Hi Reader,

Welcome back to my special email-only series: Highly Visible, Highly Booked: Upgrade your stages, increase your leads, and grow your income.

This series is specifically for coaches and consultants, and it’s the kickoff to my upcoming launch of The Visibility Shift. If you want my help increasing your speaking bookings and conversions through high-visibility speaking engagements, join the TVS waitlist here.​

There is a version of your speaking pitch that sounds like this:

“I speak about leadership, career development, confidence, personal branding, communication, workplace culture, and professional growth.”

And I understand why people do this.

You are trying to show the buyer how much you can do. But you may actually be making their decision harder.

If someone is looking for a speaker, they need to understand very quickly what you speak about, who the presentation is for, and what the audience will leave knowing or doing differently.

If they have to study your website for 20 minutes to figure that out, you are asking the buyer to do work they should not have to do.

This is why positioning matters so much.

Before you assume you need a bigger audience or better marketing, I want you to run your speaker materials through what I call the Easy-to-Book Test:

Can I understand the talk quickly?
​Your topic should make it clear what you speak about and who the presentation is for.

Is the outcome specific?
​The buyer should understand what their audience will know or be able to do differently after hearing you.

Is there enough proof?
​Give them a reason to believe you can deliver the presentation well.

Is it easy to review your materials?
​Your LinkedIn profile, booking guide, or speaker page should make the decision easier, not create more work.

Your expertise is the starting point, but expertise alone is broad. The clearer you become about your target buyer and the problem you solve for them, the easier it becomes to create a talk that someone knows when to book.

Then you need proof.

Early on, that proof may simply be your professional background and a strong LinkedIn profile. Once you begin speaking, start collecting testimonials, audience feedback, stage photos, client logos, and footage. Every engagement should make the next buyer’s decision a little easier.

And please do not wait until you have a gorgeous speaker reel to start! (A speaker reel is a nice-to-have, NOT a must-have in the beginning!)

Even if you do not have a reel or a huge following yet, you can still make it easy for a buyer to understand what you speak about and why they should book you.

If you have a clear topic, description, and takeaways, you can start using your relationships to get into rooms. If you are cold pitching, having a booking guide and a complete LinkedIn profile gives the buyer more information to work with.

A lot of people assume they are not getting booked because they need a bigger following.

Sometimes the problem is much simpler.

The buyer does not understand the talk. The outcome is vague. The proof is missing.

Or the materials make the opportunity feel harder to say yes to than it should.

Before you decide you need 20,000 more followers, make sure you are easy to book.

Inside The Visibility Shift, we work on the positioning and speaker assets that make that possible so you can give a buyer fewer reasons to hesitate when your pitch lands in their inbox.

​Join the TVS waitlist here.​

Until next time,

Kimberly

P.S. Prefer private coaching? My 1:1 clients get direct support with their speaking strategy and business goals, and speaking clients also receive access to the TVS curriculum. Apply for 1:1 coaching here.​