Hey! Stop thinking that way! Shame on you! :o)
I’m talking about a LIST. Santa has a big LIST… how big is yours?
Or, better yet, do you have a list? If you’re a speaker, you need one. Even if you’re an aspiring speaker — just getting into the business — now is the perfect time to begin. And, every time you speak, take that opportunity to build your list even more. Before you know it, you’ll have 10,000 or more subscribers!
A good friend of mine, Darren LaCroix, coaches professional speakers. One piece of advice that he always emphasizes is the importance of bringing along a clipboard to a presentation. As you’re speaking, you can pass it around the room and invite people to sign up for a newsletter, free report, e-book, etc.
When you do this, be sure to let them know you’ll never share or sell their information… and that they can easily unsubscribe at any time. (Then, of course, be sure to follow these two rules. It’s critical to be ethical when managing a mailing list.)
After your presentation, be sure to send each of those subscribers a confirmation email and link to whatever you promised them. Don’t wait too long — get it done within a day or two of your speech. A large number of people in the speaking industry lose business simply because they don’t follow up. So, get started on the right foot immediately by communicating your trustworthiness & reliability.
Watch for other blog posts on additional ways to build & manage your email list!
Known by some in the speaking industry as “the Butterfly Herder,” Cynthia works closely with emerging professional speakers as they grow from speaking as a hobby to getting paid to speak full-time. In addition to creating websites for professional speakers, she consults in the areas of online presence & credibility, public relations, and content & product creation. Visit her website at www.SpeakerWebsites.com.
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