Why Speaking is the Fastest Way To Grow Your Business

Are you a coach or consultant who feels like the best-kept secret in your field, even though you're great at what you do?

In this episode, I sit down with speaking and visibility coach Laurie-Ann Murabito to explore how speaking can become your most powerful marketing tool, and how it can add $10,000 in revenue every time you step on a stage.

You'll discover:

01:15 - Why speaking is the fastest way to grow your business
02:54 - Why "stages" and "speaking" need to be redefined
04:09 - The 20,000+ speaking events happening globally every day
05:13 - The 255,000 associations and trade groups you can speak to
07:14 - The in-demand signature speech methodology explained
10:33 - The art of dropping low-key "selling seeds" while speaking
13:40 - How to overcome the fear of public speaking
16:08 - The two questions that shape every effective speech
17:21 - Why giving the same signature speech again and again works
18:50 - Where to find Laurianne's two podcasts
19:40 - The rookie mistakes that quietly cost you bookings

Key Insights:

– Speaking lets you pitch to a room full of ideal clients at once, making it far more efficient than one-on-one sales calls

– A "stage" is any place you have an audience: podcasts, webinars, masterminds, memberships, and social media all count

– There are thousands of speaking opportunities and hundreds of thousands of associations actively looking for speakers, so the real question is where your ideal clients gather

– A strong signature speech follows a structure: an opening that pulls people in, an authority section that earns their attention, and content that delivers on what they came for

– You can sell your ability to help people from the stage without pitching, simply by referencing clients, methods, and other talks you give 

– People who aren't the right fit still become referral agents, so every audience extends your reach

– The fear of speaking usually comes from focusing on yourself. Shifting attention to serving the audience removes much of that pressure

– Knowing exactly what you'll say, rather than improvising, is what separates confident speakers from nervous ones

– Giving the same speech repeatedly is a strength, not a weakness. Repetition makes your delivery sharper and more natural

– Before accepting any speaking opportunity, get on a call to understand the audience and ask about their budget, which can dramatically increase your fee

🎁 Resources Mentioned:

👉 Be in Demand Podcast: https://podcast.speakandstandout.com/
👉 Public Speaking Monetization Tips Podcast: 
https://youtu.be/EN_gUlyNLQc?si=sy8JhdV6L2VSYVRo
👉 Connect with Laurie-Ann: https://speakandstandout.com

Thanks for listening to the Seven-Figure Life-Fulfillment podcast.

🎁 Claim Ken's free gift — Revenue Growth Stalled? Before you spend another dollar on marketing, make sure you're fixing the right problem.

Take the Revenue Roadblock Diagnostic™

It's free and takes less than 5 minutes.

👉🏻 https://scorecard.kensteven.com/diagnosis

Transcript

Ken Steven 0:00

If you're a coach or consultant who is feeling like the best kept secret in your field, you're going to love my special guest today. She's going to show you how you can boost your visibility as a go-to expert so you can grow your revenue. Hello, and welcome to the Seven Figure Life Fulfillment Podcast, where we share strategies to help coaches and consultants grow their revenue while working fewer hours so they can finally build a life they enjoy. I'm your host, Ken Stephen, and my guest today is Lorianne Murabito. Laurianne is a speaking and visibility coach. She helps coaches and consultants use speaking as their best form of marketing to build authority, attract clients, and be seen as the go-to expert in their industry. For the past 25 years, she's been working with leaders in Fortune 500 companies like Johnson Johnson and the U.S. military. And today, Lori Ann and I will be talking about how speaking can add $10,000 to your revenue every time you step on stage. Lori Ann, I'm so glad you could be here to join us today. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Well, thank you, Ken, for inviting me.

Ken Steven 1:05

Well, I'm anxious to dive in today because I think everyone really would like to know how to add $10,000 to the revenue simply by speaking on a stage. So why don't we just start in the obvious spot? Is why do you say that speaking is the fastest way to grow your business?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Oh, what a great catchphrase that is, isn't it? And I use that catchphrase through in my speeches. And I teach my clients to have a catchphrase, something that's very catchy. Speaking's the fastest way to grow your business. Speaking's the fastest way to get more visibility, speaking's the fastest way to grow your email list with the right people. So why do I say that speaking is the fastest way? Well, how long are your sales calls? Let's just say 30 minutes. Okay. And so how many sales calls can you do in an hour? Two. How many can you do in an entire day? You probably only do maybe four or five, six. But what if you were speaking in front of 30 or 50 people? 30 to 50 of the ideal clients, maybe even more if it's a bigger audience. It's essentially a live demonstration of what you do and how you help people. That's what speaking is new for you. So that's why it's so efficient. And I like efficiency is definitely my middle name. So if I can just speak to a group of 100 people and the right people will come speak to me afterwards, that's gold. That is gold for me.

