[Podcast] Speak Your Way to More Clients (Krista Martin)

If you're a coach or consultant wanting to get more clients through speaking, you’re in the right spot.

This episode’s guest is Krista Martin, the founder of Six Figure Impact Academy. She shows coaches how to fill their programs through virtual and in-person speaking. We talk about her jump from pharmaceutical sales to entrepreneurship, strategies for getting audiences to take action, and what to include in your talks to get more people to say yes to your coaching.

Key Takeaways

• Turn passion into profit: Krista and her husband started their side business, Margarita Rentals, out of their love for margaritas. This experience taught her the power of partnerships and how to create value through collaborations.
• Leverage events for networking: Show up at events with the energy of your future self, seeking meaningful connections and adding value with confidence. Be intentional about your physical presence while connecting with the event organizers so you can further boost your visibility.
• Tailor your pitch to solve a specific problem. Align your expertise with the needs of your audience, while creating a curiosity-driving title.
• Engage with value, emotion, and vision. Tell stories and include practical steps to clear the pathway for your audience to take action.
• Make an offer appropriate for your audience. Longer engagements build trust and allow for larger sales offers, while shorter talks are suitable for inviting audiences to sales conversations, demos, or free content.
• Seed your offer early. Set expectations near the beginning that you hope to work with the right people in the future, while not surprising them at the end.
• Start strong: Engage the audience by sharing stats, jokes, and your own energy. Connect with their goals while you establish credibility with your story.
• Stay engaged. Read the audience for verbal and non-verbal feedback, ask for a show of hands, use interactive activities, and foster connections among participants.
• Maintain energy and authority during Q&A. Answer questions after you’ve completed your main presentation and offer, and encourage submissions in writing (or via chat) to avoid long backstories.

Resources Mentioned

• Three Steps to Leveraging Speaking
• Make Your Mark
• Live Your Potential Facebook group

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Transcript

Who is Krista Martin:

Bob: Krista, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Leadpages podcast.

Krista: Of course. Thank you so much for having me.

Bob: I'm excited to dive into the tips that you have for coaches and consultants and other folks that are wanting to get into speaking or maybe elevate their speaking for their business.

But before we do that, I'd love for you to share: how do you transform the lives of the clients that you work with?

Krista: Oh, my gosh, I love that question.

Really by simplifying everything, I mean we really break things down to the most simple path to create the results that they want. And I'm a big believer that your business can and should ideally fit into your life versus the other way around. So really keeping it clear.

I had a client conversation earlier today and she spoke about how she is working part-time in her business and really focusing the other time on her family. So it's that ability to be able to really look at what matters most and then build the business that fits into that.

Bob: I love it. The priorities, they have to be straight, otherwise stress can really creep in, right?

Krista: Absolutely. And then she has her CEO time and then she has her mom time, and it's just really cool to see her do that. And in a thriving six-figure plus business that just helps model for other people that it doesn't have to be crazy hard or crazy complicated.

Bob: That's awesome. You weren't always a coach consultant for coaches to become speakers and to grow their businesses. You actually started out with a pretty nice career in sales. Can you take us back to as you started your career, what was that sales career like? And we'll dig in a little deeper into the transition to entrepreneurship?

Krista: Oh, absolutely. And I'll just lovingly share, too, that I did sell drugs for a very long time. The good news is they were legal drugs. We actually had a side business where we did margarita machines, so we jokingly said we sold drugs and alcohol. So we had interesting people want to come, let's go to their parties night.

But really got into pharmaceutical sales because one, it felt like a huge challenge to me and it was always learning. Learning about the different products, the doctors and the process. And so was in pharmaceutical sales right after I completed my MBA in marketing. Stepped right into that. It was scary as heck, but I was already used to learning kind of at warp speed, so that was really positive.

And then learning to sell the invisible was, I think, one of the secret outcomes that I got to really learn about, because it wasn't like I could sell, you know, this is an actual physical thing that somebody's going to get. It was really learning to communicate the benefits and what the experience is so that indirectly, I believe, fed into me being able to communicate in sales coaching and be able to help people say yes to investing in themselves. When it is invisible, it's very valuable, but it is invisible.

Bob: That's a really good way to look at it.

How a Margarita Led to Krista’s First Business

I'm really curious about your side hustle that you had back in the day. I believe it was called MargaRentals. Can you tell us a little bit about how it got started? Like, what was the idea for it, and any lesson that you carry forward today?

Krista: Oh, my gosh, there's so much. And I actually remember being at the beach with my husband and my then three-month-old son, and we were just kind of sitting there and we said, you know, you're supposed to make money, be able to make money doing what you love. And I said, well, what do we love? And we both had a margarita in our hands.

We said we should be able to make money selling margaritas. So that's kind of where the idea came from. And we had so much fun with MargaRentals. That was a fun name that we came up with.

And actually, my husband was a delivery guy. I was the marketing side of it.

One of the biggest things that I learned, though, through that experience, there's a whole bunch of learnings. One was if you want to keep your husband's back in good shape, don't have him carrying huge, heavy equipment, loading it in and out the car. That was an interesting lesson, but more than anything, it was the power of partnerships.

What I mean by that is we would partner with some of the Mexican restaurants that were in the area, because many times they had two or three machines. And like certain times a year, they would have people request those machines but couldn't provide what they needed for the client because their two machines were gone and they had five requests.

