Do You Need Speaker Goals?

I was recently reminded of a conversation I had with a colleague a few years ago. We didn’t agree… well… it was more like we were looking at what we were discussing from two different, but entirely valid perspectives.

My colleague’s perspective about goals speakers should be striving for when they speak was: “If a speaker does a great job speaking, follow-up conversations will be a natural consequence of their presentation.”

My perspective was that for business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs using speaking as a way to grow and expand their business, earning that next conversation is very much a goal. That doesn’t mean speakers should have monetary goals attached to their conversations. It’s just to point out the fact that without follow-up conversations, there are no future opportunities for a sale… or anything else.

It was a good conversation. Listening to other people’s thoughts is always interesting. By the end, we’d found plenty of common ground.

Regardless of how a speaker gets a follow-up conversation, those conversations are the cornerstones of building relationships.

Every relationship starts from scratch—even ones that result in an economic gain. But it’s not like a presentation is the only opportunity a speaker has to inspire a follow-up conversation. For example, a finely tuned 60-second elevator pitch is absolutely capable of earning its fair share of follow-up conversations. Then it boils down to how you show up for those conversations. Yes, you can use your time to try and make the sale, but….

Speakers who focus on turning early follow-up conversations into sales conversations are really missing the boat on opportunities to make great connections.

No one can be everything to everyone. That’s why making an effort to get to know the people you’re having those early conversations with is so important. If you only listen with the goal of finding an opening to start pitching what you have to offer, you’re going to miss out! Even if the person you’re speaking to isn’t a good fit for what you have to offer, they might be a great referral partner, a future venture partner, or even a new friend. You’ll never know unless you make an effort to get to know them. Besides….

There are many ways to set the stage for follow-up conversations beyond your presentation.

As speakers, we need to accept that even when we “wow” our audiences from the stage, that might not be enough to inspire individuals to reach out to us right then and there… especially with virtual speaking. Gratefully, there are many ways we can help them remember us (with their permission of course) and that we’d like to help them solve a problem they’re struggling with. Done well and strategically, each of the following could be the one-more-thing someone needed to learn about us to inspire them to continue the conversation.

• Lead magnets, Brochures, Handouts, Business cards, PDFs, eBooks, Your PowerPoint slide deck, Newsletters, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter)… and more!

In addition to what’s listed here, there’s something else you can do to make it easier for people to choose you. Give them something of value for free that will help them take a step towards solving their problem—whether they choose to work with you or not.

And now that we’re up to date… one last thing. Speaker goals are good. If you don’t have goals, how will you know if you’re making progress! But sometimes it’s tempting to pack as many goals as you can into one presentation. Don’t. Pick one goal for your presentation and make sure you work on it until you’re confident you can achieve it. Then all you have to do is make sure your offer is the next logical step for your audience. This is an easy win-win strategy that’s likely to deliver its share of those important follow-up conversations.