Speaking as a Sales Strategy w/Leisa Reid

You can post every day and still feel invisible.

Because content rarely builds trust fast enough with people who don’t know you yet.

But the moment someone hears your voice, connects with your story, and experiences your energy in real time, the dynamic shifts.

In this episode, I’m joined by Leisa Reid, founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now™ and CEO of The International Speaker Network, to break down how public speaking becomes a practical, client-getting strategy.

What Leisa teaches isn’t about chasing big stages or waiting for the “perfect” opportunity. It’s about using speaking as a trust bridge that moves people from interested to ready.

In this episode, we cover:

• How speaking actually drives lead generation and authority, especially for coaches, consultants, and service providers who rely on relationships to grow their business.
• The pressure to be perfect, the “I’m not qualified” spiral, and why a clear plan matters more than the stage itself.
• How to start with low-stakes speaking opportunities and build momentum
• A simple monetization formula to evaluate if speaking is worth your time

If you’ve been relying on content alone to get visible, this conversation will show you a more direct path to connection, credibility, and clients.

Links & References:

Come network with us! CLICK HERE to attend your first PWR Connection Network virtual speed networking event at no cost using the promo code  FIRSTTIME

Want speaking gigs?  Get immediate free access to Leisa's Top 5 Tips to Get More Speaking Gigs Now at www.getspeakinggigsnow.com/tips

Connect with Leisa on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hi, Lisa. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, Melissa. Thank you for having me. Yeah, so excited to talk to you today about public speaking and speaking as a marketing strategy. I think this is such an interesting one. And I would encourage people if they're listening and they're like, oh, nope, never getting on stage. Skip. Just listen and hear what Lisa has to say. Because we're going to talk to those people too, right? Not just the people like me that are like, yes, please put the spotlight on me.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Where's the microphone? Can you turn it up?

Lisa’s Path To 83 Gigs

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah, yeah. Relatable. So before we dive in, tell everybody a little bit about you and about how you got to this point and what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

You know, I started speaking as a like person using speaking as a way to get clients back when I was 40. So this was 2013. Fast math. I'm 53 now at the recording moment. And I booked 83 speaking engagements my very first year. It's my ignorance on fire era, is what I call it, because I just was going for it. And I brought in hundreds of clients to the organization that I was working with. And I started my own network for speakers, specifically entrepreneurs using speaking as a way to grow their business. And during that first couple of years, people would ask me for help all the time. And I realized, gosh, there's a gap in this whole thing. Like people want to speak, but then how do you speak if you don't know how to get on the stage? Or you maybe you got lucky once, but then how do you keep getting lucky? How does that keep working? And so I finally realized I could write down and start to catalog what I was doing. And not that everyone has to do it the way I do. I don't absolutely don't believe that. But there was definitely some secret sauce in there that was making it really easy for me. I thought, oh, this is all teachable stuff. If you're willing, you know, if you're willing to learn and do something a little bit different, um, it's it's easy and it gets results. So that's why I started get speaking gigs now back in 2017. That's awesome. Wow, you've been doing this a long time. Yeah, I've given over 600 talks and I I love working with entrepreneurs who already have that fire in the belly. They're like, I want to do this. But to your point, in your when you were opening the show, I do have clients who've never done it before, but maybe they secretly dreamed of doing it. But there were some fears. There were some like, oh, I don't know, would anyone hear what I have to say? Um, would I be okay? Would I make a mistake? Would I look stupid? There's all these normal fears that are gonna come up. And all that is overcomable.

