.

Tim Hughes [00:04:13]:

Oh, wow. Wow.

Adam Gray [00:04:15]:

Congratulations. We get one?

Lois Creamer [00:04:17]:

Thank you. Well, actually, you can't get one right now. It's not coming out.

Tim Hughes [00:04:22]:

It's coming out. Even more now.

Lois Creamer [00:04:25]:

That's right. October 7th. It's the 2nd edition of my original book, Make Money Speaking. This one is called Make More Money Speaking, and I didn't use AI to create that title, by the way.

Tim Hughes [00:04:36]:

We're waving to you, by the way, Lois. I know you don't come here often, so this is we we always wave to Andrew. And Andrew sits at his desk and waves back that we can't stop.

Lois Creamer [00:04:46]:

It sounds good to me.

Tim Hughes [00:04:48]:

It's a it's a a long ongoing joke.

Lois Creamer [00:04:50]:

Tradition.

Tim Hughes [00:04:51]:

Yeah. Yes.

Rob Durant [00:04:53]:

Lois, that's fantastic. Let's start by having you tell us a little bit more about you, your background, and what led you to where you are today.

Lois Creamer [00:05:02]:

Well, I am here by total accident. It was never a plan, which is the way life happens for many of us. I worked in corporate sales and marketing for a number of years when I came out of college here in the States. And, really liked it, got a lot of great experience, and then left, corporate, to raise my daughter for a number of years, then threatened to go back to work. My husband would say, I threatened to go back. And, a college friend said, I'm having a professional speaker who lives here in Saint Louis call you. He's looking for somebody to run his business. And I told him, maybe you're ready to get back in the job market.

Lois Creamer [00:05:50]:

And I remember telling her, well, I wish you hadn't, but okay. So he called me, and we had a conversation. Wonderful, smart, brilliant speaker named Shep Hyken, speaker hall of famer here in the United States with National Speakers Association, well known, all around the world, quite frankly, and all the professional speaking associations. And Shep and I, had a great partnership for a number of years. I ran his business, and that's how I learned the business. And the National Speakers Association asked me to start doing some breakouts at their conventions for speakers on how to sell themselves, and that's how this all started. And I wondered if there could be a business in this for me. So a little over 20 years ago, I decided, I think I'll give this a shot.

Lois Creamer [00:06:37]:

I think I'll give this a try and see if there's a demand for it. And lo and behold, here I am today, and I can't tell you how surprised I am because listen. I remember showing up. We there was a mastermind group of very successful speakers in St. Louis. Right out of the gate, they invited me in, which I was totally shocked. And I remember going to my first mastermind meeting with these brilliant folks and telling them I've been in business, what time is it, since noon, and I don't even know what to charge. And one of them said, well, I think this was 1998.

Lois Creamer [00:07:15]:

They said, I think you ought to charge $50 an hour. And I said, $50 an hour? I'd have to have pantyhose over my face and a gun in my mail. $50 an hour. So I left that meeting, I I emailed everybody I had met in NSA, and Shep was wonderful, to me. Lo and behold, nobody balked. 6 weeks later, I went to my next mastermind meeting with these incredibly talented folks, and I said, I can't believe it, but nobody balked. And the same gentleman said, well, good. Because now your fee is $75 an hour when you walk out this door.

Lois Creamer [00:07:53]:

It's a and so that's kind of how I was able to, start my business by getting some great people around me, in the beginning and learning the business, from somebody who was very, very smart in it.

Rob Durant [00:08:07]:

Excellent. Nice.

Adam Gray [00:08:08]:

Love that.

Rob Durant [00:08:10]:

So let's start with the foundational question. How can public speaking be leveraged to promote a business? Can this work for any business?

Lois Creamer [00:08:21]:

Well, you know, I think it can work for most businesses. I you could pick one that that I might think it might not work for, but I really started my business based on my sense being around a lot of professional speakers that most speakers really sucked when answering the question, what do you do? Most answered by giving a vehicle that they use in the topic. So I speak on sales, I speak on leadership. I speak on I speak on and I thought that's not a very that that's not a very compelling way to describe what you do. So, I work with other businesses too, small businesses, mostly around St. Louis, and helping them position what they would say in reply to that question. That's really how I started. I think for anyone, being able to answer that question, what do you do, is a foundational element of business whatever business you're in, whatever size business you're in.

Lois Creamer [00:09:21]:

And being able to answer that to open the door to a conversation, to me, is the key. And that's really how I developed what I call a positioning statement, a concept and outcome statement of working with you for speakers. So, for example, if you ask me what I do, I could say I'm a consultant in the speaking industry, which really doesn't say much. Or I could say I work with speakers who want to book more business, make more money, and monetize their message, which says a lot more. It gives you some of the outcomes that I say I deliver. And I spoke on sales, to some corporate sales teams for a while under the banner fast forward selling, and my positioning statement for that, very simple very simple. I work with organizations that want to fast forward their selling skills so they'll be better at what they do. So it's just kind of a a a different approach, but I think any business has to be able to answer that question to get any opportunity to do anything.