So we really created great partnerships with the Mexican restaurants and other places that were renting them out and we’re their backup person that they could go to when their machine so they didn't have to turn somebody away. And say, sorry, I have nothing for you. But really was able to learn and then leverage and also see how we create value in that way.

And it was a lot of funny conversations. We actually drove there was a Mexican restaurant, La Parrilla. I think that was down the road. And my husband and I actually were driving that one time. The two of us, they just gave us the van to drive, and it was just funny from so many reasons, but we were driving it and pulled up to this house with our big van and unloaded the machines.

But it really was learning how to find other people and create that win-win type of arrangement. And it really has even flowed into the way that I teach our clients to really get in front of large audiences now as well.

Bob: That's really great.

Event Landscape in 2023

Now, you and I had a chance to meet at a coaches conference in Milwaukee last year, finally. We've been connected through Leadpages for a long time, but I'd love for you to share now that we're in the middle of 2023.

During this conversation, what are you seeing about events? And why should people, even if they're not on stage, why should they be getting back out into the event world?

Krista: Oh, my gosh. I'm a huge proponent of events, whether it's a virtual event, like, I actually led a virtual workshop this week where everybody came together on Zoom.

But whether it's in person or virtual, that's where I believe a lot of the transformation happens. It's also where you get to share your expertise in a way that you can help create breakthroughs for the people in the audience.

You can also build trust very, very quickly. And we know that people buy from people they know, like and trust. So it's about creating value in a small container of time and being able to be positioned as a leader and reach many more people than you would necessarily in a one-on-one type conversation.

And people right now, in 2023, are still beyond excited to get out in real life and hug humans. And I probably did this the first couple live events that I went to after the pandemic actually hugged people, and I was like, I can do this now. This feels good, but it really is an opportunity for you to share your expertise, to practice your messaging, and to create really a bigger impact.

And the way we teach it too, it's the way to create five-figure months by filling your coaching programs through speaking. When you do it in a very intentional way as well.

Bob: That’s cool. And I'm sure people listening are really excited to hear some of your tips on how to do exactly that.

Turn Any Event into a Networking Opportunity

I do want to ask quickly, though, if you have any tips for people before they're on stage as they go to events, how can they use the networking opportunity to their advantage to perhaps pick up another client or two? Any other tips that you have to grow a business when you're not actually on stage in front of the audience?

Krista: Oh, great question, and I feel like your and my connection is a perfect example because even meeting at the event, it was so great. And so what I would say is, even as a speaker, a lot of times I'll go through and even look at who else is there speaking that I want to meet with, or is there a list of attendees and I'll look them up on LinkedIn or see what I can find out or really be able to leverage that opportunity.

But even how you and I talked in person, all of a sudden the relationship felt a lot more solid, I guess, if that's the right word to say, just because we met in real life. And I was like, oh, he's a real human that I can see versus the picture. And I think we had been connected by LinkedIn before, and so looking at how you can show up and connect.

I always talk about bringing in your future-self energy. So that version of you 2033, so ten years out, come into the room as him or her and be okay with owning the space. Not in a way where you're unapproachable, but I mean, from that place of not, oh, I'm just here to learn, but I'm here to connect, I'm here to add value. And you'll be amazed at what kind of relationships come out of it when you're really open to doing it that way and then taking advantage of the breakout sessions as well as being present in I met some great people at breakfast, even in the ICF conference while you're eating and just being open to what shows up in the people that are there as well.

Bob: That's great. I love the tip that you shared. It's actually exactly what I did when I saw the speaker roster. I looked up which speakers are Leadpages customers and then reached out to you on LinkedIn. So any kind of connection that you can have, those of you listening to the speakers, especially those in the breakouts, where you can really have some FaceTime, maybe even be ready with a question, because there's almost always question time.

It's a good way to get that visibility and have the presence be an invitation to other people coming your way, which I think you've done really well. And I think anybody who wants to get a lot out of events can take that on.

Krista: Well, thank you. And I love doing that. I think it's so valuable. And like you said, mentioning being a Leadpages customer, I think when I saw you, I was like, I've been a customer for I don't even know how many years. But really being able to that was the instant connection for us to be able to connect, and it made it so much easier versus, hey, our cyberstalk to you. Which not saying either of us does that, but it can feel a little bit that way.

And Bob, this makes me think of another quick story that when I first decided that I wanted to speak at ICF Global, this was several years ago, and so I want to be on the stage. I'm going to do that. And I said, well, first I probably should go check out the conference, see if that's a good conference for me to speak at. And so they had the ICF Midwest Conference.

So I went to that conference, got a lot of great knowledge. But what I did that was so interesting and scared me at the time, but it worked. So I want everybody else to do this too, is I did show up as that future version of me. So I wore what I would have worn if I was a speaker. I showed up and I started telling people, I'm going to speak at the ICF Global Conference.

They hadn't even announced the dates yet, so you can imagine the anxiety. And people are like, oh, that's great. And people even came up to one of my now clients still many years later said that she came up to me and said, oh, are you speaking? I want to come to what you're talking about. And I was like, not yet, but I will be speaking at Global. And it's kind of that moment of, okay, I said it, so better make it happen.

