The Single Best Way to Set Yourself Apart From Every Other Speaker or Interview Guest With Nancy Juetten

In the old days, if someone asks us to talk about ourselves, we are happy to do it and we waxed on without having any particular objective. But in today’s economy, what most independent service providers want is more clients, more prospects, more leads, and more speaking engagements; largely in that order. In order for you to get any of those outcomes, you need to make clear what is in it for the ideal decision maker first. You need to know who that ideal decision maker is and know what big outcome they want.

They need to know why you are the best available athlete to deliver the magic. To oversimplify it, when you know your ideal audience and the big outcome and why you – when you answer those questions, you have the essence of what a client attracting message is all about.

“Author, speaker, coach” is the most generic way to describe yourself – Avoid using it!

To the extent that we can all lead with client attracting messages that show the big wow that is in it for them, the more likely it is they would want to take that step forward and take more interest in how we can help them. That turns the whole bio thing on its ear because it is not what you have done for your whole lifetime lately, it is how you can help meet it today and how quickly, more easily, and more readily can you get me to the outcome over other choices I might have? That is where we need to put our focus in if we wanted to be booked as a speaker, booked onto the stage, or get hired by our clients with big bucks.

So those three things, it’s not about waxing poetic for yourself, it is about what you can do for your ideal clients and how quickly you can get to the outcome that they come to you for in the sea of your competitors. You have some magic to get them there. People are stuck in the whole idea about talking about themselves because they don’t want to brag, but when they do talk about themselves, they do not know how to do it. Do you have some sort of secret sauce for getting over that and making that leap to figuring out who your ideal clients are and then showing them how you can get to the outcome for them. I’d love for you to share a couple of sections from somebody’s bio.

I have a couple of examples that are on the tip of my tongue. If someone wanted to be booked on a big stage as a keynote speaker, sometimes, someone will make the mistake of putting their name and right under their name they will say, author, speaker, coach. Right out of the box, that is the approach that Mary Jane put to the bottom of the stack, because author, speaker, coach is the most generic way to describe yourself. It’s almost like throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping that one of those labels will stick.

Compare that “author, speaker, coach” to “the disarmingly powerful relationship with money keynote speaker.” One says, “generic-generic-generic,” the other one says, ” the disarmingly powerful relationship with money keynote speaker.” If you are a decision maker, you know what this second person is talking about and you know if you want it or not. That means that you’ve captured the attention at “Hello.”

The person I’m speaking of is Morgana Rae. She came to me not long ago because she was attending a very large, by invitation only, strategic partner conference. Her goal was to get booked on at least five major stages as a direct result of being at that event.

I said to take a look on how you are presenting yourself on paper to these people. It said her name “author, speaker, coach” and it did not have any specificity around her number one topic that she most liked to talk about, the audience take away points that the people are going to hear, or how to book her. It did not say anything about what audience members or meeting planners have said. I pulled around the red bow and we pulled out the pearls and we presented this new and improved version to these audience members that she wanted to influence.

She came home with five new speaking gigs who booked her at “Hello.” Because the topic she talked about was sassy, provocative, and memorable. The take away points were crystal clear and have enough ingenuity, curiosity, and intrigue that compelled the people. She made it easy for them to want to book her that they did.

The take aways here are pretty abundant. Don’t lead with, “I’m an author, speaker, coach,” lead with the biggest impact that you bring about. Make it easy for them to book you. Find the proof on your claims so that you can be the one they choose over people with far more generic answers.

I’m studying neuroscience as it relates to sound bites, but also as it relates to messaging. Nancy, you and I already know a lot of these things and do them, and tell our clients to do them. However, we’ve always known these things to be true, but we didn’t have a neuroscience background, but in terms of what you just said, “Lead with the biggest impact statement,” this is all neuroscience based so people can get attention in an instant. It lights up what’s called the lizard brain.

The second part of that is if you make that statement, you need to back it up with proof to set yourself apart from every other speaker. There are so many frauds on the internet right now of people saying what they are doing, but thing is they don’t really have the social proof. This is what the media is doing, they are looking to vet you.