Rob Durant [00:10:22]:

I wanna get your opinion on this. I I teach marketing to college students, and one of the things that we touch on briefly is the elevator pitch or career prep. And so often, they are asked, what do you do? And what I teach them is when somebody is asking you, what do you do? What they're really asking is the unsaid. What do you do for me? Does that align with what you're saying there in in the positioning statement?

Lois Creamer [00:10:55]:

Well, it does, Rob, because if I always say this. This is this will be the best way to answer your question, Rob. I always say this. If I say a positioning statement let's say I I give my positioning statement, I work with speakers who want to book more business, make more money, and monetize their message. I'm going to typically get one of 3 responses. Tell me more about that. How do you do that? Then I'm gonna talk about the vehicles that I use. Thanks for asking.

Lois Creamer [00:11:26]:

I do it through speaking, writing, membership groups, courses, consulting, any number of ways, however you put it out in the marketplace. Or the third is how nice for you. When somebody says how nice for you, it means we aren't speaking to them. It's not resonating with them, which I say is a good thing. We're all in sales. I want to know if this resonates or not. I need to be a good steward of my time, and I wanna honor your time. So if you have no interest in what I do, I think it's good for us both to know that.

Rob Durant [00:12:02]:

Absolutely. We have a a comment from the audience. Let's see. Bob Britton says, you can amp that up even more by saying, do you speak? If so, I'll help you make x dollars. It immediately makes them, mix it about them and thinking about the value they'll find in working with you. Thanks for that, Bob. So, Lois, I think I heard you allude to this. How do you turn a speech into additional revenue streams?

Lois Creamer [00:12:37]:

You know, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I started turning my speaking into my biggest revenue stream when I was speaking on sales totally by accident. I should probably say it was a strategic decision on my part. But I I worked for a company, did a program for their corporate, sales team. And after the program, 4 of their sales managers approached me altogether, which I thought was very interesting, asking me some questions, about my content. And when I came home, I always do what I call a follow-up thank you call to whoever hired me or brought me in to speak. So during my follow-up thank you call with the person who gave me the job at I said, you know, I found it interesting that 4 of your sales managers came up altogether wanting to talk to me about my content. And then I found myself saying one of my phrase that pays, do you think it would make sense? I said, do you think it would make sense for me to work with your sales managers to actually apply the ideas, tactics, and techniques I talked about in the platform? Because if you do, we could make that happen, and you wouldn't have to fly me out to California. And then he said the thing that just killed me.

Lois Creamer [00:13:55]:

How what would that look like, he said. Well, I had no idea. It was just I had no idea. But, of course, I didn't say it. No clue. I said, why don't I put something in an email, a little proposal for you to look at and think about? I'll have it on your desk in the morning. And he said, great. So I quickly flew to my bookshelf and got out Alan Weiss's book on consulting and came up with a 3 part proposal, very simple, 30, 60, 90 day plan.

Lois Creamer [00:14:27]:

Each level 3 levels, each one increased in price, wanting to sell the middle one. And I put it in email, sent it to him. The next morning, 10 minutes after he got it, he replied, I want plan b. And I wanna tell you I had a permanent indentation in my head from doing this. Why haven't I been doing this every time I speak

Tim Hughes [00:14:51]:

to

Lois Creamer [00:14:51]:

a private business or corporation? It was fascinating to me. It it's kind of like saying, how can I take a next step with a client after the speech and become more of a resource than just a speaker at an event? And this was the key, and I I call it aftercare. It's the last chapter in my book. And it's what can I do to enhance, to move on, to take that that next step? And it's worked it worked well for me when I used to speak on sales. I don't anymore. The only speaking I now do are the groups of professional speakers here in the States and around the world. But it worked really well for me, and I have to tell you it works very well for my clients.

Rob Durant [00:15:35]:

Excellent. Wanna bring up another comment that had come through when we were talking about elevator pitches. Scott Taylor says in an elevator pitch, people want to hear your story, but not your life story. Good point. Thank you, Scott. So So Lois oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Alex Abbott [00:15:55]:

Well, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna ask a question. You you it sounds like you spend most of your time helping speakers speak more effectively to to make more money as opposed to helping, you know, Joe Bloggs become a speaker. Is that is that, you know, did you just sort of end up there because you were so good at what you were doing, or was it

Adam Gray [00:16:17]:

a coincidence?

Lois Creamer [00:16:20]:

You know, I just do a a little piece in the speaking industry. I don't, tell people what their expertise is. They've gotta know that to work with me. I don't write speeches. I don't give people presentation skills. When you have all of those things, you come to me if you wanna monetize it.

Rob Durant [00:16:39]:

K.

Lois Creamer [00:16:40]:

So so people who are early in their careers, who may wanna jump start a business can be a great client for me, but they have to have all of those things in a row because I'm not really the content person for the speech. I want you to have it, and I want I want it to be proven in some way. I want you to be out there with it. You know it's received well, and you've got the ability to present it in in a compelling way. Then I'm I'm the person you come to when you wanna know, how do I get opportunities to get on platforms, and what else can I do with this intellectual property besides speak?

