The Basics of Operations for Speakers

Organizing Your Speaking Business Information

Staying organized in your speaking business poses a lot of the same problems we saw with sales. More than anything, the largest obstacle to organization is the lack of a consistent process for systemizing your company’s information. In light of this, there are a few general rules we follow on the back end of SpeakerFlow to stay on target. 

First, when you have an important file, take a minute to upload it to your storage platform of choice at the time. Whether you use Google DriveDropbox, or OneDrive, taking care of it at the time means time saved later. Once you’re in the habit of doing this, you’ll also notice that you lose materials less and less. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you have your shit together, more people will want to hire you. More organization on the back end of your speaking business means smoother sailing on the front end. Plain and simple. 

Second, we are consistent in our organizational tools. As a team, we all use Google Drive for storage and we store everything there. Everything. As a new speaker, this will become increasingly important as you add to your team. It’s also important when you are hiring independent contractors. For example, if you hire a graphic designer to create a new one-sheet for you, share a Google Drive folder with them and instruct them to upload the final design there when it’s completed. 

This brings me to our last organizational rule of thumb: hold everyone to the same standards. As your speaking business grows, you are the leader of the pack. So, the more organized you can be from the beginning, the more easily your team members can take tasks off your plate and the smoother your operations will be. 

Automating Your Processes

Extensive Automation Graphic for How To Start A Speaking Business The Ultimate Guide Blog - SpeakerFlow

The second key to successful speaking business operations is automation. Although we already discussed sales automation, there are a host of tools to help you automate operations, too. These include notifications for new calendar events and subscriptions to your newsletter and updates to your financial records. One of our tried and true favorites is Zapier. If you haven’t heard of it, Zapier is basically an app for connecting apps, even if they don’t natively integrate. 

Managing Booked Events

Besides automation and organization, operations also means managing events. By “events,” I mean speaking gigs as well as daily appointments. Starting with speaking gigs, the primary goal is similar to that of staying organized. In short, you want to create a consistent process so every time you’re hired, you know what information to provide, what info you need, and what your next steps are. Generally, we recommend building a “For Event Planners” page on your website and a folder for it in your cloud storage platform. Both the page and the folder should include all information relevant to events, including headshots, audio/visual requirements, and your speaker biography. The idea is to give you a single place to store everything for event planners. That way, when they hire you, you can say, “Here is a link to a folder, which has everything you need”. 

As for events in your day-to-day schedule, we recommend adding an auto-scheduler to your website or, at the very least, in your sales emails. These platforms allow people to see your schedule and book an appointment with you when it’s convenient for both of you. You control your availability settings and the information included in the scheduling form. Ultimately, this allows people to book meetings with you and get automatic reminders without either of you having to lift a finger. Plus, you don’t have to have the back-and-forth availability conversation! 

We’ll go over a few software options for event management in a bit, for both speaking gigs and daily appointments. 

Operations Data to Track

But, before we jump into operations tools, let’s talk data again. When it comes to your speaking business operations, the most important data to track is obvious: revenue. Besides the gig-related information we recommended tracking in the “Sales” section, you also need to track the amount of money going out of your speaking business. It seems like a no-brainer, but for many speaking businesses this is still a problem. Unsurprisingly, this is especially true when it comes to technology. 

Let’s say you signed up for a trial of a CRM in the past and it asked you to input a credit card number, even though you were getting two weeks for free. Then, you had three gigs in a row and a family emergency. By the time those two weeks were up, you hadn’t even looked at your CRM, but you were billed anyway. Sound familiar? 

This happens over and over for speakers and many don’t even know how many tools they are paying for. To solve this, our general rules are, first, don’t sign up for a free trial when it also asks for a credit card. That’s just a recipe for unintended costs. Second, when you sign up for a new tool, record it in a document or project manager. The place you track it doesn’t matter – Just be sure you have a list somewhere of everything you’re paying for. That way, if you’re not sure of the cost for a tool or if you’re trying to cut costs, you have a reliable source of information. 

