If you watch the news and listen to the right (wrong) people, you’ll be led to believe that you need to hide your money under the mattress and turn and run from your speaking business as fast as you can — because “things are bad!!”

Business has been challenging over the last few years — there’s no denying that — but there are tremendous opportunities now and into the future for speakers (and authors/thought leaders/gurus) who build their businesses strategically.

Watch the video above and get some GOOD NEWS, like the fact:

• You’re operating in an $11 billion — and growing — market
• There were 1.8 million meetings in 2009 (a bad year) and multiple sources say things are looking up
• There is a “changing of the guard” in the speaking industry (meaning new opportunities for you)
• New technologies mean new opportunities to reach people and share your message

In the midst of all this good news, though, there is one word of caution — at about the 20-minute mark.

If you like this video, sign up below to receive future installments in the series, and please help us spread the encouragement by tweeting, linking, facebooking or emailing this video to other speakers and aspiring speakers who have a positive message to share and need to be reminded that NOW is the perfect time to do it.

Thanks for watching!

Bad news: there is no secret formula.

Good news: there are lots of formulas!

If you’ve been following Succeed Speaking for long, you’ve probably read my outline of Brendon Burchard’s strategies for making The Millionaire Messenger a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and perhaps you picked up some tips from my interview with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (also a #1 New York Times Bestseller). Both of those authors took a different approach with their books, but both achieved what most authors dream of.

If you’d like to see how another author got his book on the New York Times Bestseller List, read this new post from Dan Blank: How to Become a Bestselling Author – Lessons From Eric Ries. Dan did a great job of capturing the highlights from Eric’s conversation with Andrew Warner at Mixergy.com, including how he:

• set a goal to become a bestseller from the outset
• drove presales of his book for an entire year (so a large number of sales would hit during that first week of release)
• created a movement based on the ideas in his book
• tested numerous marketing messages on his website
• leveraged the power of bundling (a la Tim Ferriss)
• and more!

There are great tips and strategies here that I encourage you to review.

As you look “behind the curtain” of more and more bestseller campaigns, you’ll see that there are some central themes that show up time and time again (like fueling word of mouth and building a movement), but no two books follow the exact same formula… because every book and every author is unique.

Actually, if there is any “secret formula” for creating a bestseller, I would say it’s this:

1. Learn what you can from others.
2. Identify your own unique strengths, assets and opportunities.
3. Leverage that combo to achieve your goals.

Time to get back to the lab and start working on your formula!

I hear it time and time again from speakers:

“Selling is tougher than ever before.”

“I can’t get prospects on the phone.”

“I can’t get people to call me back.”

“What used to work doesn’t work anymore.”

Can you relate?

Here’s the truth: Our prospects are under extreme pressure to do more in less time with fewer resources. In short, they’re overwhelmed — and that means we have to get serious if we want to get their attention and book dates.

That’s why I asked Jill Konrath, sales guru and author of two best-selling sales books — SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies — to share her winning strategies with the Succeed Speaking community of speakers. Thankfully she agreed, and you don’t want to miss this!

Join us for a 29-minute sales training this Friday, October 28, at 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific and you’ll learn:

• The criteria your prospects use to decide your fate — and how to influence them
• How to gain access to crazy-busy prospects who haven’t got time for the pain
• How to leverage the SNAP Factors and the SNAP Rules to book more business
• What it takes to keep the decision process from grinding to a screeching halt
• How to stand out from other speakers instead of battling them

Jill’s advice has helped me time and time again — I keep both of her books within arm’s reach — and I promise this call will help you!

If you’re not getting the results you want from your sales and prospecting efforts, register now:

NOTE #1: There is nothing for sale on this call.

NOTE #2: By all means, your sales/marketing support people are welcome to attend.

So how do you get more exposure? Is it just a matter of getting lucky? Is it about who you know? No. It’s actually about…

Mindset.

Watch this video and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

NOTE: I first shared this video with a small group of speakers in 2010. All the strategies still apply, but the “Oprah” reference is a little dated now.

