I am a firm believer that adding amazing value to anyone you come in contact with will open doors that no one can shut. So, its without saying that speaking for free to get offline clients makes complete sense.

There’s something that most of us fear; speaking in public. In fact, in recent polls, its was determined that most people are more fearful of speaking in public than of death itself. To that I say WOW!

But its that fact that really makes speaking such a great opportunity. Since most people will avoid it, its the ones that don’t and go out there speaking at any opportunity that get all the attention. They become an instant authority.

Its so powerful that I’ve personally spent $8,500 during one presentation on someone who I previously knew absolutely nothing about. They were bold enough to get in front of everyone at the event and tell their story and offer something of even greater value. I bought into it and so did many others.

What does this have to do with your offline consulting business?

Well, wouldn’t you like to have that same affect on your offline business prospects? You absolutely can.

If speaking is a new strategy that you’re gonna use to get offline clients, then I would suggest you do your first few for free. I love making money on all of my efforts, but I also know that I have to build momentum.

Here are the advantages of speaking for free:

• People are more forgiving – if you’re just starting out, you may fumble over your words a little or say the occasional UM… People are more understanding when they are getting valuable information that they didn’t have to pay to get. (By the way, most people share the UM problem but overcome it simply by realizing when they do it.)
• You can build your testimonials – there’s nothing better than social proof and your free speaking engagements can get those for you. Again, I said you should only start with free speaking engagements, but over time, you’ll get more comfortable doing them and you’ll have the success stories to be able to charge for them.
• Use free speaking engagements to get valuable feedback - think about your first few speaking gigs as an opportunity to get in front of people, get clients, but also get valuable feedback. You can use this feedback to fine tune your next presentations so they are worth every dollar you charge.
• Free gets more people in - by not charging for your speaking event, you eliminate the barrier that most people have that prevents them from going; price. You’ll be able to get more people in from the very beginning.

So, when you combine a free speaking event with the instant authority that’s generated from doing the speaking yourself, you have the winning ingredients necessary to get offline clients like clockwork.