Speaking Business Operations Tools

Now, for the part of speaking business operations I’ve been waiting for: the tools and technology. Needless to say, there are plenty of alternatives to the ones covered below. As with setup and sales tools, if you already have reliable tools that take the place of those below, don’t worry about it! No need to switch to our recommendations if you already have something working for you. 😊

eSpeakers

A relatively well known piece of speaker tech that we haven’t mentioned so far is eSpeakers. Although eSpeakers can also be used for sales processes, one of the greatest features about it is their event management platform, Event CX. Built to make event management stress-free for speakers and event planners, this platform includes a calendar, meeting planner database, and a profile in the eSpeakers bureau. It also comes with task checklists, so you can prepare for gigs without worrying that you’ve missed something. Once again, when it comes to managing speaking gigs, the more organized you can be, the more gigs you can handle each year. In other words, the more organized you are, the more revenue rolls in. 

Asana

The text tech tip we have is one we’ve touched on a few times already: a project management system. Similarly to a CRM, the purpose of a project manager is organization. However, where a CRM is used primarily for sales, a project management system is for operations. Want a way to track your marketing projects? How about your content calendar for your blogs? Thinking about your financial tracking, too? All of these things can be tracked within a project management system, so you have a convenient place to double check that your speaking business is on target. From finances to company problems and solutions, it’s an easy way to be sure you’re working on your speaking business, not just in it. 

Our favorite project management system is Asana, for both the value and the extensive feature set. Besides the convenient organizational features it provides, it also comes with animations to liven up the process. Additionally, with different project layouts, free templates, and notifications, it takes minutes to get started and learn the system from A-Z. Plus, it starts free! That way, if you’re just starting your speaking business, you can save some money and upgrade as your team does.

G Suite

Another top organizational tool is G Suite. A common choice for cloud storage, G Suite is awesome for many reasons. First, at less than $10/month, it’s incredibly affordable, even if you’re a one-man show. Second, it’s one of the most intuitive tools out there, when it comes to cloud storage. Even if you’re not terribly confident in your tech knowledge, you can master G Suite without a problem. Finally, in addition to being a convenient source of internal company organization, it’s also awesome when it comes to sharing information. Remember how I mentioned earlier, “The idea is to give you a single place to store everything for event planners. That way, when they hire you, you can say, ‘Here is a link to a folder, which has everything you need’”? G Suite is that place to store everything. Affordable, convenient, and incredibly useful – What more can you ask for?

Better Proposals

Fourth in our list of speaking business operations tools is Better Proposals. Intended to streamline the proposal-sending process, this software ties in closely to the aforementioned sales systems. After you’ve closed a sale and received a verbal “yes” from an event planner, you still need a legal contract with them. That’s where Better Proposals comes in. 

With templates included, the option to add your own branding information, and an awesome support team, you can create and send a proposal in less than a minute. As a bonus, event planners can also pay through your Better Proposals portal. So, if you’re on the road and emailing event planners while you’re at your hotel, you can close them all like a pro. No more missed opportunities because you’re on the road – just picture-perfect business operations. 

Calendly

Last but not least of our recommended operations tools is Calendly. Created for large and small businesses alike, Calendly is an auto-scheduler, like we covered earlier. As with most auto-schedulers, you can connect your Calendly page to your website, so people can schedule a call as they browse your site. On the other hand, you can also share your Calendly link when you email someone. That way, they can jump right to your calendar and book a call with a few quick clicks. Additionally, you create different events within Calendly for different purposes, each of which has its own specific link. For example, if you want to keep your speaking client and consulting client meetings separated, you can create a Calendly event for each option. From there, when you connect your Calendly page to your Google or Outlook Calendar, you can see which events correspond to which group. 

Oh, and did I mention how affordable it is? Of the tools in this section, Calendly and Asana are the most useful on a day-to-day basis, and they’re both free. 🙌

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