The thing is, most clients want to give you a great testimonial after a successful engagement. But you’ve heard of writer’s block, right? Clients get “testimonial block” — they don’t know what to say in 2-3 sentences that will sound good and serve you well, so they think and think and think… and then get sidetracked with other work and… you get no testimonial.

For better results, try this:

Set your client up with the questions that you want to answer in your testimonial — or more accurately, the questions that your prospective clients want to have answered in your testimonial. Direct questions will be much easier for your client to answer, and then they — or you — can assemble the answers into a very powerful testimonial.

Here’s an example:

1. Why, specifically, did you select me as your speaker?

We selected you because of your dynamic speaking style on the video, and because we felt your message was exactly what our people needed to hear in these challenging times.

2. What goals did I help you accomplish at your meeting?

You helped us kick off the conference with a bang and got people excited about our program.

3. What are the 2-3 most frequent comments you’ve heard from attendees related to my presentation?

People keep telling me how they appreciated your authenticity — how they really believed you and your message, and they believed you cared about their success.

4. How do you see my presentation continuing to benefit your organization or your attendees in the year ahead?

There’s no doubt your reminder to “fire it up” will stick in our members’ minds for a long time to come and trigger a boost of energy when they’re feel burned out.

5. What is the #1 thing you’ll remember from our engagement together?

Definitely your “fire it up” catch phrase and also, just how easy you were to work with.

6. What would you say to a prospective client trying to decide if I am right for their event?

If you’re looking for someone who is real, engaging, inspiring, and easy to work with, hire Jane!

Now, mold it all together and what do you get?

“We hired Jane because we knew her presentation style and message would be a perfect fit for our audience, and wow, did she kick our conference off with a bang! Our attendees repeatedly tell me how much they connected with her and believed in her message. There’s no doubt her ‘fire it up’ message will stick in our members’ minds for a long time to come. And to top it all off, she was so easy to work with — hire her!”

That would be a pretty convincing testimonial, wouldn’t it?

Are you going to try this in your business?

Have you ever used this strategy?

Comment below and let me know what you think.

Why? Because when you’re leading a movement, then you’re about something bigger than yourself. By its very nature, a movement is about drawing people in and mobilizing them… and a movement is much more likely to generate exposure than an individual speaker.

No matter what you speak about, it has the makings of a movement — a movement of people leading a certain way, a movement of people living a certain way, a movement of people using technology in a certain way, etc.

Gretchen Rubin, Author of The Happiness Project

Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 international bestseller, The Happiness Project, is a great example of someone who has established herself as the leader of a movement, and that’s one reason I asked her for some advice for my readers…

As you may know, she built a vibrant blog following before The Happiness Project ever released — which certainly helped it land at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release. Now, though, the blog is just one way she engages with her fans and followers. She also uses Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and even Instagram. Oh, and she also has daily and monthly e-newsletters.

But can one person keep up with at all? Surely she has a team to help her manage it, right?

“I get help when there are design needs, but as far as posting content, I manage that myself,” Gretchen said when I asked her that question. “Once you get it started, keeping it running is really not so hard. And you don’t have to do it all on day one.”

That’s an important lesson for all of us, isn’t it?

Every time you land on another speaker’s — or another business’ — website, it’s very likely that you’ll see some “shiny new thing” that you could use in your business, but pause for a moment… relax… remember… you don’t have to do it all today. (And you can’t.) Gretchen’s words remind me of a poster that once hung over my desk with this ancient Chinese proverb:

“If you chase two rabbits, both will get away.”

Gretchen went on to say, “Just start with one thing and then you can add more bells and whistles as you go.”

And remember, you can choose the channels you use to connect with your followers:

“There’s this thought that ‘everybody does X, so I have to do X.’ No, just figure out what works for you. I’m a writer and I love to write, so writing the content to post is a natural for me. If something seems too hard to do, find something else.“

Isn’t that freeing?!

Ask yourself: Is what you’re currently doing working for you? If not, is there another communication/engagement channel that would be a better fit for you and your followers?

Start with one thing. Do it well.

When you’ve got that down, add another.

Then another.

But you don’t have to do it all today. (Thank goodness!)

Thanks for making Succeed Speaking a part of your day!