Alex Abbott [00:17:14]:

Yeah. So you talked about that positioning piece being the key. What what are some of the other things then that you teach people?

Lois Creamer [00:17:22]:

Well, a huge part of my I would say the the two biggest parts of my business are positioning and selling. How are you positioned? How are you positioning yourself in a powerful, compelling way in front of a buyer who really has an option to work with either you or there are a lot of other people like you who may be at different fee levels? So how do you make your best how do you make your best case? But sales is the big thing that, a lot of speakers don't like to do. And, you know, my message is you you can have the greatest message in the world, but it will go unheard if you can't sell it. And I, speak to I've just presented at 2 chapters here in the States for national speakers. I'm going up to the Canadian provinces to speak there, and my message is this. This is a sales job where you occasionally get to speak. That's that's what speaking is to me. Because if you can't sell it, you're not going to do it.

Lois Creamer [00:18:25]:

So you've got to be good at sales. And, I'm approached all the time by people who say, well, I just want an agent or someone to sell me. I just had this conversation yesterday. And I said to the gentleman I was talking to, so does everyone else. But most of us mere mortals have to learn to sell ourselves, and my advice is to outsource anything and everything in your business except selling, because the people who hire you to be on the platform want to hear from the source about what you have to say and what your take is on things.

Alex Abbott [00:19:02]:

Yeah. Perfect.

Rob Durant [00:19:05]:

So how do you identify the right speaking engagements that will have an the greatest impact on your business?

Lois Creamer [00:19:14]:

Well, you know, I'm a believer in in kind of a disciplined approach, Rob. I tell my clients that I think it's a good idea to think about target marketing early on in your business. And this can be counterintuitive, quite frankly, to a lot of people who think if I cast a wider net, I'll get more interest. But the opposite is really true. The more specific you are and where you would apply that expertise, the more interesting you are to buyers. And so I talk to people and about what their experience has been. However, I I worked for a little mom and pop in the United States. Maybe you've heard of it.

Lois Creamer [00:19:58]:

United States Steel Corporation. It's currently, Japan wants to buy it right now. There's a big but, when I worked there, it was a fortune 10 company, and this wasn't in the 1800. It wasn't that longer. But I knew that I didn't wanna speak in the manufacturing sector after having worked in their corporate in a number of years. I spoke for free in when I was doing my sales programs, I spoke anywhere and everywhere people were gathered and they would even have me. I mean, if if there were 3 people at a bus stop, I wanted to pull over, because I recognized that the key to getting quick traction would be in testimonials. Testimonials, I say, are the economic capital of a speaking practice.

Lois Creamer [00:20:51]:

They say to others that you can do what you say you can do. And so I spent a lot of time doing free presentations around, Saint Louis, where I live. In fact, I say I spoke at every chamber of commerce, probably within 200 miles of here. And I got some early business, which was interesting, from a bank. And I spoke to the bank, and they liked my program, and they said, well, we have other branches. We'd like to bring them all together. And I said, well, that sounds good to me. So they did.

Lois Creamer [00:21:23]:

And I decided not to tell that market that my only experience in the financial services industry was that I had a checking account and a savings account. That might make them a little nervous. But I I kept getting, some opportunities. So I started thinking. I my material resonates here. My sales selling services is seems to really be a a great sweet spot for me. So I looked for banks, credit unions, mortgage houses, insurance companies. And each time I worked for a bank, credit union, mortgage house, or insurance company, the next one was interested in me.

Lois Creamer [00:22:00]:

So, I think that target marketing is the quickest way, to get success, and it also, gives you direction. I I work with people all the time who jump into speaking, and they say, you know, I have been reaching out, and I'm getting no traction whatsoever. And the problem becomes this. When everyone is your market, who in the hell do you reach out to? I you know, inevitably, when I do, a program for National Speakers Association, I just did one in Tampa right before the hurricane. I was happy to get out. A gentleman approached me and he said I've got I'm newer, I've got a great program in customer service, I've got a customer service background. I said great. Where do you think that would really resonate? He said anyone who wants a real culture of service will love this program.

Lois Creamer [00:22:54]:

So I said, let's go call everybody and see if they're interested. And the problem is that when everybody's your market, you sit at your desk, and you don't know where to go because it's too overwhelming. When you pick a target market, when you pick a lane, you have an idea of where to go. And it doesn't mean that you can't speak in other markets. I mean, I some speaker bureaus in the United States, booked me when I was doing sales programs. I remember them calling saying, we've got, a gig we want you to do for the International Association of Flag Manufacturers. And I thought, well, isn't that interesting? And I said, I'd like to talk to them to make sure I'm a fit. And I was.

Lois Creamer [00:23:39]:

I was a fit. But after that event and they were happy, I didn't come back here to my office and say, okay. Who else in the flag manufacturing industry should I be looking out for? I went back manufacturing industry should

Rob Durant [00:23:50]:

I be looking out for? I went back to financial services.

Lois Creamer [00:23:50]:

But, so it doesn't preclude you from working in other industries, but it just gives direction as I'm looking to chart my own course. Because no one's going to think as much about my business and my busyness as I am. No bureau, no agent is going through.