Ken Steven 2:45

People would be thinking that, yeah, I'm I'm not really. How do I get a speaking gig? I can't I can't get up on a stage. I mean, I don't know anybody, I don't know associations, I can't get on stages. But you and I were talking about the fact that a stage is not the only place where you can be a speaker.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

You know, actually, I did an entire podcast episode on this. It's actually number 306, and it's 30 different stages that you haven't even thought about.

Ken Steven 3:10

Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Well, stages need to be redefined. Speaking needs to be redefined. Too many people think that speaking is I gotta step up onto a stage, stand behind a podium, and have 112 slides for my 30-minute presentation. And that's not the only form of speaking, and it's also not the only form of stages. I would consider this, Ken, your podcast. This is your stage. You have invited me onto your stage. I have a podcast, that's one of my stages. But speaking is also a sales call when you're doing an IG story, a webinar, and you know, like any sort of like you go into somebody's um private community, whether it's a mastermind or a membership, and you are giving a class, that's a form of speaking. But I also so speaking needs to be redefined and the stages needs to be redefined. But I also want people to know there are more than 20,000 speaking events globally happening today. Really? Today. And because of when the world got a little interesting back in 2020, and that's why stages and speaking needs to be redefined. Like you and I speaking here right now, this is not included in that 20,000. That 20,000 comes from MPI Meeting Planners International, who actually rate that by how many rooms at a hotel, a conference room, have been rented, spaces been rented to host a meeting. So there's 20,000 globally. Here in the US, it's actually 7,500. So the US has almost half, almost half of the speaking opportunities. And here in the US, like the conference and meeting industry is literally a very profitable industry. So we'll take that, and now I'm gonna throw one more number at you, and that is there are 255,000 associations and professional trade groups here in the US. Wow. Okay. You know when you go to the circus or you go to the fair and there's that guy in the beginning who's blowing up those long skinny balloons and he twists and he turns, he turns him into a cute little animal that makes a little kid really happy. Yeah, there's an association for that. And I shared that because I want people to understand there are so many different associations. For example, one of my clients spoke in real estate. That's what he did. So I looked up because I happened to have one of the last final copies that was like actually printed, a book of the associations. I call it the Bible, because it's literally like Bible paper. And I went and counted how many different associations are under the real estate umbrella. 147. Really? Wow. 147 different associations that probably all have chapters in every state. Now, that 147 did not include real estate investing and real estate management, which those are even more groups that he could speak for. So I share this because I want people to understand where are your people? Where are your ideal clients? That's where you want to be speaking. You want to find them and speak there.

Ken Steven 6:45

This notion of how to earn $10,000 every time you step off the stage. How are we going to work that in there?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

How are we going to work that in there? I mean, it's easy. Let me tell you about a client who actually 10xed that. She was somebody who was afraid of speaking. We had a sales call and she dragged her feet, and like a year later, she came back and said, Lorianne, I'm ready to work with you. I am tired of being fearful of speaking. And so we worked on her signature speech. I use what I call an in-demand signature speech methodology, which means I help people write speeches in blocks. So we craft an hour-long presentation, but if you're ever asked to speak for 45 minutes or 30 minutes, you just take out a couple of the blocks. Makes it super easy for everybody. So this woman, she was a business storyteller and she got to go speak at a Fortune 100 company, Microsoft. That one talk at Microsoft has earned her in five years a half a million dollars. A half a million dollars. Yeah. She she had a reconnection call with me. She's like, Laura, I don't think I ever told you, but I ended up speaking at Microsoft after we finished working together. We worked together privately for about 12 months. Half a million dollars. And that's not uncommon. And the way that that happens is you have to, one, you're gonna use the in-demand signature speech methodology, which is you have an opening, you have an authority section because this is what happens to your audience. Your audience listens to your opening and they lean in. It's like, oh my God, this is so interesting. I've already done it to you, Ken. You know, like with the numbers, something that is startling to like, there's really 255,000 associations. There's really over 20,000 speaking opportunities every single day. You get people to lean in. But then what happens is after that, your audience naturally leans back, starts to fold their arms, and they're thinking, Why should I listen to you? That's where you drop your authority section. And your authority section tells people in a fun, engaging way, like a human being, not like a boring resume, why they should listen to you. So part of my authority section is I'm a reform painfully shy girl who accidentally said yes to a speaking opportunity. I literally couldn't make eye contact with people. But I said yes, I showed up, I served the audience. People walked up to me afterwards and said, So do you work with clients? Do you have a website? And I was like, What? What? And I went from that to on professional speaking and the leadership and corporate engagement industries. And then I stepped off the stage to start helping coaches because somebody sent me a text message that said, Lauren Ann, do you write speeches for people? So that's a little bit of my authority section. But I would also drop in there during my leadership development. I worked for a couple of tiny companies called like American Towers, Johnson ⁇ Johnson. Maybe you've heard of them. And the audience usually laughs because, yeah, it's not really a little company.