If you have just generic social proof that isn’t really saying anything about your impact, it’s really pretty meaningless. You do have to stand out in all this noise because everybody is professing to be expert at something where they might just have finished a course on it.

Let’s take Morgan as an example, on the backside of her speaker sheet, she has enough experience and track record in the world that she could have a two page speaker sheet. There is a whole column on the back that says, “Event planners and audiences love Morgana. I got more from Morgana’s 45min speech than 3 days at this Millionaire Mind intensive. As an event planner who has promoted over 75 events, this is what sets apart Morgana from the others. Thank you.” And, “In 60 minutes I have learned more about money than what I have been taught in 39 years.”

She also showcases the media logos where she is been proudly showcased: ABC, Fox, PBS, NPR, Wallstreet Journal, and Yahoo.com. Visually, you can take one look and you will see that she is a media darling at “Hello.”

The headline says: Why Morgana is the right choice for your event. Funny, insightful, and original, Morgana delivers high impact programs for your audiences with the low maintenance experience for you. Your audience will laugh and cry and race to the back of the room. A true professional! She will personally ensure that your group will be fully engaged, empowered, and inpired to take action.”

It then says: “Don’t wait another minute, book Morgana, the world’s leading relationship with money expert today for your next conference, live event, or large workshop. She speaks from live and virtual stages around the world and travels from Los Angeles International Airport.”

Check this piece out, “Whether addressing an intimate group or standing room only arena, count on Morgana to bring up the vibe and bring down the house. She inspires audiences’ to invest in themselves so everyone wins.” Everything about this is a service to the decision maker to insure that they don’t make a mistake bringing a newbie to the stage who does not deliver on their promises. She has the proof, she has the media darling status, she has a very media-genic appearance as demonstrated by her very attractive headshots, and most importantly, she makes clear you can call her, send her an email, or check out her website. She is the real thing. You should hire her.

If every speaker modeled what she is doing so well, they would probably get a whole lot more gigs and also have the confidence, and the clarity, and the conviction to get booked that they might be missing right now because it isn’t packaged properly.

The testimonial really quantifies exactly what she gave with numbers which is so important to have. She gave really hard, direct numbers. You have this outline for anyone on any stage even if you are beginning as a speaker?

Oh, Yes! Let’s just be really clear about that, from a tiny acorn, a might oak can grow. When you and I met in 2008, all I had was 500 opt-in subscribers, a lot of enthusiasm and content knowledge, but I had not proven myself to be a sound bite genius myself, and I not taken really huge stages. But you know what? Being prepared for opportunity was the single best differentiator that set me apart and got me booked over people that, I call, have green room attitude.

Do you remember, Susan? You where having some really big thing a number of years ago and you had all these really big names, and I remember making the approach to you saying, “I’ve been a fan of your work for many years, I know you have a really big deal coming up and you’ve got some of the biggest names in the industry, and in the unlikely event that one of them falls off the edge of an open cliff and you have an open spot, won’t you please give me your consideration?” And what happened then, do you remember?

Yes of course I do! I remember that because of the way that you approached me in a respectful way, not pushy at all, and very enthusiastically – and I knew you had this tiny list; these were people who had a list of typically 50,000 and more and you had 500. I did not wait for somebody to drop out. I included you because I thought that you had enormous potential. What happened was that your tiny list pulled second to one of the top marketers in the industry. Percentage wise, you pulled in second beyond all these big marketers. Others had hundreds of thousands of people on their list. You were number two percentage-wise.

I remember being enormously impressed because I was also tracking links on the website, which link did someone click through to buy on, and his people clicked on link number one which was after about a paragraph of copy. That displays enormous loyalty, and a lot of your people did too. I really looked at that and said, “Wow! These people really trust her. She’s someone to be watching.” Now look where you are today.

How you show up, serve others and deliver what you promise is what makes people remember you.

Then, you invited me to speak in Seattle at a woman’s organization and stay in your home. You filled a room with people, paid for me to fly out there, give a talk about something that I loved, got to stay with you. I got to hang out with you, you even had a party for me where I met these other amazing women. This is what can happen when you reach out and you are prepared in some way, that you are respectful, and you have something to offer someone that other people don’t have. You make it know with what is your biggest impact here? You didn’t promise me anything, you promised me that your people were loyal. I got that you were someone who your people loved.

