How to Actually Get Clients from a Business Talk

Let’s just start with an obvious truth: giving a free talk is a great way to get the word out about your business. You can present at the local library, which may host a series of free talks related to your business. Or a company may invite you in to present at a lunch meeting. Or you may reserve a room in a building and publicize it.

The event arrives and somewhere between a small handful and a large roomful of people show up. You give your talk, people kinda like it. It’s over, and you feel great or at least reasonably good about it.

And no one calls. No one. No clients, no appointments, no customers. Or, okay, maybe one.

Coming Away Empty Handed Is Painful

How many of these talks do you give before you give up? Do you have to learn how to give a better talk, or is there something else going on?

Both may be true. It may help to improve your talk in certain ways. And even if you do that, you’ll still come away empty-handed because of how people buy. Here’s how they buy: slowly.

To make a significant purchasing decision takes people weeks, months, years to arrive at. And yes, it’s a significant purchasing decision to buy from you. Coming to you for a session or a paid class is a big decision.

People in the audience may be interested, even very interested, in what you do. They may be thinking to themselves, “Hmmm, I bet it would be great to work with her.” And then they get shy. Or they worry about how much it’s going to cost. Or they think, “Not quite yet.”

They’re interested, they want to come towards you, but they don’t want to buy. And no matter how many of your business cards and brochures you give away, the phone calls don’t really come in.

A Free Talk is A First Journey Event

Marketing happens in three journeys for your clients. In the First Journey they are wandering around their life with a problem, looking for help. They come across your business, and they need two questions answered: 1. Are you my tribe? and 2. Can you really help me?

If they get reasonable assurance on these two points, they may just enter the Second Journey. The Second Journey is when they are willing to be in a slightly distant but ongoing relationship with your business. They want to know more, they want to be assured you are the real deal. And they are waiting for the right timing.

You’re right: I’m talking about having them on a list.

That’s what’s happening right now between us: you’re receiving this email because you’re in the Second Journey in regards to Heart of Business. You’re getting to know if we’re any good at what we do, and if it matches your values. And if you ever decide to purchase from us, you’re waiting for the right time to do so.

The Third Journey happens after someone pays you money for products or services, and hopefully they’re so wowed by what they receive that they send referrals.

Let me repeat the subhead above: Your free talk is a First Journey event. Although you may serendipitously pick up a client or two or three on occasion, in many cases the people in the audience will need more time.

So instead of hoping, invite them into the Second Journey and onto your list.

Sandwich the Invitation

You may have already tried inviting them with little success–few people signed up for your list. Maybe it was because you didn’t really make a serious invitation.

The usual scenario is someone winds up their talk, and in the last minute or two say, “Hey, if you want to be on my list…”

Of course, by then people are ready to leave. They aren’t going to want to spend more time “getting on a list.” And, besides, what does that really mean?

I encourage you instead to sandwich the invitation. Meaning, give your talk, take a few minutes to make a serious invitation to your list, and then finish up with time for Q&A.

By sandwiching your invitation in the middle, no one is trying to rush out the door. By highlighting it, and giving it the time it deserves, your audience can consider your invitation thoughtfully and make a real decision about being on the list.

Yes, you can feel awkward making the invitation. Here are some pointers.

Keys to the Invitation

• Take the Pressure Off

“Hey, I don’t expect you to want to hire me today, although I do hope you’re intrigued about getting more help with X. What I do want to do is invite you to join my email list/blog subscription, as a way to check out what I’m offering more slowly. Plus, the articles I’ll send you will add to what you’ve learned today. Even if you never hire me, I’m hoping the articles will support you.”

Now, instead of asking them to join a list or do nothing, you’re actually naming the unspoken issue in the room: you’re hoping they are going to hire you. In so doing, you’ve taken that pressure off. It’s a relief, and signing up for your list is a perfectly reasonable alternative that people will jump on now that they don’t have to duck out on the impending sales pitch.

• Walk Them Through the Feedback Form

Yes, I use a feedback form. (You can download the form we use at the end of the article.) And I don’t just hand it out. I pick up a copy, hold it up to the audience, and walk them through the sections.

“Here’s where to fill out your contact information–please write in block letters! It makes reading them so much easier. And here’s where you can sign up for our email list. If you want to be on the list, check this box right here, and make sure we can read your email address. And then below that are two questions and a comment area about this presentation. I’m constantly learning and growing, and I want to make sure this really works for you, so please take a couple of minutes to let me know how all of this landed with you.”

• Stand Silently

Then, I let them fill out the form. I don’t start taking questions, making another point, or tell Sufi jokes. I just stand there, silently. After a few minutes, I collect the forms, and then start the Q&A.

If something is worth doing, it’s worth giving that task time and attention. By taking time for folks to fill out the form, you’ll get quality responses.

Yes, I walk them through it, and then I hand out the forms. Taking this time really highlights each part of the form, and makes the request to join the list very upfront. It’s not a sneaky thing that I slipped onto a feedback form, it’s a straightforward request and offer.

The real trick to making a free talk work is having clarity about what’s next for the audience. Remember that it takes time for people to make significant purchasing decisions. So instead of selling, give real focus and attention to inviting folks onto your Second Journey list. Do that, and I bet you find many of the people in your audience become clients or customers over the weeks, months and years to come.

Here’s one version of the feedback form we use.