But even verbalizing those words, you start to show up differently. You actually look and sign up when there is a call for speakers for the Global event, or I'm a fact-finder. So I went and spoke to people who had been speakers at ICF Global before, because I was like, what would I be doing if I was on that speaker list?

And then, of course, it worked out that I was a speaker at the event. But it really is powerful when you can show up in that way and not just show up. And I don't want to say people go in frumpy clothes, but I know I used to sometimes say, oh, I'll just wear whatever I can find in my closet. But really putting intention and energy into how you show up, how you look, and the energy you bring, because it's absolutely contagious and it's absolutely one of the best ways to create that result that you're really dreaming about, too.

Bob: Yeah, those are both really fantastic tips, especially with being a presence. Really, that's what you're talking about. You're having an energy that's a presence of leadership.

You're also talking about not hiding in the crowd, like not having that mindset, which I think a lot of attendees tend to do. And that might also take the form of where physically, are you in the room so that you're not in the back third of the room, instead, you're in that front first couple of rows. You're visible, you're paying attention, you're connecting with those people.

And I'd also add one of the things I know that you do, I do as well, is you find the people running the show, right. And you connect with them thank you. At that first event and you say hello, you ask them how everything's going. You check in with them on day two and you just make that visibility, because those connections go a long way when there's a committee trying to choose a speaker and your name pops up and the person who's running the logistics says, I know they would be a great speaker because they already contributed a lot of value to the previous event, even when they weren't on stage. So really good tips with that.

Krista: Absolutely. I think we should go to speaking or to events and conferences together and we'll just have all these ninja skills that we're leveraging at the same time. But I love those points and absolutely.

Bob: Very cool.

Unlock Speaking Opportunities Big and Small

Bob: So now let's talk about speaking. So for the people who are already speakers, let's answer some questions for them in a couple of minutes. But for the people who want to get into the opportunities for speaking, can you first of all lay the groundwork for the different types of speaking opportunities that you see coaches and consultants can have that maybe could surprise them?

Because I think there's often misconceptions that the only way to speak is like to be the keynote right in front of some big audience and that can be way off in the distance for some people and there's a lot of other opportunities. So give us a couple of examples of the first kind of speaking opportunities people might be able to take on.

Krista: Yes, great question. And I love this because I've been working with clients so much on getting outside of the box. We typically have this is how we do it kind of thing. And this is where just expanding where people are thinking they might only think the keynote and maybe they don't feel ready for that. But there's so many other ways to be visible and add value.

One of the benefits of speaking, too, is practicing your message to see how it lands. Some people say, wait, but what if it's not perfect?

Well, it's not going to be perfect until you say it a bunch of times. You probably fumble a bunch of times and then you'll shift it anyways. But some of the easier-to-start places are, I actually spoke at a Rotary group one of the first times I spoke and I was like my ideal client, I don't think she or he goes to a Rotary group. Well, of course there was one coach in the room who became a client.

But being willing to speak at networking events, Rotary groups look for places that are actively looking for a speaker. The Rotary, I mentioned that because I believe that they need a speaker every single week of the year. They're going to be head over heels excited that you're offering to speak because they're desperately looking for speakers and it's a great chance, 20 or 30 minutes at least here locally to think about things like a podcast, like what we're doing right here. It's a chance to get in front of somebody else's audience to practice your message.

The other ways that I really love that can be applied at any level of business is we call them roundtables. And I know some people say, wait, I don't work with the corporate people. That won't work for me. But I want you to think about a roundtable as a small gathering of people.

In fact, one of my clients calls it a circle of awesome women, is what she called hers, because that really resonated with her clients. But it's essentially where you're creating your own little mini workshop. It's ten people, maybe twelve people. They can be somebody or at an organization, they could be everybody from a yoga studio down the road. It could be just different people that you kind of that white glove invitation.

You facilitate a conversation and then you're positioned as a leader. You're practicing your messaging and the right people, you simply invite them to have a conversation with you. And when you do that, your presence, even in one of our clients, I see her posts all the time on LinkedIn, when she's sharing that she's doing it, it really positions you as an authority. Even seeing her post, and I haven't been to one of her roundtables, but it just creates that energy of she's doing something, she's making an impact.

So looking for ways to do that as well as at the beginning, a lot of times we'll have clients that will partner with another person to say, okay, let's do a small event, or even and I know this makes me think of kind of the Tupperware sales, but it could even be a friend that invites you over and says, hey, we're going to do I guess I'll give an example.

One of my clients works with parents and their teenagers to decide what their best next step is after high school, whether it's college and then to choose which one. So she had one of her mom friends host a sip and chat. So they had wine and cheese and then she shared some information. It was very low key and several clients came out of it.

So it can be like any, there's no right or wrong to how to do this. It really is just saying, how can I share my message? Where is a group, even if it's three or five people that you can get in front of and start doing it and not waiting till we have 100,000 people in the audience, because that's going to take a while. We can get there. But really looking at, okay, this is a chance.

I look at marketing as energy. So you might see me do this and it's like we're putting energy out and then we've got to put energy out for us to be able to receive energy in the form of clients or money to come back into our business.

So those are some of the ones.