There are a couple of things that will be very hopeful and inspiring for people who feel like they are acorns instead of big oak trees. I felt like I was a tiny acorn for way too long. How you do anything is how you do everything whether you are an acorn or a really big tree. How do you show up and how you serve others and how you thoughtfully deliver what you promise is what makes people remember you or not. When I reached out to you as a relative new comer, I made a winning approach; I came from my heart with big intention. You gave me a lift up as I was climbing. I’ve never forgotten that. As you’ve demonstrated that to me, there are other people that think I’m an oak tree now and say, “This is what I’m up to. Will you lend support to what I’m doing? Can I be on your tele-summit? Can I be on your show? Can I be on your blog?”

When people make a winning approach and they have something specific and terrific to talk about, and they are well prepared and graceful, and they are gracious, that pays a lot of karma into the bank. When you are new, just come up and show up like a rock star with the speaker sheet that stops traffic.

When I first started out, I did not have a speaker sheet, but a couple people had heard me speak and they said I was wonderful, funny, and amazing, that it was the best hour they’ve ever spent. I got their permission to use their testimonials on my speaker sheet and got some sassy head-shots done. I then got booked in a consistent manner.

Here’s what’s great about that, when you get booked on a radio show like this one, or a podcast, or a stage, if it is true that you got a wonderful menu of options to invite people to say yes to, if they fall in love with you on that stage, and your heart, and love the big impact that you bring and that you prove that you are the best talent to guide them to that outcome, the chances that people will do business with you is very high. If you think big at the start and you have a high value way for people to work deeply with you, one client from every speaking engagement that invests in meaningful tuition with you can create a beautiful living for you and your family. You just need to think big from the start, be prepared, and set yourself apart from every other speaker who is yawning when you are enthusiastic on what is this that you are talking about.

I think that is huge. I remember a movie director saying, “I don’t want to work with assholes.” People want to be with people that they like. If you do everything like what you just said, being heartfelt, approaching people gracefully, and be a giving person, these are things that are super important. It is not about being a groveller when you are doing this. It is about understanding what your value is and you are offering it to people who are oak trees when you are still an acorn. They can see the oak tree in you.

Isn’t it wonderful when people can? All of the luminaries that I am fortunate to work with, most of them I met because I got invited to their high-end mastermind when I performed in their joint ventures as a superstar. I find myself sitting at this big table with people who I once admired from afar, and I am sitting at the same table with them. When it was my turn to speak up, I try to be of service in the room before talking about myself. People do remember that.

I’ll never forget when I was at this high end mastermind and I paid attention, and I made contributions, and it was this three day thing. During the whole time I was contributing, “Well have you thought about this? Did you consider that? I’ve heard what you’re up to, here’s my idea… How can I help you?” I was just being of contribution first. On the very last day I got called on to do my little five minute mastermind, I said, “Well I’m really struggling with this one little piece of the puzzle in my marketing funnel that has to do with guiding people from my Bye Bye Boring Bio to my Track Ideal Clients at “Hello” speak course to my private mentoring program.” I articulated my question and Alex Mandossian jumped out of his chair, walked across the room – and he hadn’t done this in all three days; and whipped out his credit card and said that he wanted to buy my program, and then asking what would be his investment.

I couldn’t believe it! I said, “I’m more than happy to do business with you,” and I didn’t even know he was such a luminary at the time and he has since become a powerful champion and an advocate of my work. When it was time for him to update his speaker reel to sound presidential and amazing, who did he hire? He hired me!

Sometimes, you should be a rock star even though you are just an understudy. Someone will see the brilliance in you and invite you to the table and your whole game is changed. The key is to be ready for opportunity before it knocks. Be a giver first. When it comes to being booked as a speaker, have a rock star speaker sheet that sets you apart from every generic author, speaker, coach out there. When you are doing interviews, please make sure you get the requirements like the headshots, bio, and more in advance to the host. You can bet your bottom dollar that 95% of the other guests are last minute Suzie’s making the host want to tear her hair out, and you want to be the absolute opposite of that. She will remember you for making her life easier, and that will make her recommend you to others.

