Your speaking network is a gold mine of business knowledge, expertise exchange, and qualified leads.

You can leverage your speaking network to enhance your professional and personal growth. Here are three ways you can do so:

Knowledge Sharing and Learning

Speakers can use their network to share knowledge and insights on their expertise. This could involve organizing webinars, workshops or participating in panel discussions.

A large part of being a speaker is running your business. Using your speaking network to learn better and faster business processes and tools can drastically slash the time you take to work on your business.

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool is among several essential tools for your business. A CRM tool organizes your leads into different categories depending on the maturity of the lead. I use Lead-In, Contact Made, Phone (or Virtual) Meeting, Proposal, and Contract Negotiation. These categories as a whole are called your pipeline. Eric Rheam of The Speaker Lab says, “If you don’t have a pipeline, you don’t have a business.”

You know that following up with leads is needed to win business. You can eliminate the drudgery of remembering when to follow up by setting reminders in your CRM tool. You set these reminders, and then you can forget about them. You will get a notice from your CRM when it is time to follow up on a lead.

You can also discover tools from your speaker network for booking meetings, invoicing, and recording your revenue and expenses, just to name a few.

In addition to tools, your network can provide you with the processes they are using the tools to facilitate. My Uncle Sal said, “You gotta have a system.” His words were never so right then when you have a speaking business.

By connecting with other speakers and experts in related fields, you gain new perspectives and stay updated on the latest trends and developments in running your speaking business.

It’s a win-win when you share your knowledge and learn from your speaking network.

So, knowledge sharing and learning are tangible benefits of using your speaking network.

Using your speaking network also provides you with opportunities for collaboration and partnerships.

Collaborations and Partnerships

Using your speaking network opens opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. This could involve co-hosting events, co-authoring articles and books, or teaming up for joint projects.

Co-hosting events is a bonus for your audience because they benefit from each of your and your co-host’s expertise, which your audience would not enjoy if you or your co-host spoke alone.

Co-hosting articles and books makes them richer in content since you have more than one view of the article or book.

Teaming with another speaker for other joint projects, such as workshops and seminars, also benefits your audience because of the additional expertise available between the two of you.

Your collaborative effort expands the reach of your message and provides a platform for shared expertise, benefiting both you, the other speaker, and the audience.

Collaboration also provides you with a ready network to draw on if you have speaking or speaking business questions that are baffling you.

A partnership is a more formal collaboration with another speaker. The great benefit of partnerships is the other speaker can provide expertise where you are weak and vice versa.

So, knowledge sharing, learning, and collaboration/partnerships are tangible benefits of using your speaking network.

Maybe the most important benefit of using your speaking network is its contribution to your career and business growth.

Career and Business Growth

A speaking network can be instrumental in advancing your career and business. Connections within your industry can lead to speaking invitations at high-profile events, contributing to increased visibility.

The speaking business has one thing in common with all businesses. Business flourishes when you let other speakers know what you speak about. You could try to find all your business on your own, but you will never be able to reach the number of leads your speaking network can get.

In addition, networking with event organizers, sponsors, and potential clients can result in new opportunities for paid speaking engagements, consulting roles, or business ventures.

When a client says no, it does not mean a final “no.” “No” can mean they have booked all the speakers they need at the moment, they don’t have the budget to hire you as a speaker right now, or their conference is booked for just this year.

A critical process that all businesses need is follow-up. Circumstances change. If you accept the first “no” you get and don’t follow up, you miss a golden opportunity for future business.

As a speaking entrepreneur, you always have to ensure you have future business coming in, even if that future business is one or two years in the future. Referring back to the first section. The only way to ensure future business is by using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool to keep your pipeline full and nurtured.

All books on sales will tell you sales are made on sometimes the fifth, sixth, or seventh follow-up. Don’t stop until you make the sale.

So, three ways to leverage your speaker network are (1) sharing your knowledge and learning from other speakers, (2) collaborating and partnering with other speakers, and using your network to discover leads that eventually become paying customers.

You can run your business without a network and struggle to make ends meet, or you can use your network to accelerate your business.

Ignore your speaking network at your peril!

Call to Action

• Work daily to expand your speaking network by sharing your knowledge and learning from others in your network.

• Consider collaborating and partnering with other speakers. It is fun and lucrative.

• Use your speaking network to find qualified leads faster. Use your pipeline to mature these leads.

Frank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.

Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals by improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Reach Frank at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.

Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!

“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”

Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com