How Talks Turn Into Clients

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah, absolutely. So for people who are listening to this, let's talk first about like people who are listening to this that have thought about speaking or maybe they've done it once or twice, but it's not like one of their main visibility strategies. Can you talk a little bit about how speaking works as a marketing strategy? Because I think sometimes people feel like, yeah, it's really good for um like positioning, right? It's good for people to see you as an expert. It's good for your ego, but like, how is it actually getting me clients?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Oh yeah. Don't do it just for your ego. Um, it would be tip number one. But it's a way to really make a connection with the audience. And especially if you have a service or a perspective or a product or a framework, something that needs a little bit of explanation or connection. Maybe you work really intimately with people, it allows them to get to know you and develop some trust without entering into a sales conversation right out the bat. And I think especially that is difficult for people in positions like let's say a life coach, where you're so excited, you can't wait to help people, you want to dig in and really get into the nitty-gritty of their emotions and how you can help them. And then you kind of run out of your friends and family, and you're thinking, okay, so am I just like DMing people on, you know, the gram or Facebook or something like how do I actually get clients? How do I get someone to trust that I can help shepherd them through this thing? And when you can speak, you can give tidbits, you can get lessons that are really valuable and give them a taste of who you are, what your style is. And then the audience comes to you. And I don't mean that the entire audience is gonna flood you, and that might happen, but if you have a high-ticket item, maybe you only need a couple people in the audience to really go, you know what? You were speaking just directly to me. And it just makes the sales process easier and you don't have to like hunt for clients. I I have a talk where I say don't um you didn't start a business because you want to chase clients. I don't think anyone really gets in business for that. So this helps solve that problem.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, absolutely. We talk a lot in um the Powerful Woman Rising Business Growth Mastermind about different marketing strategies. And, you know, people will always come to the mastermind and say things like, okay, so I need your best LinkedIn tips because I'm not on LinkedIn and I know I should be. So give me your best LinkedIn tips. And instead of giving them LinkedIn tips, the group will be like, well, let's first talk about why you think you need to be on LinkedIn, right? And by the end of the conversation, they're like, never mind, I don't need to be on LinkedIn. But one of the things we talk about a lot is like we have so many members, and I think this is true for so many people that's like you can get certain things across in a Facebook post. You can get things across in an email, right? Those are all good strategies, but there's something very different, whether it's video or it's live, for people about hearing your voice and seeing your mannerisms and feeling the actual emotion in your story. So I love what you said about like it really does warm your audience up quicker than I think anything else.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

It's a quick way to do that. And and it's not just the speaking part, but it's the you know, leveraging that with your social media posting, whatever that, whatever your platform is. It's leveraging that with your email campaign or your freebie or your whatever. And as you know, as an entrepreneur and you're leading, you know, successful entrepreneurs through business ownership, it's not just one thing. I think sometimes people think, oh, if I get that one talk in front of this, you know, billions of people, that's gonna be the answer to my problems. I'm like, probably not. It's probably not gonna be the answer to your problems. But what could be the answer to your problems is a consistent strategy that works for you and that you can duplicate, replicate, that makes your life easier, that gives you more freedom. And having those different pieces set up. Oh, we have a little visitor. We I thought I was the only guest on the show today. Never, never.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

There's always at least one.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I love it. I love it. Um, so I think that's where sometimes we can get into that. I should do this, I need to do that, I have to do this, and I saw someone else do that, and they got success. I actually had a client say that to me the other day. She's like, Well, I want to do a TED talk. I'm like, okay, TEDx. I said, tell me why. That's not a bad goal. And then she's like, Well, a friend of mine had one and she's had a lot of success. I'm like, well, what else has she done? It's probably not just that. And then is there a marketing plan behind that strategy? And so it's same. I'm like right with you. We have to think really to scale it back. Like, what are why are we doing what we're doing? Usually the people I work with, they want more clients because they want to make an impact. They want to give that thing that that provide that service, offer that special gift that they have to someone to help them change their lives.

unknown 7:24

Yeah.