That is so true, and I want to make sure that our audience knows where they can get your speaker sizzle sheet at bit.ly/speakersizzle. That’s free and you can get your speaker sheet and we will talk a little bit more on that later.

It doesn’t matter if you are doing a podcast or you are doing Good Morning America, what Nancy just said is absolutely true. You do what the host, producer, or journalist asks you to do. Do it quickly and ahead of time. Even with a podcast, there are a number of my guests who do not follow my instructions. Sometimes, I need to send three emails to get the information I need to prepare. Nancy did every single thing and got it in early and followed every instruction. She was on Skype early too.

It’s like if you are on TV, you always want the first slot. If you are there early, and you are prepared and lively, they may bump that second person to get you on longer. Don’t be the last person booked because you might get booted off of it. It happened over and over again on Johnny Carson and people would say, “Don’t be the last person booked because you may get booted off,” but that is true for any tv show today.

Let’s go back to your speaker sheet and go through each aspect of what someone can do to set yourself apart from every other speaker. We already talked about what you put underneath your name, leading with the biggest impact. We also talked about social proof, that is what people say about you, whether that’s meeting planners or people who have experienced your service. Then you also have your media appearances, if you have them. That’s for people who are more advanced, who have a topic, who have collected testimonials, who have been on media, and who may just not have the packaging right and you have helped them with that. What about the people who are just starting out? They want to be a speaker and they may not have the social proof or the media. what do they put in those places?

Well there are solutions for everything. If you have not yet spoken in front of a large group and your brand is not yet popular, you should invite some of your best friends, family, advocates, and champions to your living room and deliver your talk as a gift to your friends. Serve them hors d’oeuvres, wine, and treats afterwards. And say, “All I ask is to give me constructive criticism.” One of my colleagues was in Seattle where nobody knows who she was. I was hosting her for an event in my backyard because I thought so highly of her. Nobody knew who she was, but they were coming based on my recommendation. I knew this person had a world tour planned to the other cities where she is known.

What we did is that I said, “I am so honored that you are here on my initiation to hear this amazing speaker talk about this important topic. If this is the first time you’ve heard of her, take out the piece of paper in your notebook and indicate the power of the value that you gottenso far. We will let other people in other cities in other countries benefit from this as you now are. Having your endorsement would mean the world to us.” 95% got so much value from the short time that they spent with her where they wrote raving testimonials that she used as she continued her tour. If you are starting out, think big right out of the box. Deliver a talk in your own back yard, at the tea house, at the coffee shop, at wine world, at Barnes and Noble, wherever.

In media training everything you do, say, are, and think needs to be in alignment at all times

Offer testimonials that speak to the wow. You then consider those testimonials and get three from friends and family. When you speak the next time, you get comments from luminaries and meeting planners. Keep on adding specific and terrific testimonials that showcase the journey. As you have more compelling ones, you let the old ones go. We are always on the path to mastery. We’ve got to start somewhere. Nobody is going to book you to speak if you do not have enough confidence to deliver your message. Join Toastmasters and speak for your local chamber to get proof. That is my headline there.

Speak for free first in your local markets or local library or women’s organization or Rotary Club.

Of all the lead generations methods that there are, publicity is one, strategic partnerships is another, having an irresistible opt-in is one, there are so many things out there. Speaking from a live or virtual stage is so far the number one most persuasive and powerful way to bring people into my world. I am confident that it will be the same for you. Here’s the thing, and this is the vulnerable piece, not everybody was born to speak. I certainly wasn’t. I had this mentor once that told me that if I don’t to learn to speak on a stage, I would have one arm of my success tied behind my back.

I went into this kicking and screaming, speaking wasn’t my first inclination. The very first time that I was invited to speak, I went there. I was obsessed about PowerPoint and my script. I was obsessed about stuff that maybe did not matter. My most memorable moment was when my evaluations come back. Somebody said that they did not pay $45 to drive into Seattle to see someone hold on to the podium and PowerPoint for dear life and prayed for the presentation to be over. I thought that I sucked as a speaker. I was very upset about it. I thought that I needed that wake up call. I need to be better at it. I worked hard at it and I got better on it.