And another one that a lot of people overlook is sponsorship opportunities. And this is what I did when we were hosting a three-day event here in Atlanta several years ago and at a networking group where I knew the person who ran it and a lot of the women there, I think it was a group of about 40 women that usually work together.

For this monthly luncheon, I paid $200 for a sponsorship, which was essentially five minutes, where I got to talk at the end of the talk. So someone else had presented and then I bought this sponsorship. And my goal was to invite people, I had a very clear call to action, to invite people to come to the live event that was also in town. So this was a local event and I had, I believe it was six or seven people sign up. I made the offer of $97 for the ticket for that day. So 6 or $700 came in out of a $200 investment that was five minutes of speaking.

So it can show up when somebody else is gathering your audience, which is a secret too, to look at, how can you create immense value and get in front of them in a way that feels good, delivers value, and then also helps you create a win because you're in front of brand new people.

Bob: I love it. And I'm finding as we continue to have these conversations, how much more in common we continue to have. One of my very favorite speeches from stage was a five minute sponsored talk for Adam Urbanski's audience in California, like nine years ago. And it snowballed into some clients, and the niece wound up being my wife.

Wow. That’s the coolest.

You never know what a little five-minute talk can do.

Krista: Yes, you might find your soulmate. I mean, it can happen. We have proof right here. That's an awesome story.

Bob: Yeah, exactly.

Create a Compelling Pitch for Event Organizers and Audiences

So as we talk to the people who are trying to get out there and you gave some really fantastic examples, I know that event planners and the organization hosts, they're looking for topics and really interesting pitches, right. If you're going to be offering, here's what I can talk about. It needs to be solid. So can you give a couple of tips on what kind of title, if you have a formula or just like, how do you go about figuring out how to pitch a topic that is going to be really excited that the organizers are going to be very excited about bringing in?

Krista: Yes, you have very good questions.

One of the ways that I really approach this because we really talk about, I mean, some of it is paid speaking, but a lot of it too is like speaking for lead gen and that you're getting clients or people to sign up for your email list as a result many times. And so what we encourage our clients to do is when we're working with them, we of course are looking at who their ideal client is, and we get really clear on what we call the four problems that their coaching helps to solve. So, for example, one of the things that our coaching helps to solve is for people to actually speak to fill their coaching programs.

We have a lot of people who speak but then aren't getting clients out of it. So we teach them that conversion process. So getting clear on that problem then allows you to come up with a talk that you can do because you don't want to be talking on just or speaking on just anything. I think blogging is fantastic, but I'm not a blogging expert, so I could probably write a talk about it, but that wouldn't necessarily attract my right people. So we want to make sure what you're talking about is not only something you can speak about, but something that really would attract your right people.

And what I always do too, and I mentioned I'm a fact finder, so I love to research is look at the website. Every networking event is going to show past events, they're going to show past speakers, and you're going to be able to see topics that were relevant to them, that were important to them, that will inspire you. So that'll give you some guidance as well.

And then of course, I don't have a magic formula for titles, but you want to make sure your title is sexy and creates curiosity because otherwise you could have the best talk in the world and nobody's going to show up. So I'm a big fan of Three Steps to this, five Steps to that, because my brain thinks in systems, but making sure it is compelling and creates curiosity, and it might be one of our systems is the Fast Track to Clients. So I would call it Fast Track to Clients. Three easy steps to more clients income and impact. So I was speaking to what my people wanted and also the gap that was there that they needed to find clients.

That would be my recommendation is really think about what is it that you're an expert in, what are the problems you help your clients solve, what does this audience, this person who's coordinating it, what does their audience need to hear? What's important to them? And it could even be that you ask the question to them. I've done that several times too and said, these are topics I usually speak on. What's most relevant to your chapter or your organization at this time?

And they'll come back with what that looks like. And then I can decide, is that something that I want to tweak one of my presentations? Do I want to write a new presentation or is that something that maybe I choose not to do right now because it's neither of those and it's not paid.

So being able to choose very intentionally that way too.

Bob: Yeah, obviously you want people who are looking through that agenda to say, yep, I got to go to that one. And especially if those first few talks you give are likely in breakout situations where there's competition, you have to think of what you're doing as a bit of an ad. And I think that those are all really good tips.

Krista: A perfect way to think of it as an ad. I like that.

Get Your Audience to Take Action

Bob: Let's talk now about those who are a little bit more experienced. They have done some of the talks already and they're ready to really get better results out of it. And I'm sure the new folks would be in the same situation.

There's two different types of speaking gigs that are the kind of bigger umbrella. One is a paid speaking gig and the other is one that either might not be paid or not be paid very well in which like lead gen or back of the room sales might be important. So let's talk about those a little bit to the more experienced speaker.

How are you getting people in the audience to take action? What are you asking them to do by the end of your talk?

Krista: Yes, and this is really where I see so many coaches get stuck and consultants, really speakers in general when they're speaking, especially for the purpose of lead gen or they have some desired action that they want the person to take in the audience.

It's when they over-educate instead of activating. And there's a big difference here because usually people come wanting to give huge value. So it's coming from a beautiful place of Bob, I want to give you everything I know about how to speak to grow your business and actually doing that one fire hoses the person. So then Bob walks away saying, okay, I need to take a nap because I'm overwhelmed.