Rob Durant [00:24:12]:

A couple of contrarian ideas there I wanna pick apart. But first, we have a comment from the audience. Laurie Richardson checking in. She says sales is the big thing. This is a sales job where you occasionally get to speak. So true. Proud to be in sales. Yes.

Rob Durant [00:24:30]:

Hey, Laurie. Thanks for checking in.

Lois Creamer [00:24:32]:

And and let me just say, Laurie, I you know, it wasn't until I was I was in my own business for a few years that I realized my entrepreneurial journey, which may be more than you wanna know, but you're gonna hear it anyway, began at age 11 when I started offering to walk dogs in my neighborhood for people who were gone all day and didn't get home till 6. So I said after school, I'll come and I'll walk your dog. And the youngest of 4, I made more money than any of my siblings. And then it kind of grew into when you're going on vacation in the summer, you can take your dog to a kennel or I'll watch it in the home and walk it. And, of course, because I'm a dog lover and I felt sorry for the dogs being alone, I was all day I was going from house to house spending time with the wife. So really, I that's when I started thinking, I wonder if there's a need that I could fill. But, really, you can't do anything with your great talent, with your great abilities if you can't sell it and if you can't talk about it in a highly promotional way. I realize I'm speaking to the choir here with each other.

Adam Gray [00:25:39]:

So let let's assume that I'm, I'm moderately competent in front of an audience, and, I'm able to present stuff. So how can I use speaking as a tool to promote what it is that I do if I don't want to be an event speaker as a career? Or or I don't envisage that as being my future. Because many of the people that tune into the show will run small businesses and would love to have a captive audience. And and my comment at the very beginning about the darker side of this is, and Tim and I have seen this many, many times, you go to an event and someone is being paid to speak and they're a brilliant speaker. You go to an event and somebody is speaking for free, well, it becomes a pitch. And that's kind of quite distasteful for the audience in many instances. So so how do I, not wanting to pitch to an audience, make use of speaking as as a tool to Well,

Lois Creamer [00:26:44]:

let me just say this. If if you're in an audience and someone is pitching to you, it's not the fault of the pitcher. It's the fault of the meeting planner who did not set up the criteria, the rules of engagement for that program. And, there is never a time, ever, never, ever, where I have gone on a platform without understanding very clearly the terms of engagement. And that's my responsibility. That's my responsibility. And it's the meeting planner's responsibility to let me know, but I am very proactive, doing what I call pre preprogram work. I did listen.

Lois Creamer [00:27:30]:

I did a preprogram questionnaire before every event I did. I wanted to know who's in the audience, how what would a win look like to you, what's the most important thing you want me to accomplish, what is the audience makeup. I think this Adam, I think it is so important, and I will share with you. I got back a preprogrammed questionnaire. Adam, I was invited to present at the International Association of Ticket Brokers. You won't be surprised. It was in Las Vegas. And on the preprogram questionnaire, it said, your audience will be primarily men.

Lois Creamer [00:28:09]:

I was doing a breakout, about 300 people, predominantly men. So I always like to go down early. I like to ask people, why are you here? What resonant what did you come here wanting to know? Because if it's something I can add, I'll add it. I went down and realized in short time, the room had 298 men, one woman sitting in the front row smiling, and me. And, I was That is predominantly men, isn't it?

Rob Durant [00:28:42]:

Predominantly men.

Lois Creamer [00:28:43]:

Yeah. But totally. Very clear, wasn't it? I realized early on and by the way, I was introduced and was met with a smattering of applause. And I was met with a lot of people with their arms crossed. And I knew that there I had to say something. There was an elephant in the room, and so I literally was introduced, came out and said, I'll be right with you. And I walked down the platform and the room was set up classroom style. I had pictures of water.

Lois Creamer [00:29:19]:

I took there was a pitcher I took a napkin and dunked it in the water. Wrung it out, went back up on stage, and started dabbing my neck and my head, and I said, You gentlemen will have to excuse me. I'm having hot flashes today. And I bet I have enough estrogen coursing through my veins to counteract all the testosterone looking at me right now with their eyes. And I wanna tell you, we had a great meeting. Because their arms went down, everybody started laughing. And, it just loosened everybody up. We had a great meeting.

Adam Gray [00:29:58]:

So so on that, was that, was that a prepackaged comeback that you'd already thought of? Did you do that on the spirit?

Lois Creamer [00:30:06]:

No. Because I did not think I wasn't going to, make a big deal about, that it was predominantly men. I mean, I might have said something off the cuff, you know, during the program, but, no. This was not a plan because I had no idea that that's how they defined prominently men. But, you know, when I was introduced, the one woman in the front row was really happy, but, I mean, I could the energy in the room was not with me

Rob Durant [00:30:35]:

Yeah.

Lois Creamer [00:30:35]:

Because I knew that all of the men sitting there, and I'm not I'm not, criticizing anyone, but they were thinking, what is she gonna have to tell me? That's what was going on in the room. So I knew I had to do something to counteract that in order to be really effective. And I had an association management group here in the States that sent me to a lot of the associations that they represented, and he was sitting in the room. So I really wanted him to be happy. And, so I knew I had to do something, and I really I really just thought of it. And and I have to tell you, the room was really warm. I wasn't really having hot flashes. But the room was really warm at the time, and I thought, you know, this doing something humorous might put some defenses down.

