Hey Greenblasters!

I just ordered a new book and I can’t wait until I’m finished to talk about it.

If it seems lame that I’m this excited about a book on how to get more and better paid speaking gigs, well then YOU MUST BE NEW TO THIS NEWSLETTER, OK??

Maria Franzoni is an OG speaking agent, speaker & coach, and after:

• following her for a long time on LinkedIn

• seeing all the posts about the writing and release of her book

• and seeing all of the posts ABOUT her book, post-launch, both from her and other people

• (which Maria reposted relentlessly & shamelessly, as she should)

… I caved and bought a copy of The Bookability Formula (yes, on Kindle, I couldn’t wait for a hard copy).

Not only was it fun to witness a masterclass in organic marketing on LinkedIn, but the book itself is fantastic so far. Clear, no-nonsense, dryly funny, and DEEP industry expertise on full display.

So:

I want to summarize Maria’s “Bookability Formula” for you today, which’ll help you get paid to speak.

It’s already helping me, and I’m only on page 24 lol!

Ready?

Let’s dive in:

The Bookability Formula

Maria introduces her formula by telling its origin story (always a good idea):

After reading about the Pareto (80/20) Principle one day, she decided to analyze almost 4,500 speakers at her speakers’ bureau. She found that:

1% of their speakers got 80% of the bookings (and 50% of the revenue).

After analyzing some more, she identified four “bookability” factors:

• Relevance (does the speaker’s topic/message matter NOW to businesses)

• Known (are they well-known in their field for ONE thing)

• Memorable (do they STICK in the minds of bookers/audiences)

• Easy (are they a breeze to work with, or NOT)

What to do with this

As I’m discovering for myself, there may be some gaps in your game.

Here’s what I’m asking myself, and you can too:

1. Does your topic/message matter to anyone but you and your mum? How have you validated it? Is it clear in your messaging why it matters?

2. Have you narrowed down your focus to a single Big Idea, and built an audience around discussing that topic, or are you all over the map?

3. Is your content, branding, AND stage presence unique, bold, catchy… or be honest, is it boring? How can you stand out more while still being yourself? What can you say that no one else can?

4. And is there clear way to find you online, understand your topics, check your availability, and book you? And when they do, are you responsive, flexible, reliable, & professional?

What I’m working on

To be honest, I think I need work on all 4, but the weakest links for me right now are Relevance and Ease:

1. Relevance: My topics of “storytelling” and “public speaking” are often seen as “nice-to-haves” in corporate, and I need to do a better job at explaining why they matter to corporate types (Caleb Spitler does this well)

2. Ease: I have no personal website where bookers can find and book me with all my info all laid out nicely, like Simon T Bailey here (although once people book me, I like to think I’m quite a treat to work with. Can I say that?)

So, to fix this:

I’m going to have more sales calls with event bookers to ask what their REAL problems are, and hire someone to create my speaker website.

The question is:

How are YOU gonna make yourself more bookable now?

You can buy Maria’s book, which I highly recommend (I assume she doesn’t start spouting anything crazy after page 25, she seems very sensible)

OR you can come to my Free Paid Workshop Workshop, next Aug 20th! 149 people have already signed up 🤯:

That’s it for this week you lovely people!

Greenblast… OUT 🚀