From humble beginnings, I have been invited to be on a lot of television shows, radio shows, podcasts, and more. Having the courage to speak in specific terrific terms helps people that are just getting started realize that even if I have a big mission, I can get better at speaking so more people will appreciate what I am here to do. That is what I have done. There are so many people that are luminaries. You don’t think there are any chinks in the armor. Every one of them has got chinks in the armor, that’s how the light gets in. The more we can be who we are and get better every day, the greater the impact we can make. If you are just beginning, start where you are and grow from there. Advance on the path to mastery. You need to have a topic that you speak about. Pretty soon you will get the confidence and more people will do business to you.

I cannot tell you how many times I have given the, “How to Transform Your Boring Bio from Wallpaper to Wow to Attract Clients Now” presentation, I’ve given it more times than God made little green apples. But every time I give it, I get better at it and now I’m talking about how to transform your lukewarm speaker sheet to sizzling so you get booked again and again, and I’m excited to have a fresh hot topic that serves people in such a powerful way. So when in doubt, come up with a topic you can own, that you can deliver like nobody’s business, that gets you invited back again and again, pretty soon you will get the confidence and more people will do business to you.

Amen! And you can get Nancy’s free speaker sizzle sheet at bit.ly/speakersizzle. Do you have any advice for people to find their topic to set yourself apart from every other speaker? I think that one of the biggest problems people have is being too general and generic – they sound like everyone else. “Finding your dream and passion,” isn’t a speaking topic.

One headline would be, “Painkillers Sell Better than Vitamins.” Lead with something that is an urgent need that your ideal client wants to address so that they can experience the relief from the discomfort as soon as possible. There are so many people that are talking about ‘mindset’ today. If you change your mind, you can change your life. There are lots of these topics now. I was digging around with this particular expert, I was looking for the big outcome, so we came up with the big sub-head for her talk, “From Head Trash to Big Cash: How Entrepreneurs can Make a Single Powerful Shift to…” The subtitle spoke to the transformation in a lyrical, memorable way that people instantly knew what it is about: the space between your ears is what’s preventing you from having the big cash. It was lyrical, poetic, and gritty.

When in doubt, start with the pain and try to paint a picture. “From lukewarm to sizzling, from lackluster to blockbuster.” That is a great way to paint a picture with what the transformation is, and then say something like, “The three biggest bio blunders that even smart entrepreneurs make that prevent them from getting hired.” I’m a smart entrepreneur but I’m not getting hired, ease my pain!

So start with the pain and then paint a picture of the transformation of what happens when you take away the pain.

Sometimes it can be pleasure too: how to wake up like a princess one eyelash at a time. Some people will sacrifice their cable bill and grocery bills to have their eyelash extensions applied so they can wake up on the pillow and bat their eyes at their sweetie and feel beautiful at, “Hello.” Whether it is pain or pleasure, start where the big outcome is because it is head turning. Be specific and terrific about what you are talking about.

“The three biggest mistakes that even smart entrepreneurs make that prevent JV partners from saying yes to them” is an example. Tell me what the three problems are. What can you cover in a 30 minute interview? You can’t give them the Ph. D but you can give them the Cliff Notes. You can make it provacative and compelling that will make them want to dig into the rest, and oh by the way, you are the resource for the rest. I’m guessing there is a meaningful tuition associated with the rest and getting the privilege to work with you in that way. Make sure that the talk you are doing leads to the yellow brick road to benefit even more deeply to how you serve.

What you are talking about when you keep saying, “be specific and terrific.” The specificity is what people miss and that is where you are helping them with in terms of not saying, “You need to change your mindset,” because that is a phrase we’ve heard over and over again. You help with how to say that different, how to say that visually or lyrically, or how to say it in such a way that it makes a head turn. It is about taking those big general ideas and moving them down to the specific, and then paint a picture, and let us see what that looks like once people get what you are promising.

If words are not your thing and you can’t turn a phrase to save your life, that is what people like Susan Harrow and Nancy Juetten try to do to turn your blah messaging to a sound bite that screams, “Wow.”