Rob Durant [00:31:25]:

Mhmm. Yeah.

Lois Creamer [00:31:26]:

And it really did. I think it was a better program because I acknowledge that. And I think people you know, there's nothing more disarming than humor. Yeah. And the effective use of humor worked for me that day because it set me up for, for a successful event where I could make a difference, and that's what I was hired to do.

Rob Durant [00:31:49]:

Nice. Lois, some of the things that you said are counter to what most people starting out in business believe. For example, most people starting out in business want to sell to everyone, and you said everyone is not your audience. You also referenced speaking for free. How can a business effectively measure the ROI from speaking engagements if you're speaking for free?

Lois Creamer [00:32:20]:

Well, you know, the first part of your question, I'll answer this way. I think of speaking and consulting as intellectual property business. That I tell speakers that's the business you're in. You're in the intellectual property business. And I think selling intellectual properties is a little bit different than selling other things. For example, free speaking, Rob. I think we have to give away a lot in the intellectual property business to get paid to do what we do. And, you know, going back to something that Adam asked me and you're asking me now, Rob, about free.

Lois Creamer [00:32:56]:

When I speak to the National Speakers Association, Professional Speakers Association in Europe and around the world, I'm going up to Canada in a couple of weeks to speak there, they don't pay me a fee. They don't pay me a fee. They pay all my expenses, and they have to treat me like a queen, but they don't pay me a fee. Now so is that dumb? To me, I call that marketing. I am standing in front of my highly defined target market, giving a program, and my sense has been, and this has worked with for me for 20 years, if I'm in front of a target market and they like what I have to say, when they might need some help in their speaking practice, their intellectual property business, I think they'll give me a call and at least give me, a chance for business. And that's what's worked really well for me. Mhmm. Now I'm not against being paid.

Lois Creamer [00:33:54]:

I used to be paid when I did sales programs, but this is the key. When you're starting out, the most the most important thing, even more important than money, is the experience and the testimonials. The the people objectively saying, she came and she gave us some great strategies on sales. She is definitely worth your time. And let me tell you, I put every testimonial I got up on my website. I didn't say waive to my fee for this. I didn't say didn't charge for this, and no one looked at a testimonial on my website and said, were you paid for the nobody asked me that. And, you know, I'll also say this, that, new clients and I never speak for free.

Lois Creamer [00:34:49]:

I say there are certain situations where I'm willing to waive my fee. And in fact, on for when I was doing fast forward selling, I had a frequently asked questions, page. First question, do you speak for free? Answer, absolutely. I look for 8 to 10 opportunities a year where I'm willing to waive my fee in consideration of value. If you'd like to apply to be one of them, let me know, and I'll send you some information. So I was very choosy, and my clients are very choosy. I waived my fee, for example, for some big association meetings where everybody in the audience was a buyer, and the fee that they would have paid me to present there was chump change compared to how I was able to leverage it for everybody in the audience who went back to their individual business and said, She had a great message. We ought to bring her in.

Lois Creamer [00:35:48]:

I looked at it like a giant showcase. So I think you just need to be smart as we do in all of our business decisions, as you all do every day. So what what is the consideration? Sometimes it's it's if they don't everything's negotiation now in speaking industry. So it's it's negotiating for what you can get. Do they have money, and then can I bridge that gap with what value? And I'm the one who gets to decide what the value is. And I can always say, you know what? It would be unfair to my clients who pay me my fee to take this engagement. I can always say that. But it's always an individual decision, and value can be very subjective.

Lois Creamer [00:36:32]:

And it may be, what do you need in your business right now that this company can, can help you get? Introductions, referrals, bringing you back again at full fee within a calendar year. Can you get are they having the the meeting professionally videotaped? Can you get the master footage and use it as you might want to to promote yourself? There are a number of strategic things, and I've got again, I'm going to say about a chapter in my book about what do you consider value when you do have to bridge that gap or when you may be willing to waive your fee for value consideration to make sure that you are getting what you should be getting as a professional out of the engagement.

Alex Abbott [00:37:16]:

Mhmm. Adam, I mean, this is brilliant, and and I just love the confidence, and I love the approach. I'm definitely gonna rewatch this again after afterwards. Adam, at the beginning, you were talking about sort of the dark side of speaking. I don't know if that was a little bit tongue in cheek Or

Lois Creamer [00:37:34]:

Well, it well, it was.

Adam Gray [00:37:35]:

It was that comment about turning it into a pitch. You know? And and I think you're absolutely right, Lois. You know? If if you are a, if you're booking people for an event, you need to be very clear about what the expectation is, whether or not you're paying a fee or not. However, I've still been the victim of many sales, and I use the word advisedly, the victim of many sales pitches when I turned up to hear somebody speak. Because the fact that you're not being paid to speak, that's not my problem. I'm in the audience.

