Welcome to Episode 5. In this episode, we're going to discuss why education from stage is the key to growing your business without the hard sell when you speak for free or low fee!

In my experience, the best way to grow a big business without having to  sell, sell, sell, is to educate. You don't need to be teacher, you just need to want to share some easy to apply, useful ideas and tips with the people in your audience. You've got to honestly want them to succeed. 

If you just want to fact bomb them to sound like "you're the guru" please don't become a speaker. Theres enough charlatans in the world. IF you want to build a long term business, help other people succeed. I don't now how many questions Ive answered for free only to get a referral from that person at a later date.

Show your audience some love and they'll give it back to you. Many of the best people I know I have met because I spoke at an event and we connected after. On stage you're exposed for the world to see. People can see thru the smoke and mirrors. 

I remember speaking at an event as a famous speaker I really liked. I'd never met them in person before so tried to say hi in the green room before we went on stage. He totally ignored me and the rest of the speakers. He went on stage and did his speech and then made his way back to the room after. I was sitting having a drink just quietly in the corner before I went out, just observing everything happening around me. I've never been so shocked by another speaker! He came back and had called his assistant. In front of everyone, he told them how many sales he'd just made, what a lousy crowd the audience were, told them Never to take a booking from this event ever again and was just generally abusive to the person on the other end. Everyone in the room saw it and heard it. Right then, I vowed I would NEVER turn into him. I was shattered... considering he sold himself as a Bastian of goodness, helping the less fortunate when you bought his training, it was sickening. I had seen my first con man on stage and it made me sick!

Moral of the story... other speakers will see what you're like and we will tell everyone about you! Be nice.

Now, 99% of all the speakers I've met a wonderful caring people and you will love sharing events with them :-)

So, education why is the key to not selling, but making 6 figures?

1. Education helps the audience succeed. This is why they're in the room.

- everyone is there to grow their business thru learning and networking
- people are starving for direction
- most business owner fly by the seat of their pants. We all need help
- when you teach them something to move them forward, they will get you in to help them

2. When you give freely of your knowledge, others see your expertise, true worth and abilities.

- when you give freely, people like to reciprocate. IT's a natural human thing to do.
- people see your tips, understand how much you know and how they could help them.
- they're looking for experts to invest in who will drive their success
- people will pay more for someone they see as an expert over someone they have just had come in and quote for a service or product

3. At a later time, when someone has a problem related to your area, they will think of you. Especially at a local / same town level.

- education leaves a lasting impression on people. They remember things down the track when something happens
- when they're talking to friends who are experiencing an problem, they'll think of you and say "I saw someone talking about that last week, would you like me to link you together?"
- in your town or city, if you're speaking often, people will get to know you and you build on your expert position in their mind

So, after listening to these reasons, do you see now why I say, education is the key to selling without selling? I'll be honest with you, I see too many people focussed on making the sale from stage when if they focussed on some real GOLD to help their audience, it wouldn't even be necessary. Education sells!

Well that's it for another week, I look forward to helping you succeed in the next episode. Till next time :-)