Fear, Readiness, And A Simple Plan

SPEAKER_00 7:25

But they just need people. So speaking ends up being like this nice um bridge for them.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah, absolutely. So you talked about some of these things in the beginning, but what are some of the things that you typically see that keep people from speaking on stage?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Usually they don't have a plan. And so they might get asked to speak. And if they're not ready, I'm a huge fan of get ready to be ready. If they're not ready, they will probably avoid that request or never get back to the person or say, Oh, I'll get back to you, and then never really get back to them. They also might take that opportunity, but then wing it, which I do not recommend. That's almost worse than doing it, um, or worse than not doing it at all. So I'm I think it's a very important to have a plan in place. It's kind of like do your homework ahead of time. You know, prepare as if you're going to be doing it. Like you don't show up to the Olympics and go, Oh, I'll just, I'm a pretty good gymnast. I'll just do some flips across the mat. Like they have practiced, they have put the hours in, put the reps in. And trust me, you don't have to work as hard as an Olympian to be a speaker. So just in case you're worried.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah. I think too, people think like, I'm not qualified, or like, you know, I there's so many people who have so many interesting things to say. I don't really have anything interesting to say. I don't have anything important. I don't have anything anybody wants to listen to you. What do you listen to those people?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Okay. I have a whole, I mean, how long is this podcast? Because I could talk about that for a long time. It's something I call speakers kryptonite, and it shows up differently in different people. So some of the phrases that you just said is exactly what people will think. Well, you know, I need to write more um content. I have to put more videos out there. I got to get another certification. I need to write a book. I need to do this and that and all the things. And that's literally their subconscious mind is just keeping them safe and nice and in the comfy zone. Or it could be like, oh, I, you know, I don't know if I'm really good enough to do that. I've never, you know, I've never given a talk before. I mean, what would I say? Who, who, who do I think I am? You know, all those, all those little thoughts creep in. And when we have a business, those thoughts come up, whether you're trying to speak or do an email campaign or raise your prices, it's just gonna come up. So the closer you can get to understanding those thoughts in your mind and then um, you know, processing that. So you go, okay, thank you for keeping me safe. I hear you. And I'm gonna move into a different direction anyway. Thank you for sharing. And then we we go forward. But yeah, I I often say in my actually, I have my magic wand right here. One of the things that I do in in my live talks in person is everybody gets a magic wand. And we go through this quiz of like, does it make sense for you to be a speaker? Even if you've never done it before, does it make sense? Let's talk about that. And we talk about it like from the head, the logic side, and then from the heart. Like, I'm not here to make you do stuff you hate. Why would you do why would you do more soul-sucking activities? If you, if you would rather get a root canal than do public speaking, then please do not do it, right? But if you're like, wait a second, I could teach something. Well, that doesn't sound as scary. You mean I could like attract the people that I would really, really want to work with. Okay, I'm listening. Like we had to like step into a new um, a new version of ourselves sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, yeah. And I think for me and my experience speaking, it was easier to kind of ease into it, right? Like I didn't go from never being on stage to speaking in front of 400 people. I went from never speaking on stage to like doing some video presentations. That feels a lot safer, right? Like if I'm just completely mortified and an idiot, I'll just be like, oh, my connection, gotta go by. Um, and then you know, speaking to smaller audiences of maybe like 30 and you know, kind of working your way up. And I feel like I don't know what your take on that is, but for me, that felt easier.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, I always say, like, we can do low-hanging fruit. Why not do low-hanging fruit? Go and speak in front of I I do recommend your first speaking engagement, especially if you have a lot of, you know, trepidation around it. Your first one, don't make that be the most important one in your whole life, right? Don't have it full of the exact perfect clients, and it's the best opportunity you've ever seen in your whole gosh darn life. Go do it in front of, you know, kids in the neighborhood, your friends, uh your close buddies, your work uh colleagues, your family, depending on you know your relationship, somewhere close to home, somewhere where you're like, oh, I kind of feel comfortable. Oh, I know where that is. Yeah, I could go over there, no big deal. And then you can just let a lot of the nerves out during that session. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect the first time. It's like, imagine we're five years old and we didn't tie our shoes perfectly the very first time. Like, would we just give up and we're like, oh, that just doesn't work. I'm never gonna tie my shoes again. But we do that with speaking because it it can feel vulnerable and scary. But it's like, give yourself some grace, go, you know, inch, inch up as at your own pace, yeah, and be ready so that you can take those opportunities that are gonna be ideal.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah. We do that with so many things in business, don't we? It's like I launched the thing once and nobody wants it. And I'm like, okay, well, gotta start over. Yeah. I guess I'm giving up my dreams.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

You're like, whoa, hold on a second.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Or maybe just like change one thing and try again. Yeah, we may just need a little do tweak.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah.

When Speaking Makes Business Sense

SPEAKER_01 12:50

So how do we know if speaking is the right strategy for our business? Like, obviously, you mentioned, you know, if you're somebody that is like, I would rather do literally anything than speak, probably not the best strategy for you. But is there anybody else who like shouldn't use speaking as a strategy for their business or anybody who it's particularly suited to?