But also it's really at the end of the day, it's not about the information. So we're doing a disservice to the person by helping them to feel artificially fixed that, hey, I got the information. Because the magic happens with the implementation and the integration which happens working with someone in a coaching or consulting agreement.

So we want to make sure that we're not only doing the education piece, which is really important, that's the didactic really what you and I are doing right here where it's four steps to this or really more fact-based.

And then the activation piece is where we really activate energy, we activate emotion on the person. So it could be through telling a story that you do or you share a client success. There's multiple layers of this, but it's really thinking in a nutshell when you're talking about maybe you're educating about I said the Four steps to a better relationship. And you can say so that you can and maybe you're talking about communication. I'm just kind of making this up off the cuff here.

And you're teaching them the importance of communication. And then you add the word so you can and it just translates to and then you talk about that future state of what they really want.

So you can be excited to go on a date with your spouse every single night of the week and no longer feel like, oh, do I actually have to put my hair in a ponytail for this?

I'm kind of making up that example here on the spot. But it's where you activate their vision of what they want, and you also activate the pain of staying stuck.

So it's that healthy tension that usually feels uncomfortable, but being okay and helping people to say, yes, I got great value from Krista's talk, and now I actually see there's more that I don't know.

And so I'm compelled to say, what is that next step? If it is setting up a call, if it is going to a workshop, but making sure that you're clear, that also the way for them to alleviate that tension is to take new action. And you're giving them then in your talk, that whatever that new action is.

Like I said, the workshop getting a free guide or setting up a sales conversation, but you're giving them the option to say, I'm not comfortable being in the same place in six months. And I see very clearly that doing nothing is going to keep me in the same place for six months. So I'm willing to take new action.

And then you're showing them, hey, here's the new action.

Lead Generation Tips from the Stage

Bob: Yeah, I just want to dig a little deeper, too, with what is that next step? I know that you've experimented over the years with different types of things, like, hey, get on my calendar. Get a free guide. Sign up for this workshop, or go ahead and start paying me money now. What are you seeing people resonating with? Where that's the first thing that you try to lead with?

Krista: Well, I'll share with you a mistake I made, so kind of learning the backwards way, I guess, in a lot of cases. And also share.

It does also depend on the length of time that you're speaking. So if I'm speaking for 20 minutes and I ask you to join a $20,000 mastermind, you're going to say, you are crazy. I just met you. I've only heard 20 minutes of content. No way am I signing up.

So you want to make sure the offer is congruent with that. And I've also done three-day events and invited people into a $20,000 offer, which then worked because I had built the trust in the community and the connection over that time.

So you want to make sure it's aligned time-wise.

But when you're doing like, a 1-hour talk, which is usually what people do anywhere 40 30 to an hour. My favorite call to action is to set up a sales conversation with you and just clearly saying, one of the ways that I teach in the Speaking to Convert process is I call it the two choices that you share with people at the very end where you say you have two choices. You can continue doing things the way you've been doing them, which is awesome and great if you're okay with slow progress and you have another choice, which is to take new action. And then you say, that's great. If you're impatient, that's great.

If the thought of being in the same place in six months makes your stomach hurt, makes you feel depressed, and in fact, if you're ready to go fast and have a partner in crime with you alongside the way, then I'm inviting you to set up a no cost strategy session, whatever it is that you want to call it. And we'll look at and make it very clear that it's not a free coaching or a free consulting call.

We'll look at your goals, your obstacles, and talk about and see if one of our programs might be a fit for helping you get there.

And it flows really easily from the talk, usually, regardless of what the content is, to be able to bridge into that. And so that's my recommendation.

I, for the longest time only, did I was like, I want to make money. I've got to make $10,000 a month, and I can get kind of focused, super focused. And so I was like, basically I didn't realize it, but I was saying, if you're not ready to buy today, you're dead to me. It's kind of how I treated people, which was really pretty crappy when I look back, I'm like, good gosh. I was kind of ruthless, but I was focused, man. So my only offer was, if you want to take new action, it was set up a strategy session with me.

I mean, our business grew that year from 40 to 220. So the kind of ruthless focus did really work. But I also realized, looking back, that I missed a huge opportunity to build my audience and nurture people along the way who weren't ready in that moment, but also wanted to know more. They wanted to take a step, but they maybe just met me on that webinar, and they weren't in love with the idea of having or working with a business coach. So they just kind of went away versus they might have been ready in three months or they might have been ready in six months. And I'm sure a lot of those people were awesome people.

What I encourage people to do now, and the clients we work with, is to have a very intentional and when you set this up right, it doesn't feel overwhelming. But where you say you actually have two calls to actions, which is contrary to what a lot of people teach. But really say, if this is you, and you're saying, Krista, there's no way I can be in the same place in six months. My relationship, if you're a relationship coach, would be near divorce and there's no way I can stand that. Say, then set up a call with me and we'll see if we're a match to work together.

Or if you're saying, Krista, I'd like to learn more information. I'd like to see what the first step might be in improving my relationship. Then, for those of you in the audience, I do have this guide that is going to walk you through blah, blah, blah, blah blah. But you have to do it really slow and intentional because people do get overwhelmed.

And so just making it very clear who each step is for.