Lois Creamer [00:38:10]:

That absolutely right.

Adam Gray [00:38:12]:

I'm here to be educated and entertained. And, actually, if this is so let me tell you a little bit about our business and where we've come from and what we I'm not interested. I I'd rather go and spend the time in the bar, frankly. And and I think that that that has has made a very a very noticeable dichotomy at speaking events.

Lois Creamer [00:38:33]:

Well, now that's a business that is a a, way of doing business in professional speaking, is speak to sell. I think the the problem becomes when the audience doesn't know this, and they show up thinking and, again, I'm I'm going to blame the meeting professional who put this together. Then they show up. I listen. Adam, I will never forget. I went to hear somebody. I'm not going to say his name, but he's very well known. He had a rally here in Saint Louis.

Lois Creamer [00:39:04]:

And several, speaker friends and I went

Adam Gray [00:39:07]:

Is he is he the very tall guy?

Lois Creamer [00:39:09]:

I'm not going to say any names. And we heard him speak, and he segued into selling vitamins. And I remember I I remember I was so appalled. I said, well, I turned to my friends. I said, I'm out here. This this is it's not like here's a book. If you like what I have to say, you can read more about me or vitamins. And so I did not understand that that was going to be part of it.

Lois Creamer [00:39:46]:

And, it bothered me enough that I actually left. Some of my friends stayed. A couple left with me. But, there's nothing wrong with that with that model business model. What is wrong is when it's a surprise to the audience.

Adam Gray [00:40:04]:

Yeah. And and actually and and because I'm not in the speaking industry, Wernie, on the very periphery of it, I'm happy to say this, you know, but I went to a Tony Robbins event at a big and it was exactly that. You know, he had the 5,000 people in the room. He had the meeting out of his hand. And then it segued perfectly from, and you need to think about this, and you need to have a dream, and you need to do this. And if you want to come and learn more about this, we have a special event, which is coming up in a month's time, and it's only $5,000 if you book it now. Who would like to come? And and I felt, I felt dirty as a result of that, how he segued from the give, give, give into a take, take, take. And that was very different to the experience I had when I saw Brian Tracy speak, who was just lovely.

Adam Gray [00:40:47]:

You know? He was up for a whole day sharing 50 years of experience with the audience, and the the sale from him was implicit rather than explicit. And that was what was so nice about that and and a big contrast between the 2.

Lois Creamer [00:41:03]:

Well, you know, when I when I'm speaking to, groups of professional speakers, I'm not going to stop and say, hey. I've got these great packages, but, I mean, this is how I make my living. Because my sense is this, and especially at this point, I was blonde when I started, folks, so I've been doing this a while. My sense is this. If people like what I have to say, they're gonna be drawn to find out more about me if they have a need for what I offer, and I'm going to hear from them. And this has been my experience. So I don't sell from the platform. I don't like it.

Lois Creamer [00:41:36]:

I don't I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it for people who do it. I'm not comfortable with it. So I, have my own way of approaching this, and it's worked really well for me. But I don't tell people that they shouldn't do certain things. I'm just saying what my what my comfort level is. And, really, I've approached sales all of my life this way. You know, I always tell people my sales style, and I know I'm speaking to sales guys here, has never been, so what would it take to put you in this car today? That that is just not my sales style is so at this point, do you think it would make sense for me to work with your people on upping their sales game? That's that's the way I sell. And the reality is for when you're in the intellectual property business, that's the best way to sell.

Lois Creamer [00:42:31]:

Relationships rule in business in every business. They rule in speaking. But the value of, being able to do to sell intellectual properties in more of a softer sale to kind of nudge people along. I'm always telling people, my clients, all I'm trying to do is ascertain, am I a fit for what you need to accomplish? And if I'm not, can I give you a referral to somebody who is? And then when I may be, I bet you're gonna think of me.

Alex Abbott [00:42:59]:

Mhmm. Mhmm. So we we have a a question from the audience

Rob Durant [00:43:03]:

I want to bring up. Andrew Slessor asks, is the key lesson to public speaking to express your passion for the topic that engages the audience and leaves them wanting more?

Lois Creamer [00:43:18]:

It depends upon what you're hired to do. I think it's never a negative thing to leave people with more interest than they walked in the door with. But if you're there to answer specific specific critical questions, then I want to know that going in so that I can accomplish what the person who has hired me wants to accomplish. This is the absolute key thing about speaking to me is, when when you're talking with someone about a speaking opportunity, when I'm being hired, I want to know what is it that you want to accomplish, and what will it look like if I'm successful to you? Not what would it look like to me. What would it look like to you, to the person who's writing me a check? And I think that these are the things that we have to cover before an event. It's to me, it's part of the sales process ascertaining fit.

Rob Durant [00:44:19]:

Alex, you were asking?

Alex Abbott [00:44:21]:

Well, just taking a a step back, you were talking about speaking to sell. And in my mind, I was thinking, well, okay. Great. But how do you do that? Are we speaking to educate and then people buy from you?

Lois Creamer [00:44:37]:

The answer is yes.

Alex Abbott [00:44:39]:

Yeah.