So if you are one of those people who needs help with phrases, Nancy is at GetKnownGetPaid.com. If you know you are not that kind of person who is good with phrases and you want your speaker sheet done, even if you are beginner or inexperienced, or a total professional that could use a face lift in terms of freshening up your speaker sheet, Nancy is your gal.

Here’s the thing, as they say, “How do you get an elephant to go into the tent?” It has to go in one toe at a time. People say yes that they want to get booked, and then they realize that their message in everything that they do is what is opening or closing the door. People struggle with meeting someone to be a reflector of their brilliance and to say it in a way that they would never have discovered. They say it in a way that’s maybe not a muscle that is well exercised in their body.

For people like you and me who do this every day, we can take that lackluster message and turn that into a blockbuster sound bite because we have been spending decades doing that every day for clients who appreciate that. Don’t suffer needlessly by yourself if this is not your genius. There are people out there that can help you.

Absolutely, and you might have answered this, but you were thinking about all the ways that you’ve learned to attract leads in your online business and publicity that has helped you to set yourself apart from every other speaker. You say that the one that has proven most reliable in your experience, is that what we are talking about?

Speaking for sure, absolutely, yes, and that is saying a lot because I used to be a publicist and I am still a pretty good one. In today’s world where hype seems to be the middle name of a whole lot of people, I am a huge champion of the credibility that comes from being seen or heard and celebrated in major media that means a lot to people even in today’s digital age. People often say, “I am all the help and none of the hype. I have the credibility behind me, because I have been featured in the major media and helped my clients to be featured there too.” There is something lasting to say that you have been featured in O Magazine, New York Times, or more. I believe in publicity, I absolutely do.

When I get invited to the perfect audience and there is 200 people in the room, and I can look right into their eyes and tell my stories, and I can deliver content that matters, and I can make an invitation that eases the pain; I can feel the impact of that instantaneously with programs and products that people decide to invest into to get the benefit. I know that will be the case for anyone who is listening here if they can get booked to speak. Because of the intimacy, because of the connection, and because of the transparency they experience with you not only when you are on the stage, but when they are watching you have lunch or have coffee or check into the hotel.

Sometimes I meet people when I’m checking into the hotel before an event, I am always gracious from the moment my feet step on the property. I am of service and contribution because I want the experience people have of me to be completely congruent and aligned. When I take the stage, they know what they are seeing and I feel complete and aligned. I think clients appreciate alignment and consistency, and I am that in spades. How you do anything is how you do everything.

That is so true, especially in media training people. Everything you do, say, are, and think needs to be in alignment at all times. Whether you are in the lobby or you are on stage like you said, it’s that kind of consistency that people look for that will set yourself apart from every other speaker. If you are crabby and mean to people and mean to the staff in the lobby and then you are just Miss Sunshine on the stage, people see that you are two-faced. They see that you are only showing your best self when you are on stage versus being that person that you want to try and be at all times, like you said, and you should be always of service.

Well and since we are talking about ninja strategies, and speaking, clearly, is my favorite ways to attract leads and clients. The ninja publicity strategy that I would encourage everyone to try because it worked really well for me is to reflect on the products, services, and programs that you are already using and becoming a success story in the use of. I have been using Constant Contact for my newsletter for many years. I found it a powerful way to be connected to my tribe, as well as to serve them with inspiration, and how to advise them.

They do success stories on their own clients on their blog, and I think that they have 350,000 users. One day I reached out to the person who created the success stories and I just asked her, “I’ve read a number of these success stories about Constant Contact easing users – are you interested in additional success stories and who might I approach to make a suggestion?” She wrote back on twitter and said that she is the one. She asked me what success story I want to share? I told her my success story of growing my subscribers by this many thousand in a short period of time by doing this content shift. She interviewed me and shared that whole blog across the Constant Contact network. Which, oh by the way, is a really good audience for me to be of service to.

Another example was a company called Lead Pages, which is very popular for helping all of us internet entrepreneurs to create opt-in pages that convert. I noticed they did features about their best customers on their blog about how they had successful campaigns and how Lead Pages contributed to that. I reached out to Lead Pages and said who is it that does the success stories about your customers. They told me who to reach out to.