Finding Gigs Without Cold Outreach

SPEAKER_00 13:12

I I think there's a nice sweet spot. And this isn't an exact, but um, one of the things I'll do is a speaker monetization formula where we start to figure out like what's your speaking sales potential? Like, forget about the fee if you're getting paid or not. Just let that go for a second. Because if you have a service or product that's a thousand dollars or more, just even that initial sale, you might they might then continue. So that might turn into more money, but I don't want to complicate it. So let's say you have a program for$1,000, maybe$5,000. We'll just do$5,000 as an example. Um, and you speak a couple times a month. It could even be virtual, and you got a client, let's say you average one client every talk. Let's see, I'm gonna do some really quick math here. So we've got five thousand dollars times one client times twenty-four times a year, that's$120,000. And so when people go, oh, well, okay, I think I can get over my issues. I think I can, I think I can work it like moving through that. Now, is that a guarantee? No, but it starts to empower you to go, does this make sense for me? So if you're selling your book for$20 and that's your big master business plan, that's probably not gonna be the plan for you. If you have you, but maybe you sell book, bulk book sales and you depending on the environment, or you have a coaching program or some kind of consulting service that people pay top dollar for. Maybe they get a free book, who cares, right? Who cares about the 20 bucks? But like, how do we make this make sense for you and your business? I think that's where it it's helpful to to know.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned at the beginning, too, and this is something that I have struggled with, especially in the beginning, is like, okay, I want to speak. I know what I'm gonna speak on. I know that there are people out there who like would love to hear this talk. And now what do I do? Like, how do I find them? You know, like I see so much generic advice that's like, call the Chamber of Commerce, ask your local women's group, which is great to start with, but like what else?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Yeah, so there's so many different ways that you can navigate that. And I was literally just on a call the other day, and this gentleman said, Well, the way to get speak engagements is just you have to just cold, call, reach out to hundreds every day. And I thought, oh my gosh, that sounds like a soul-sucking activity for a million person. My clients do not want to do that. Um, and that's kind of the popular way. Like you, you know, get a VA and have them submit your application. That's for certain types of speaking engagements, but it really depends on your audience, your message, and who your ideal clients are. And what kind of speaking um life do you want to have? Are you a person who would love to travel, or are you like, oh, I kind of like staying home and cozy? Are we can we do a blend of virtual speaking and in person? Maybe you start to. I I'm a huge fan of I have so much to say about this. So I'm like, I've got like all the thoughts are coming in all at the same time. So I'm gonna like take, take a number. Okay. So thought number one is it's important to get a lay of the land. Like, where are you? One of my clients is in Chicago, so it's like, okay, for her market, I'm like, I want you to get a lay of the land. What's going on in Chicago in this particular market that you are trying to jump into? What associations are there? What local groups are there? What national groups have chapters there? So we're talking uh associations, it could be chambers, could be networking groups, could be business groups, could be specialty groups. So you want to kind of get a lay of land in your own backyard. I call it like finding treasure in your own backyard because that's just like easier. Like, you know, I gotta get on a plane if you live in a well-populated area. So I just say it's like basic, like you gotta know what game you're playing, what's around. So you can keep your eyes and ears open when you're networking and say, like, hey, do you know a person who's, you know, a member of XYZ Association? I'm a huge fan of warm introductions. So part of it is figuring out what warm introductions are you gonna ask for. Because if you say, Melissa, like, um, oh, I'm looking to speak, do you know anyone who has speakers? I'm like, yeah, the Knitting Association of America, like that's not really who you're looking for, right? So we want to be able to train the people around us to know what to look for. Um, sometimes that can be confusing too. Like I have um, we just had our international speaker network meeting, and we always say, okay, what type, you know, what do you speak on and what's your ideal audience? And so sometimes I do a little coaching on the ideal audience. Someone's like, Well, I'm looking for an audience of men and women who need to level up. I'm like, nobody knows, like it's not like uh we need to level up, so we're gonna all meet together. There's not, there's not an audience like that. Yeah. Now, but it's general enough to like, okay, you help men and women. So probably any group that's business oriented, they're gonna be open to leveling up because they're there to grow. So that'll help to determine um where to start looking.

Five Tips Resource And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah, that totally makes sense. I love that. So you mentioned when you and I were talking earlier that you have a list of the top top five tips to get more speaking gigs. Yes. Can you share that with our audience?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I'm gonna actually, yeah, you can go to get speaking gigsnow.com slash tips and get that. And that's those are some of the tips I've used to book over 600 talks. I've never used an agent. I've I've never used an agency. I just do it all myself. Still to this day, I have I have assistants, but they don't help me with that part. And um happy to give those out.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, that's awesome. And if people are listening to this and they're like, oh, maybe speaking is a good idea for me and they want to learn more about you and about what you do, what's the best way for them to do that?

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Um, you can go to the tips and get the get speaking gigsnow.com slash tips, pop your email in there, and then you'll get my email address and we'll be off to the races. There'll be a link in there eventually that you can, if you want to book a call with it with me, we can do that. Okay, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Thank you so much. I feel like we could go. There's so many things to talk about when it comes to speaking. I feel like we could keep going forever, but we'll have to have you back for part two sometime. Um, but I feel like this is a really good start to just to get people thinking like maybe this is an idea for me. And maybe all these things I was thinking about of like why I can't speak are not actually true and kind of give people a good starting place. So I think this is really helpful. Thank you, Melissa. Yeah, thank you.