Lois Creamer [00:44:39]:

But but what in a speak to sell, it's education and sales. So they're giving you an opportunity. They're asking you to educate, but they're giving you an opportunity in lieu of getting a check to promote what you want to promote. So it's it's, you know, it's it's a mix.

Rob Durant [00:44:57]:

So you get that.

Alex Abbott [00:44:59]:

Yeah. Sorry.

Lois Creamer [00:45:00]:

Yeah. It's it's a mix.

Alex Abbott [00:45:02]:

You so you would that question you said earlier that actually I'm gonna write down in a minute. So at this point, you know, is it about time I should be working with your team? Something along those lines. Do you do you do that in your speaking gig to the audience?

Lois Creamer [00:45:17]:

No. Never. Separate. I never did, but, I didn't do speak to sell. I did that was not my part of my business plan. It's part of business plan for a lot of people who are very good at it. That was not something that I chose to do. So that was that was what I would say to get the gig, or afterwards to convert it into what I called aftercare.

Lois Creamer [00:45:40]:

How can I take a next step with with my, with my customer, to help reinforce and implement some of the ideas that I talked about? And not everybody says yes on this stuff. You know? People can say no. I will say that when when I would ask a decision maker after a program, do you think it would make sense for me to work with your sales managers, there's always sales team, to implement these ideas? If they said no, I think they sounded stupid. Now I'm it's not like I'm trying to make people sound stupid. I'm just trying to make them think

Alex Abbott [00:46:17]:

Yeah.

Lois Creamer [00:46:18]:

Before they say a no. It may be a no for whatever reason. We don't like you. We don't, you know, for we we we don't have the budget for it. It could be a no for any reason. But I want people to think about it because I I want people to to be thinking, really, okay. We just spent several $1,000 to bring you in. But, no, we're not interested in implementing it.

Rob Durant [00:46:46]:

That checks. Cesar asks. Cesar, I'll I'll I'll lay Alentara. Oh, I apologize, Cesar, but I try. How can AI leverage the way you strategize public speaking and use the tools necessary to education and fit within a model's organization to build value and create impact for further future referrals to attain sustainability in a global complex environment?

Lois Creamer [00:47:17]:

Well, listen, if I even understood that question, let me just say what my understanding of what you're asking is, friend, and AI has changed the game for people in, intellectual property businesses and in speaking, is what I'll talk about because that's my area. It has, added an incredible ability for us. I remember when I was doing sales, in financial services, and I told you my experience was I had a checking account, which wouldn't have given people a lot of confidence bringing me in necessarily. So I read every industry periodical, every newsletter, every article. You know, Google would get these for me. Every morning, I would have these and read them. So I could really be up to date on what was going on in my chosen industry. Now I can go to chat GPT and say, what are the top ten things that keep CEOs and financial service firms up at night? And I can under I can get a clear understanding of some of the challenges in this industry that I might not be familiar with.

Lois Creamer [00:48:30]:

So AI has really enable enabled us to do market intelligence, much more quickly and effectively. It's also helped, I think, in content curation. I look at AI as a tool, not as an end result. I think that that's very important for people to realize. But I just did, was just talking with we have an expert in, in in National Speakers Association in the United States, Terry Brock. He's a CSP, certified speaking professional, speaker hall of famer. And Terry speaks on the future of work in AI. And I remember talking to Terry, when I was in Tampa a couple weeks ago, and he was in the audience.

Lois Creamer [00:49:19]:

And I remember saying to him, remember when the Internet remember, I was blonde when I started my business. When the advent of the Internet, when people said, well, this is just gonna be the Roy Nation of every we'll never let this in schools. Schools will never well, it's the same kind of thing with AI right now. We are just at the dawn Yeah. Of the day. I think that, learning these tools, I I use right now, I use chat GPT. I use Perplexity. I use a program called Opus, for, clips doing clips that I used to pay people to take clips out of speeches that I did and and put online.

Lois Creamer [00:49:58]:

Now I can go into Opus AI and say, give me clips under, a minute from this program. Click a button there in front of me, and then it says, where would you like this placed? And it lists all the social media channels. So it enables us to be very productive. Now we have AI that reasons with us. I have conversations now with chat g p t.

Alex Abbott [00:50:26]:

Yeah.

Lois Creamer [00:50:28]:

And so this I think that this is gonna be very, very exciting. I think the problem is going to be when people start using it as the end result of everything. Use it for all of your writing. These things are not going to go well if you do. Plus, I think that when you're in intellectual property business, if you read a book that I've written and it doesn't sound like I've sounded in our time together today, there's gonna be a very big disconnect. I have always come with an opinion. I have a lot of experience in this industry. I don't know much about a lot of things.

Lois Creamer [00:51:03]:

This industry, I know a hell of a lot about. So I come with a point of view. I'm can be a contrarian, some people might say.

Adam Gray [00:51:12]:

No. Surely not.

Lois Creamer [00:51:14]:

And if my writing doesn't sound like that, you're it's going to turn people off. So you have to be very careful how you use it, but I think it's going to be we're just at the beginning of the wonderful things it can do for us.