unknown 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

So you tell your authority section because then that gets people engaged again. They're leaning back in. You have a transitional phrase, but you didn't come here to hear about me. Let me start sharing with you the information that you came to share. And you make it engaging. And then the way that you make $10,000 every time you finish speaking is you drop little seeds of selling. I've already done it here with you. It becomes very natural. I just start talking about a client. Now somebody hears, somebody who's listening to me is like, oh, she works with clients. Oh, she's got this theory called in-demand signature speech. Oh, she also has a podcast. I might even mention that I have two podcasts. One that's a petite podcast, more on that later. But you're dropping little seeds because what's happening in the audience is they're like, oh, she's not just a speaker. She's not just this one talk. My client who spoke at Microsoft also mentioned other speeches that she gives. In my other talk on like leadership, on storytelling, that's what I would do. And it lets the audience, or more importantly, the people who booked me, oh, she has a talk on leadership. We gotta bring her back. So now they're already thinking, how do we get Lorian back in here?

Ken Steven 11:44

You're not you're not actually on stage selling anything. It's just that people want to work with you because they realize that you probably have some expertise that can help them.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Because it's it I am sort of selling.

Ken Steven 12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

But I'm selling in such a low-key way that it literally pulls in the right people.

Ken Steven 12:11

It's cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I have been, I have spoken virtually, and when I talk about this, like these little seeds of selling, selling seeds. And I will have somebody that will unmute and say, I can tell you're doing it. I just don't know how you're doing it. But that's how low-key it is. Now I'm not having that effect on everybody, and that's okay. I just want the right people to come to me and the other people who I'm not a good fit for yet, they become great referral agents. And so when they're like with their friends or with their colleagues, and somebody says, God, I wish I could get on more stages. Oh, you know, I just heard this woman, Lorianne, speaking on this webinar or this mastermind that I'm in. She was a guest speaker. Here's her podcast, like, or here's her website. And so now they become referral agents. So everybody who's in your audience, they already said a micro yes. They said yes to spending time with you. Yes, I have the problem that you solve. Yes, I have the problem, or I predict that I'm going to have this problem in the near future. So it's always a micro yes to anybody who is in your in-person or your virtual audience.

Ken Steven 13:32

So speaking sounds like a really wonderful idea. We could go a couple of couple of different ways here. We first of all, is it we could talk about why people may not want to get into speaking because they fear this notion of getting on stage? Or we could talk about uh, well, that's why don't we start with that? There's a fear. Like there's like I'm I'm taking take myself for example. Like I have never stepped on a stage. Okay, even though I know speaking is a great way to grow my business, simply because I have a fear of public speaking.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

What do you fear about public speaking?

Ken Steven 14:14

Well, it's interesting because I know what your response to this is going to be already, right? No, but the but the fear comes from fear of being judged, right?

unknown 14:23

Of course.

Ken Steven 14:23

Because you're going to fear like, what if I mess up? What if I forget what I'm going to say? What if people don't like what I'm saying? What if I see them crossing their arms and then they're not really listening to me and they don't agree with what I'm saying? So there's this fear of failure, right? Fear of what it might do to your reputation, right? And so you never get started. But I know you have a great answer for this because it's not supposed to be about me, is it?

SPEAKER_01 14:48

It's not supposed to be about you. It's supposed to be about the audience. Most of the time, what I, the clients that I work with, what when they're focused, like, what will they think of me? What if I forget what I'm gonna say? What if somebody asks me a question I can't answer? This is all you focused. Right. Like, where's the audience in any of that? Right. You want to be serving the audience. So I met this gentleman who was a singer in a band, and he finds out what I do, and he's like, I could never do what you do. I said, Really? And that's when I like, well, what do you do? And I said to him, I said, like, so in between sets or songs, do you talk to the audience? He goes, Oh yeah, easy. I go, really? I said, how is that easy? Do you know what you're going to say? He goes, Yeah, as a matter of fact, I kind of have a script. I use the same questions, the same jokes every single night. I said, bingo. The clients that I work with, I help them know exactly what they're going to say when they get on that stage, when they get on that podcast, that speaking opportunity. You know what you're going to say. It's you don't wing it. So there are two questions in the in-demand signature speech methodology that I have all of my clients, including my corporate clients, who have to routinely craft speeches, sometimes rather impromptu. There are two questions you need to answer. What do you want the audience to do differently, to think differently, to believe differently after you're done speaking? So this is part of the finish line. Okay, you know what that is. And what do you want out of speaking for this particular audience? That becomes your GPS. That becomes our destination. Now we reverse engineer what has to be in the presentation so that those two questions get answered. You know, for me, I have a two to three month accelerator program, and I also have a six-month program that's a little bit more high touch and a little bit more time with me. But both cases, I'm helping you craft a presentation. I'm helping you craft a signature speech that you'll be proud of and that you're gonna give again and again and again. Now, Ken, this is usually a big question that people ask. Can I really give the same speech twice? So, Ken, what's your favorite movie?