It's funny, I've even had people afterwards say, Can I do both? And I'm like, of course you can do both. Of course that's not a problem. And I'm not tracking that. I don't have time to track that. But it lays it out very clearly. Like if this is you and you're at this stage, cool, do this. Or if you're saying, hey, I think I could use a relationship tune-up, I'll get the free guide. Awesome. Here's where you do that.

So then you're able to serve that person who's interested in improving their relationship or finances or however you help people and you're able to nurture and build that relationship. And when they are ready, you'll be the first person that they think about.

Bob: That's awesome.

Krista: So I know that was a huge long answer to your question. I get excited about this, so I kind of talk fast and go off on a little bit of a soapbox sometimes.

Bob: It's really well said and it's welcome because I wanted to lead with that question as one of the deepest ones we dove into because the coaches I know, they get so squirrely when it comes to the offer, right?

They can be the most savvy expert, the best coach, the best consultant, the person who can really transform the lives of the people they're working with. But when it comes to actually asking people to take that next step, they tighten up, right? And they discombobulate themselves. And I wanted to make sure that they have this idea of, hey, there's an approach that works really well. And I love the two-pronged approach where you can relieve a little bit of the pressure.

Obviously, if you're talking hardcore sales tactics, that's the wrong way to do it. But if you're talking about wanting to have authentic relationships with people and say, look, if you're ready to go, here's how to do that. If you're not quite sure yet you still want to take that first step, here's how to do that.

And both of them are linked to that relationship with you. And my encouragement for everyone listening would be, make sure you have some systems in place behind the scenes so that when they do ask for that guide, you have their email address, you have a nurture campaign.

Thirty days later, you're asking them for whether they're ready to get on the call with you yet or whatever. But the point is that I don't want you to be squirrely, because that's the death knell of sales.

Krista: Oh it is.

Bob: You can't let that sabotage your success.

Krista: Yes, you've nailed it. And I call it when people PS the call to action, which is like, on the bottom of their last slide, and they're like, hey, I'm on LinkedIn. Okay, bye. And then they run out of the room. That's not of service to your clients. And I invite people to look at it as sales, as service.

We're not forcing anybody to do anything. People are choosing. They're opting in to either of those options. And so just know that you get to take a stand for your ideal client that hears you and to say, okay, yes, I do want more, instead of having them stay stuck, maybe in a relationship for six months, that they really want to improve, but they didn't know what that next step was.

To your point, too, one of the steps we teach clients is to do I think it's a third step, I've been talking about it all week in our workshop, so my brain is a little fuzzy on it, but is really seeding where you tell people what you're going to tell them.

And what I mean by that is you say, Guess what? I'm going to give you as much as I can in our 45 minutes and our 30 minutes, whatever today, and there's no way I can teach you everything I know about sales, about relationships in that time. So at the end, I will give you a way to continue the conversation if you're inspired to do so.

And I love that, because the only reason I believe, or one of the reasons that people get frustrated when there's a speaker and they do a pitch is because they weren't expecting it. And so now you're setting the expectation. It doesn't have to be a big full-blown song and dance pitch. I don't mean that either, but it can be, hey, I'm going to give you what I can. You're going to get some great action you can take or great content that you can take action on. And if you want to know more, I'll share with you an easy way at the end. It's like their shoulders can go down because they know, hey, cool. I'm going to have a way to learn more about Leadpages if I'm interested, or about working with Krista.

So it sets that stage. And also, one reason I always want clients to do that is it puts them on the hook to actually do the thing because they already said the thing. They said they were going to do it. So that's a secret way in the back, but it sets the stage.

And as long as we're setting the expectation, people aren't going to be upset about it because we shared with them, hey, I'm going to give you this free way. And it also takes a pressure off of you as a speaker to have to teach everything you know about sales or about lead gen or Leadpages in 30 minutes because that's a lot of pressure to try to give them everything in that nugget.

Grab Their Attention from the Start

Bob: Yeah, it sure is. So we talked about the ending of the talk and this is a good segue to my next question, which is the beginning of the talk. You mentioned a little bit of that transition of, hey, I'm going to be telling you some stuff and we hope to work together, et cetera. But even before that, those 1st 30 seconds, first minute and a half or so, that's really important, right? To get people at the edge of their seat, to really have them paying attention.

Krista: Yes.

Bob: Are there any kinds of techniques that you're teaching your clients that you can share with us today on how to get that activation energy from stage to the person in the seat?

Krista: Yes. And to me, one of the things I love to do, I always encourage people to do what feels authentic to them.

If you don't feel like making a joke resonates with you, don't do a joke. At the beginning, my dad, he would always do a joke because that's his personality. He's like, do a joke. And I'm like, sometimes it's not a joke situation, Dad.

But when working with clients, we really look at how do we create energy, how do we create engagement. And it might be sharing a statistic, it might be sharing a joke if that resonates, but really managing our energy that we bring as well because that can make or break a presentation in that first moment.

Are you up there smiling, ready, really excited, and that great positioning in front of the room, or are you up there looking meek and afraid and nervous?

So making sure you're leading from the front of the room that way. And we teach to do two things prior to the seeding and it's really where we're wanting the person to, one, be able to really, one, remember why they signed up. Because let's be honest, sometimes people forget and they're like, hey, I'm on this thing, I don't remember why, or I'm at this event. And so reminding them why they're there.