I reached out to Lead Pages and said, “Who is it that does the success stories about your customers, I think I have an idea that would make a great story.” They told me who to reach out to. I reached out and made a gracious service suggestion. They did the story about me. How many customers does Lead Pages have? Hundreds of thousands are subscribers of Lead Pages. How many of them are my best client? A whole bunch of them.

I like what you are saying because maybe there are some out there who are those scared speakers and they may not be ready to even take the first step into a Toast Masters or a speaking circle. But, you can speak without speaking by writing to set yourself apart from every other speaker and guest. Go to those kinds of audiences where your people are already are or the services that you are already using. Constant Contact and Lead Pages are two of them.

Can you tell a little bit about what happened after you got in front of the Constant Contact group? Did you notice that you have more opt-ins, or did anybody reach out to you? Was it just a great exposure that you can now use and say that you were on there as a tool?

Speaking is the best way to connect with your audience. Be flexible to what their current needs are.

My history with Constant Contact is very long, and I have a very soft spot in my heart for them. The very day that Bye Bye Boring Bio came out to the world in 2009, they invited me to be a guest speaker in the Museum of Flight in Seattle with a whole room of 200 people to talk with about it. The president of Constant Contact happened to be there that day and he and I got to have lunch together, and we created a relationship over lunch. They put me in their PowerPoint shows and showcased it in every major city in America. I got showcased in that blogpost. The writer of that blogpost reached out to me and said that mine is the favorite story of 2015, and he would like to feature me again. I created a relationship with an incredibly powerful hub that touches hundreds of thousands of business owners around the world. Does that have a value to me? Absolutely! Because I get opt-in subscribers, I have credibility around it, and I got plenty of sales because I am not only speaking for them one time, but I go back to speak lots of times.

It was small business week in America and they were having a big event in the wine country. It was May 5^th, and I was the speaker who came on after the heavy Mexican lunch. I had to wake everybody up. The person who had come before me did one of those long drawn out manipulative pitches where he said, “I only have a few, if you don’t go now, and you are going to waste the opportunity.” I watched the whole audience squirm through that.

I thought about how I was going to handle my offer when it was time for me to go on. So you know what I did? It was such a breakthrough moment for me. I gave them the talk about how to transform their boring bio from wallpaper to wow to attract clients now. When it was time to make an offer, I said, “Now will be about the time where you would expect me to make those long drawn out offers with false scarcity and urgency and all of that. Here is the thing, I have this book and it is really good, it’s called Bye Bye Boring Bio. I sell it for $47. I brought plenty of them with me today. If today is not the day to part with your $47, you can buy it online as well because it will be available there for the rest of my life. The big benefit if you buy it today is I get to look you right in the eye and say Thank you. If you want me to sign it, I will.”

I got a standing ovation. Before I could get to the back of the room, the whole room was waiting for me to buy the book.

I love that! You have always been a bucker of trends. When you see something that is wrong or insincere, you slap it in the face. You say to yourself, “I am not going to be that way!” I’m sure you had your pitch down.

It was such a moment because speaking is the best way to connect with your audience. If you are truly there, and you are observing the audience and you are not just thinking about what you are going to say when you are on stage, but you just look and pay attention. You bend and sway and respond to the situation with the right answer that it calls for, you will win every time. You can kick your speak to sell script to the curb if you connect deeply with the people who were there.

When you get booked to speak, show up as you truly are, the right people will resonate with that.

Not long ago, I had the same situation that happened at an event in February where we talked about, “Why getting ready matters most of all?” Instead of doing PowerPoint or slides, I said, “Here are three stories from the trenches on how being ready paid off big time for me.” Boom. Boom. And Boom. I didn’t even make an offer. I got a standing ovation. When it was over, I had $10,000 tucked in my bra. I did not even have a purse with me. People were throwing money at me. Maybe that is what the audiences are craving for today – for somebody to just stand there, to be of service, and not making any offer while saying, “Thank you very much.”. Every single time I’ve done it, I’ve been amply rewarded and that is just the way I roll now. It is refreshing.

I’m saying that people can do it their own best way as long as it’s true to you and lands squarely with the people that you are trying to help. Ever since I got that lesson, everything became a lot easier.

