Build Your Speaking Practice

Building Your Consulting & Speaking Practice:Advice from Weiss



Here's such a good advice from guru, Alan Weiss.

Here's the extract from Flip's newsletter:

http://www.fripp.com/oddcouple.html



At the opening of a previous Odd Couple Marketing

and Strategy Seminar, Flipp's co-presenter Alan Weiss gave these

pieces of advice in an opening evening Q & A...



Q: How do I build my business?



Alan: "There has to market need for what you do;

you have to have the competency to meet the need;

and, you have to have the passion to want to fulfill it.

When those three things converge, you have a brilliant career.

It doesn't matter

what the economy is like; it doesn't matter what the

competition is like; it doesn't matter what government

regulation is like. The great thing about what we do is

e control our own destiny. So, look where those three things

are and you have a brilliant career."



Q: How do I look stand out in the crowd of other consultants

and professional speakers?



Alan:"When I started my career, quality circles were very big.

I wrote an article called "Why Quality Circles Make No

Sense." Completely contrary. They published it in an instant.

You don't want to be the 457th person talking about

where leaders have high integrity and they're ethical.

You want to talk about the fact, for example, that right now you

have two kinds of people in leadership. You have people

who are in their 50s and 60s near the top of organizations,

who didn't grow up with diversity, who didn't grow up

with high-tech, who didn't grow up with instantaneous

communications, who know nothing about it. You have a

second era of leadership - people in their 30s and

40s - who have never led in down times, they've only led

in boom economies. Now, given that juxtaposition of these

senior people who aren't used to some conditions and the

next level people, you have a leadership crisis. So, I've

created a whole new route here. I can do that all day long.

I can get anyone interested in what I have to say about

leadership, or you name a topic, I'll make it up.

That's what you have to do .



So, if you want to enter a field, whether it's team building

or leadership or priority setting, diversity, whatever it is,

come out with your own viewpoint. Read what people have

said and then decide how you'll be slightly different."



Q: How do build I credibility with future clients when I

am still fairly young and inexperienced?



Alan: "I worked with a woman in my mentor program.

She said to me, 'My problem is this. I don't have a college degree;

I'm younger than I look; I have no experience in any of these

industries; how do I overcome that?' And I said,

'How does the prospect know this?' And she said, 'I tell them.'

I said, 'Stop doing that.' So, what you do in your case is publish.

You start with position papers that you publish and put in your

own press kit on your philosophy of leadership.

You publish in the local newspapers. You get up and speak somewhere,

for free if you have to, on leadership, and you have it taped,

and you create a CD and white paper. This is what you do to

create an aura of authority and accountability around yourself

about whatever topic you like. Never feel you're going to walk

in and sell to G.E. That's not what you do. What you want is G. E.

to come to you and say, 'I've read something you've written.'"