And so it might be saying you're a coach and you're in the right place today if you're a coach that's ready to ditch the feast and famine because you're ready to create consistency in a business.

And you're kind of talking about their problems here that you're going to help address. And the goal of this is to get them to just do a mini head nod of, okay, yeah, I'm in the right place.

And then to do a little bit of invest a few minutes in credibility and connection, which is where we teach about three different levels of connection, but the first one being connection to you.

Why the heck should they trust Bob? Why should they trust Krista? And so sharing your story in a way that helps them see, one, to pay attention, but two, to actually be engaged and excited about the content and see that you're someone that has credibility to be able to speak on whatever topic is because otherwise you could have the best content in the world.

If they're not listening or they don't believe that you have the authority or the expertise to share it, they're going to be paying half attention. And you're also going to sabotage the results of having them actually sign up for a sales call because they're going to be half listening to you, but half listening to or playing on their phone or something else.

So really getting their energy and interest up. And then we are activating them from talking about the problem that we're going to help them see the solution to in our talk by saying, you're in the right place today. If you're this, if you're this, if you're this, and speak about those problems you helped to solve in a way that compels them to say, oh, yeah, I'm in the right place. I'm ready to learn this.

Bob: That's fantastic. Now this segues into the next part, which is the middle of the talk.

So you set the stage, you see that there will be something at the end. And now we're getting to the guts, the framework or whatever the educational piece is.

Is there anything that you recommend people do to continuously check back in with the audience or kind of like re-energize a group? Because I know from my experience on stages, sometimes I get lost in the education of what I'm doing and I hope that the energy I'm teaching it in is keeping people on board.

But I do well when I check back in on occasion. So are there any tips you give to people on just making sure the audience is with you after part one, two or three of your framework that you might be sharing?

Krista: Yes, and this is so important and so many people skip over it because they do get excited about the education and the teaching piece of it.

Even a simple raise your hand if you're this, or I like doing things, too, where if it's in an in person event to say, okay, look at the person next to you and say this.

People chuckle when you say that too, because then they're like, okay, I got to talk to this person next to me, but I like to just every couple of minutes even say, okay, I'm seeing a little bit of eyes glazed over. I want to check-in.

Raise your hand if this is resonating or do a thumb sideways if this is still feeling a little bit confusing so I can know and I speak to exactly what it is and I'll say so I know if we need to go a little deeper here. Or if you're feeling really good, like you're absorbing this, I name it and just say it, even on, we did webinars this week for the workshop. And I'll say, okay, give me some emojis if you're resonating with this. I'm like because I need feedback too. I can't see your beautiful faces with webinar format that we had, so let me know. And people like it was a two-way conversation the entire time too.

I take no or see no problem with just naming it and saying, okay, I want to check in because I know I could geek out all day on the ins and outs of speaking. Let me know with a hand raise or a fun emoji. Is this resonating?

And just to do that and also breaks it up so your brain gets a chance to think about whatever's next on your presentation as well and just kind of give you a little break. And to me, that's one of the other layers, too, of connection, is actually having the audience connect to each other in a way that really is compelling and exciting to them.

So depending you can do it a lot better in person. But even if they're in Zoom, there's ways to do that, whether breakout rooms or even sharing where people are and share different things, where people say, oh, there's someone else from Atlanta, or that kind of thing, they start to feel more connected that way too.

But it is hugely important. I'm so glad you asked. How do you know kind of when you want to insert breaking it up or checking in with energy?

Bob: Yeah, I think it's really critical. And what I love about this is that you are paying attention to what my wife would call the level three in her coaching business. That's what they call that environment that you're seeing and not being so hell-bent on, I got to deliver my talk that I practiced 25 times in front of the mirror exactly the way I practiced it. Because at the end of the day, that connection and experience is what people are there for, right?

Krista: Yeah.

And I've had a talk, too, that some would say went sideways, but where we started talking and then people were totally confused about something that I thought was super clear, probably because I was so excited about it.

And so I changed course and said, okay, we're going to go deeper on this. And what I'll do is I'll create a guide or recording or create something else to go through the rest of what I promised, but it's important that we understand stage one of the three-part process before we go to the others, and I'll even ask and say, let me know if that sounds good to you.

So you're getting their buy in. You don't want to say, Is that okay? Because if someone says no, it's still like, too bad. We're doing it anyways. So it's like with the kids, we're like, do you want carrots or vegetable or carrots or peas? Not, do you want vegetables?

So just letting people know, say, raise your hand if that sounds good, because I want to make sure and telling the why behind it, I want to make sure you get this, because steps two and three don't make sense if you don't really aren't clear on step one.

And so to your wife's point yes, that level three and being okay with, all right, we're going to make this up a little bit. And I'll come up, I just promised something, and then I figure it out on the other end of, okay, I'm going to create a guide or a recording or that kind of thing, too.

Bob: Yeah, just make sure you do that right.

Krista: Yes. That's very important. That really kills trust pretty quickly if you say you'll do something and then don't even show up to deliver.

Maintain Your Authority and Engagement During Q&A

Bob: Right now, what we're also talking about here, I think, is just energy maintenance, I think, and encouraging people to be in that two-way street.

You mentioned a little bit about Zoom breakouts or getting people to touch base with each other. There's a way to that can lose a lot of energy if you don't do it right. So I'm sure we could talk about that another time and dive deeper into it, but I want to lean into another area that people can sometimes lose an audience if they're not careful, and that's Q and A.