I really applaud you for that because doing it your own way and having it work your own way is very wonderful. Reading the audience is very important to set yourself apart from every other speaker. If you read the audience and you feel what is going on in the room is something else completely different than what you have planned you can say and can happen.

That happened to one of my clients where his university almost went under. He did speak to that, the needs of his audience that he felt in that moment. Two people walked up to him and handed him a check of $100,000 each.

Betcha he’d love to duplicate that! If he could put that in a bottle and sell it, he’d be the richest man in town.

They said, “We believe in your vision, we believe in you, and we want to help keep this going.” That is the kind of impact that you can have. There is no sell. That was speaking from the heart just like you did. You got a standing ovation because people resonated with what you are offering even if you didn’t push an offer in their face, that’s how you set yourself apart from every other speaker. The whole idea of not having an offer is something that can be an offer. It is a different kind of an offer on another level.

That is what has been unfolding in my life. I will say that it all starts with learning the rules and then you can break them. For all of us, it is never wrong to be prepared and to have a rocking message. It is never wrong to be gracious and graceful. It is always right to say thank you. When you rock the stage, you know it because you get feedback. When you don’t rock the stage, you know it and you learn from it.

I’ve done of all that, and I’m humbled by it, and I’m grateful for it, and I’m still here! People tell me that I am an inspiration and they honor my courage and maverick nature. It takes courage to be a little bit unusual. Trying to hide behind a sea of saneness does not set you apart either. Show up as you truly are in the best expression of your talent, the right people will be resonating with that and you’ll have all the clients that you want.

If you are generic and non specific, you get generic and nonspecific clients, which is not that fun.

And maybe if you are the speak to sell kind of person. If you are comfortable in speaking to sell on the stage, go for it. If you are a different kind of speaker like Nancy, that is great too. There is everything in between. There is no right way to do it, it’s your doing it your way and you need to experiment with what works for you.

Keep practicing on it to set yourself apart from every other speaker so you move on the path of mastery. Whether you are still at the clutching the podium stage or you are at the point where you’d told your story thousands of times and you need to make it fresh and you want to get a fresh look at that. If you do, Nancy is the person to help you at GetKnownGetPaid.com, and to get your free speaker sizzle sheet at bit.ly/speakersizzle.

Is there anything that I haven’t asked about how set yourself apart from every other speaker?

I am just glad that you took my call in 2008. I became part of your world. It is a wonderful, blooming of a relationship that lasted the test of time. That is what I would say in parting. Be the kind of person that creates relationships that stand the test of time. You will always be made richer for it and that the bounty comes to you in ways beyond what you can ever expect or imagine. I am just so glad that we know each other and I got this opportunity to share who I am today with you and your listeners. I hope that they have been served by it and know how to set yourself apart from every other speaker now. I hope they had fun and I hope you have too. Thank you.

Thank you so much Nancy.

About Nancy Juetten

Nancy Juetten is the Get Known, Get Paid mentor and she is on a mission to guide a million business experts in English speaking nations around the world to prepare and share their magnetic marketing messages so that they can get known and paid for their winning ways. She guides aspiring and thriving coaches and speakers to name, claim, and communicate their expertise so premium clients see their value and gladly invest in their products, programs, and services. She is also the author of the very popular Bye Bye Boring Bio workbook. Nancy knows a thing or two about prepping and sharing stories to get known and paid. Nancy Juetten has grown her loyal fans to 20,000 followers.

Many of these are also finding the courage to reinvent their own businesses and step forward to welcome the credibility and profitability they seek. She is proud to call as a Millionaire Maker Maker Loral Langemeier, Master Trainer to Virtual Trainers Alex Mandossian, and Transformation Catalyst Christine Kloser, among her most appreciated clients. Those are big names in the internet for those who don’t know. Today, Nancy’s Get Know Get Paid programs and services serve happy clients and inspiring luminaries around the world. Her URL to reach her is GetKnownGetPaid.com.

We are going to be talking today about many things, one of them is the sizzling speaker sheet that you need to get highly paid speaking engagements and set yourself apart from every other speaker. Go to bit.ly/speakersizzle to get your free sizzling speaker sheet template.

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