Adam Gray [00:51:27]:

Yeah. It's true. Mhmm. Absolutely.

Rob Durant [00:51:30]:

Lois, we're coming to the end of our time, but I wanted to ask because you've referenced it more than once. Can you talk us through the basic frameworks of what you mean by aftercare?

Lois Creamer [00:51:42]:

Yes. Aftercare is, as I said, what how can I take a next step in implementation? You know, when I brought in, when I was brought in to do a sales program, I did anywhere from an hour to a half day, 3 hours typically in our business. Some people do a whole day. I did up to a half day, because that's all I wanted to do, I decided. And so then it's how much information can I impart? So I'm going to give people strategies, but then if they want a road map to get there or help to get there, that's what aftercare is for, for me. It's it's how can they implement. So specific implementation steps in my aftercare were having weekly sales meetings with sales managers, doing individual coaching with sales managers, writing some specific articles, that were geared just for them. It might be situational responsiveness.

Lois Creamer [00:52:43]:

They can email me at any time with a concern. I had one who bought the highest price option, which is the one I really didn't wanna sell, but I I charged more for it. So if they did, it kind of, I could buy a lot of aspirin with the money that, that they paid me when they gave me a headache. But they could call me if they had if they had a question, and I would get back to them. And I always took that very seriously, responsiveness. I think that's, you know, incredibly important. So it aftercare can be anything. It can also be, I have a course, and I'm gonna allow your employees to access it for the next 60 days.

Lois Creamer [00:53:20]:

Aftercare can even be, now speakers are are being videotaped everywhere. Aftercare can be, I used to always give, my clients who were videotaping me a certain free period of time to use that tape for people who couldn't be there at the presentation or people who might wanna watch it again. So I might say I'll give you 30 days access to this video. At the end of 30 days, I'll offer you an opportunity to license extended use of it. And if they wanted to, great. If they didn't want to, then I typically, it's on their server. I would say, please remove it from your server. I'd put that in writing.

Lois Creamer [00:54:02]:

And, I was just asked in a program I did the other day, well, how do you know they removed it from their server? And I said, well, I can hire a lawyer and sue them over my little feet, probably not. Does wouldn't make sense. Or I could get a black turtleneck, a black calf, and a mask, sneak in at night into the company, try and find their server and remove it. Or I can say, please remove it. And if they don't, I consider it marketing, and I'm never gonna give it another thought. And so these are all the ways I'm always looking for how can speakers monetize their message after the event? Because it is not practical anymore to have a business, a speaking business, where all you do is get on planes, speak, come home, get on the next plane, speak. It's just too difficult now. And we know now more than ever that people like to learn in many ways, so let let's offer a number of ways that people can, tap into our expertise.

Lois Creamer [00:55:10]:

That's what Afrobar is.

Rob Durant [00:55:13]:

Lewis, this has been great. Can you tell us one more time about the book?

Lois Creamer [00:55:18]:

Love talking about the book. It it's

Rob Durant [00:55:20]:

You got a book, Lewis. It's it's got me. Said. I know.

Tim Hughes [00:55:24]:

You've not mentioned yet.

Lois Creamer [00:55:26]:

This is the original. Notice how much they look alike. This has the new book has, new information on licensing and AI and virtual presentations and how to roll these. I redid it because my first, edition didn't have the word virtual in it. So I decided I needed to rewrite it. But it's all about, how to book more business, make more money, and monetize your expertise. That's really what it's about. It's, a very niche book.

Lois Creamer [00:56:00]:

I will tell you when I first wrote it, somebody said, well, how do you think it will do? And I said, well, I think it's gonna sell in the tens. And they said, of 1,000? I said, no, the tens. And that's it. My family buys it. It's so much. It's done incredibly well for me. I'm amazed. And so that's why I I decided it was definitely worth going back and doing a second edition.

Lois Creamer [00:56:21]:

I'm very excited about it. It'll be out next week.

Alex Abbott [00:56:24]:

Where where can you buy it?

Lois Creamer [00:56:26]:

You can buy it at Amazon.

Alex Abbott [00:56:28]:

K.

Rob Durant [00:56:30]:

And where can people learn more about you? How can they get in touch with you?

Lois Creamer [00:56:34]:

Well, my company is Book More Business, and my website is bookmorebusiness.com And so feel free to reach out, lois@bookmorebusiness.com My contact information is all on there. If I can ever help anybody, I've got a number of resources on there that you might find helpful. Feel free to reach out there.

Rob Durant [00:56:52]:

Excellent.

Lois Creamer [00:56:53]:

Okay then.

Rob Durant [00:56:55]:

We now have a newsletter. Don't miss an episode. Get show highlights beyond the show insights and reminders of upcoming episodes. You can scan the QR code on screen or visit us at digital download dot live forward slash newsletter. On behalf of our panelists, to our guest, Lois, to our very active audience, thank you all for being a part of Digital Downloads. Thanks, Bryce. And we'll see you next time.

#PublicSpeaking #BusinessGrowth #ThoughtLeadership #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #SocialEnablemenet #LinkedInLive #Podcast