So A, how do you feel about Q and A during A talk, and are there anything that you recommend to people to do to set up a Q and A to where they can still maintain that authority status and get more people enrolled in their process versus lose them completely? Because it can go off the rails if you're not careful?

Krista: Yes, and that is a danger zone, because there are always people that want to talk or tell you about their dog or something unrelated.

And so for a long time, I was scared to death of this, and I was afraid someone would ask me a question I didn't know the answer to, so I didn't offer any.

Or I'd say submit your questions in advance. That was one way to kind of get around it, too, is if you have a question, send it in in advance. When I was doing live events, that was easier.

But what I recommend if someone does want to do Q and A is to do your whole talk, including your call to action and then do the Q and A, just because that way you've got your presentation wrapped up. You've shared what people need to do. If people want to tune out, because Krista's jabbering about her dog, and that's not really relevant, they can tune out.

The other thing we've done that seemed to help is even ask people to ask the question to submit it, not verbally, but on Zoom, when we do it, they'll submit it by chat, and that limits some of the background story that can go on.

And then another time, I was just very clear, too, and said, we have ten minutes or we have 15 minutes. And I'll say, and I know everybody here is smart, and I know we all have multiple layers to the question.

So the goal is here is to be clear and concise with our questions so that we get to honor everybody else and their question as well. And so say, if you have your question, share that, and we'll dive in.

So actually prefacing the situation, especially because I work with coaches, and coaches love to talk, myself included. So doing what you can to set it up, and then also, if you can say the why you're asking them to be concise. We've got 15 minutes. We've got 50 people on the line. I want to give everybody a chance. And if you have two questions, we'll circle back.

Bob: Yeah, I really love that, because I do think people can think that they need to tell the backstory to get the context for the question. And if you set the stage of, look, everybody has a backstory, everybody has context. And if I need more to answer your question, I'm happy to ask you, but I'd love to answer eight to ten people's questions. And that means it's lightning round time.

So golden nuggets only.

Krista: It's a good way to yes, I love the phrase lightning round. That's awesome. And to use that, it just makes people think, okay, how do I get clear? versus Krista doesn't need to know my whole story, because the question is this that's awesome.

Learn More from Krista Martin

Bob: We could go on for quite some time, I think, the two of us, digging into all things speaking. So I've really enjoyed this conversation. And I have one last question for you before we get to that, where can people go to learn more about how you can help them with their speaking?

Krista: Awesome. Thank you for asking. And really what I recommend, and that we talk about the entire steps to really leverage speaking, to fill your coaching programs on one of our even, say, Leadpages registration pages, where you can grab a guide that we call Three Steps to Leveraging Speaking. So I told you I like the three steps or four steps or whatever, and it's MakeYourMark.com/leverage all typed out, and that will give you the guide, the next steps to really be able to get clear not only on the six-part framework, but really how we think about speaking differently, to be able to maximize the experience.

And then outside of that, the good old website is a great place MakeYourMark.com. And we have a Facebook group, the Live Your Potential Facebook group, where we have a bunch of amazing coaches together that we connect and talk about system strategies and all the good stuff to really grow your coaching business in a way that allows you to create more income and impact without the hustle or frustration that many times accompanies it.

Bob: That's awesome. Of course, we'll have those in the show notes for those of you that weren't able to jot that down, or you can rewind 45 seconds and get it back again.

Tap into the Energy of Your Future Self

My final question for you, Krista, is I'm sure you exude confidence right now and you do a great job, but I'm sure you run into challenges just like every entrepreneur does, and you certainly have in the past and will continue in the future. Is there any quote or mantra or thing that you think about to help get you over an obstacle and get you to the other side?

Krista: Oh, gosh. I think specifically, like the very first time I was paid to speak, I was scared to death. I just thought, they're paying me to talk about stuff I love to talk about, like how is this even legal?

So I was very, very nervous, very scared. And what I realized, the fear for me was coming from me, focusing on me. And so I really shifted and forced myself to shift and think about what I wanted for the audience and what I wanted them to receive. I can't remember the exact statement. I actually wrote it on a note card and carried it around with me because I was so nervous backstage.

But it was essentially that I choose to show up to wholeheartedly serve and deliver value to every single and this was a woman-only conference to every single woman in the audience. And it was just me repeating that reminded me my focus was on them. And it wasn't about me because that's where the fear came from.

And thank you for saying that I exude confidence because it really is too tapping into that future self-energy. And I'll say, what would 2033 Krista do? And a lot of times I'm like, oh, she would just tell me to get on with it. She doesn't have much patience for the thing I'm complaining about now, but really tapping into that. Because when we show up as that future version of our self, we create the results that he or she has created.

And when we show up as today, we create the results as today, playing with that energy is a fun thing to do too.

Bob: That's awesome. So for those of you listening, I hope you do go over to makeyourmark.com leverage, get that guide. And if you've been. Enjoying this podcast and especially this one with Krista.

Leave a review and mention the episode that you've enjoyed the most.

Krista, thank you so much for joining me for this episode. It was really a blast to get to have this conversation with you.

Krista: Oh, thank you so much. I had a whole bunch of fun.

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