James Malinchak: Speak Your Way To Prosperity

September 18, 2017

Learn how to become a big money speaker

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  • Played basketball in Hawaii

  • Moved to LA

  • Had no idea or plan to speak

  • Was making $7/hr working at a video store in L.A.

  • He listened to people who said, “just follow your passion,” but it doesn’t work unless you get booked

  • You need to bring business processes to your passion 

  • Most speaker associations are a load of crap with advice like “cold call 100, and you’ll get ten interested”

  • Did 2-3 talks, then 30-40 then he crushed it

  • You need to be a great marketer

  • The 8-ball of speaking is reaching the people who control the budgets. Nothing else matters.

  • Corporate speakers go after training coordinators, casino 

  • Colleges have budgets (student activities, Greek life, residential coordinator, youth conferences)

  • You have the youth market (K-12), colleges, corporate: make your speaking material unique for each of those

  • He has one talk that fits three themes with different titles in Corporate

    • Success/Motivation

    • Sales

    • Leadership

    • This 3X’s his chances of getting booked

  • He has five talks for colleges

    • Incoming

    • Out-going

    • Leadership

    • Success In College

    • College athletes

    • This 5X’s

  • One talk for youth where he’s paid as a keynote speaker

  • He does more direct mail than anyone

    • Event coordinators don’t go to Facebook to find a speaker

    • No speaker shows up in the mailboxes of these decision-makers

    • He’ll validate their addresses

    • He has zero competition because nobody mails

    • He’ll do 10,000 mail pieces

      • 1,000 will be interested

      • 100 will retain him for $20,000

      • Don’t do postcards

      • His contacts tell him not to send little postcards

      • He sends a 6-page brochure in one big sheet

      • Rent the right list and drive them to a landing page where they can see a video of you as a speaker

      • Customize the mailout for the market

      • They’ll call and book him

      • Coordinators worry if you can relate to their audience, not that you can speak well

    • These are for fee-paid talks

  • Slides should enhance your presentation, not be your presentation

  • Your face and your hands should be your main tools

  • Planners will ask for local people to keep fees down

    • Destination planners will give them a list of the local providers

    • 20,000 conventions per year are held in Vegas

    • Sales and Marketing coordinators of hotels—he got to know them and got listed as a preferred vendor (incentivize them)

  • 15 years ago, he walked into the Portland Convention Center with a bunch of big names like Michael Jordan ($150k) vs. James’s $5k, and he was the only one  who got a standing ovation

  • To make more, package yourself better to be perceived as being worth more

  • When you’re starting, you speak anywhere for any price

  • Everyone undervalues themselves

  • Ask for what you want

  • He started earning $20,000 when he decided to ask for $20,000

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