Here is a quick quiz: 
Why do companies have meetings?
- To spend money
- To provide a reason to go to a nice resort
- To get out of the office for a few days
- To create a change in behavior in their employees
This one is easy - they want to change the behavior of the people who attend the conference. Do you know what behavioral changes they want to make? You do if you ask. The meeting planner may simply ask for a "sales speaker" or "a speaker on (TOPIC)" without really knowing what outcomes are expected. Is there a way you can uncover the deeper answer to that question? Could you ask to spend ten minutes with the Vice President of Sales, or the head of (TOPIC)? Do you have a list of questions you could use to prioritize which speakers you would recommend?
Next question:
What will effectively create a permanent change in behavior?
- Fresh sausage biscuits at the morning break
- Ice cream bars at the afternoon break
- Zip lining excursion
- Information from the front of the room
Okay, another easy one. People may remember the "goodies" longer than they remember some of the presentations. However, in order to change their behaviors they need to learn what else they could do, what they could do differently and why it is in their best interest they make the changes. That is where professional speakers come in. Even though the quality of the front of the room message is most likely to give them the results they want, too many meeting budgets allocate more for goodies than for speakers.
A little trickier question:
What results do corporations want from their meeting?
- Increased revenue
- Increased profit
- Increased productivity
- Happier employees
They want profit. Plain and simple, corporations run on profits. Increasing revenues and productivity are ways of potentially raising profits. Publicly-held companies need to meet market objectives; privately-held companies need to meet owner expectations. Increasing revenues may not lead to increases in profits since more companies grow themselves out of business than stagnate out of business. Increasing productivity and having happier employees can lead to increases in profits - but may not.
The most important question:
What is the best way for an organization to increase profits?
- Raise their revenues
- Lower their expenses
- Both
An obvious answer again, "Both", and one that even CEOs miss. In the heat of running a business, too often even senior leaders can fall prey to the "more sales!" mentality. There are ways now to increase sales while lowering expenses - especially sales expenses. Sales automation, sales analytics and more advanced sales processes make it possible for salespeople to sell more efficiently and, therefore, more profitably.
Final question:
Can a speaker make major changes in behaviors for a group of people in a sixty-minute keynote?
- Of course
- Of course not
- Only if it has an incredible impact
- She/he could if:
They could if the keynote is a part of a larger, smarter process. There is a difference in speaking and training. Speaking informs; training teaches new behaviors. Keynote presentations are "speaking" and a breakout session can be training. A keynote is an effective way to entice people to learn. Other than a breakout session, speakers can offer onsite training, online training, webinars, newsletters, books and media.
So, when booking a speaker, use your sales skills to uncover the outcome your client wants from their meeting. Offer alternatives for achieving those objectives and not only will your client receive greater value from working with you, they will also become more loyal and use your services more in the future. And, of course, your profits will increase as you increase your revenues and lower your expenses!
Have you been to www.Bureau911.com yet? The Meeting Planner ROI Calculator is there for you to use with reluctant meeting planners, for meeting planners to use with others in their organizations and for you to use for in-house training. See the tutorial by clicking here: MEETING PLANNER ROI TUTORIAL
We are pleased to learn that some of the biggest names in professional speaking are now using this tool as well as bureaus