Ken Steven 17:31

Top Gun Maverick.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

How many times have you seen Top Gun Maverick?

Ken Steven 17:36

Five or six. That's it. Maybe more, actually.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

And in those six times, I mean, don't you know what the ending is?

Ken Steven 17:44

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Of course. Exact same thing for the person who is sitting in your audience who has heard the speech. They're gonna be at a different place in their life and they're gonna pick up on different things. But the more you tell the same story, the same speech, again and again and again, you get so good at sharing that story, that speech. I mean, how many times do you think that I have given my opening? I'm a reform painfully sharp girl who accidentally said yes to a speaking opportunity, which took me into leadership development and working with Johnson ⁇ Johnson accidentally. I mean, I've said it so many times, but it sounds very conversational. And I have lots of stories that are exactly the same thing. I've told them again and again and again.

Ken Steven 18:34

I want to be respectful of your time here, and I see we're running short. So before we run out of time, please tell everybody how they might be able to reach out to you and get your help and writing their speech and adding speaking to their marketing toolkit.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Okay, so I told you I have two podcasts. So I would recommend both of them. My weekly podcast is called Be in Demand. And I have a petite podcast that is a total of 18 episodes from beginning to end. And that one I highly recommend for coaches like in your audience, your listeners, because it will take you through step A all the way to step Z. And that podcast is called Public Speaking Monetization Tips. It will teach you a little bit about how to get started, how to get your first booking, how to start thinking about your authority section, the different tips, the answering those foundational questions, and most importantly, what mistakes to avoid. Don't be a rookie. Don't look like a rookie.

Ken Steven 19:40

Speaking of mistakes to avoid, let's very quickly touch on those, okay?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Okay.

Ken Steven 19:47

So if you're if you've probably seen over the 25 years, you've seen everybody make every possible mistake when they come up onto a stage or anything that we're now defining as a stage. Let let's help people understand what how they could recognize that they really do need your help because they're making these mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Okay. One is when somebody like says, Hey, could you come speak for my for my group, for my audience? You don't just say yes. That's a dead giveaway, you're a newbie. You don't know anything about the audience. You don't know anything about their problems. You have to get on the phone with them to have a discussion. One of my clients who did my in-demand signature speech method um course, she got an inquiry from somebody she'd spoken for before. And I said to her, get on the call. She goes, Yeah, but I've I've already worked with them before. She was going to send them an invoice and just say yes for her $1,500 typical rate. But because she got on a call with them and she asked the magical question, which is what's your budget for this? And they told her $5,000. So she made it $4,000. So she now she more than doubled the the she more than doubled her money just in that one phone call. So that's another one. Another one that please, please, please don't ever do this. You get up there and you speak and you say, Hi, my name is Lori Ann. Nobody cares what your name is. They don't, especially if you were already introduced by somebody. If somebody's like, you introduced me onto your show. I wouldn't come on and say, Hi, everyone, my name is Lori Ann. It's like, yeah, no kidding. That screams newbie. So please don't do that. That's a couple.

Ken Steven 21:44

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

You have to listen to the podcast to hear all the others.

Ken Steven 21:47

I was going to say, definitely listen to the podcast because you want to know what the other ones are too. Laurianne, I just want to thank you so much for all your insights. Today you've shared some really golden nuggets on why speaking should be added to your marketing toolkit to increase your visibility. Um, we did touch on the fact that there's all kinds of ways that can actually earn you an extra $10,000 every time you're on someone's stage. Uh, so uh I hope everyone has found value in this. I certainly found value in this. I may even consider public speaking myself, in which case I'm gonna have to reach out to you and get your help because uh, you know, don't do this alone at home, okay? Like reach out to an expert like Laurian. Uh, thank you again for being on the show.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Uh, thank you so much, Ken. And to everybody who's listening to this episode, if you've made it to the end, just know that if you reach out to me, if you have any questions, it is me who's gonna answer. And it's not a bot, it's not, you know, somebody on my team. And the best place is to reach me when you go to my website, which is speakandstandout.com. You can find me on your favorite social media platform. And I'll leave it at that.

Ken Steven 22:55

Yeah, and that's speakandstandout.com. I will definitely put that link in the show notes below. And everyone, we'll see you again on the next episode of the Seven Figure Life Fulfillment Podcast. And Laura, thanks again for being such a great guest.