Erick Rheam discusses the importance of expertise alignment in the speaking industry, focusing on relationships for client ROI, offering virtual services, and message tweaking for longevity. Emphasizes value creation, industry expertise leveraging, and income stream balancing.
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insights INSIGHT
Speaking Industry Boom
The speaking industry is currently thriving, with strong demand and bookings far in advance.
Event planners are optimistic and booking speakers for events as far out as 2026 and 2027.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Relationship-Driven Speaking
Focus on building relationships with event planners rather than just seeking individual events.
Offer a variety of services like breakout sessions, workshops, and keynotes to showcase value and build trust.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Breaking into Speaking
New speakers should target legacy events and offer breakout sessions to get their foot in the door.
Add value by assisting event planners and following up to cultivate long-term relationships.
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"If you can align your expertise with a specific industry and then really bring tremendous value with a clear ROI, you're always going to win the game."
This week, Grant’s on the show with TSL legend Erick Rheam. We’re a little late to this year’s state of the speaking industry, but better late than never, right?
"It's not necessarily that budgets are cut, but what I would tell you is that event planners, they tend to be intentional with the money that they're spending. Instead of saying "I've got a $100,000 budget for this event," it's "Yeah, I've got $100,000, but I need to see a return on that $100,000."
In this episode, Grant and Erick get into:
00:00 Current trends in the speaking industry
06:06 Why do relationships matter more now than ever before?
07:32 How do you focus on building relationships?
11:20 The importance of offering a virtual service as part of your speaking business
15:51 The key to growth right now, even in a tough economy
19:44 Why you should focus on relationships and providing long-term solutions for your clients
21:50 How to leverage industry expertise to prove ROI
26:35 What it looks like to tweak your message to withstand the test of time.
28:00 The importance of iterating and meeting your client’s needs.
31:11 How to balance other streams of income + being on stage
35:28 How to get comfortable creating value for clients
36:44 Reflections and wrap up
"Something that is not attractive is desperation. And you could tell it, you could smell it from speakers — when they're just trying to get the gig, they're trying to get the money, as opposed to speakers who are like "Hey, I want to add value and I'm willing to go on a long term type of commitment with you."
The Speaker Lab Podcast