133: Authentic Selling at Your Speaking Engagements with Nikki Rausch [Money Series]

When we’re doing unpaid speaking engagements, the expectation is that, because it’s free, we can use it for building brand awareness and for lead generation.

However, many conferences and groups explicitly forbid “selling from the stage.”

I’ve never liked that phrase because it conjures up images of a pitchman on stage hawking their wares like on an infomercial. It’s a turn off to the audience and for many of us speakers it feels awkward and inauthentic.

But, there IS a way to sell who you are and what you do in your presentations authentically and by providing value to your audience.

My guest is Nikki Rausch, who is my sales coach and who last appeared on the podcast in episode 34 in September 2017.

In this episode, Nikki and I talk about:

• How to sell from the stage in an authentic and genuine way
• How to prime people in the audience to want more
• Why you should pre-frame your offer at the beginning of your presentation
• Planting seeds throughout your presentation by telling stories
• Transitioning to your offer and how to determine what price point the offer should be for that audience
• What to do after your presentation is over to get consult calls scheduled right then and there
• Nikki’s Selling Staircase framework (5 steps)
• Negotiating your speaking fees

This is the second episode in our new podcast series on Money, episodes 132-136.

Nikki was a guest speaker in our Master Your Speaking group coaching program and the women were blown away by her feedback to them.

If you’re ready to position yourself as a paid speaker as well as generate more leads from your speaking engagements, join our Monetize Your Speaking online group coaching program.

This is a 3-month online, hands-on program that will help you find/refine your unique topic, create your speaking page, packages and fees, optimize your LinkedIn profile, improve your current presentation to make it more sales-driven, and position yourself as a premium speaker.

About My Guest:

Founder and CEO of “Sales Maven”, an organization dedicated to authentic selling, Nikki Rausch has the unique ability to transform the misunderstood process of “selling”.

With 25+ years of experience selling to such prestigious organizations as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett-Packard, and NASA, Nikki shattered sales records in many industries, receiving multiple “top producer” awards along the way.

Today, entrepreneurs and small business owners from a wide range of disciplines hire Nikki to show them how to sell successfully and authentically, without being pushy or “salesy.”

An engaging and sought-after speaker, she shares the secrets of her sales success through illuminating keynote addresses and business-changing workshops. Her robust Sales Maven Society ignites game-changing outcomes for clients.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks and gain more visibility to achieve their goals. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power: on stages, in businesses, on boards, in the media, in politics, and in our communities. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/133

Connect with Nikki on her website at https://yoursalesmaven.com.

Get Nikki’s free ebook gift “Closing the Sale” at https://www.yoursalesmaven.com/ebook.

Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/ or text the word SPEAKING to 444-999.

Join the Monetize Your Speaking group coaching program at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/group.

Sign up for a Strategy Session at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/strategy.

Create your signature talk or TEDx talk. Get all the details at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/coaching.

Say hi to me on Instagram and Twitter: @CarolMorganCox.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave a review!

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 34: Relationship Selling with Nikki Rausch
• Episode 59: Why You Shouldn’t Sell from the Stage – and What to Do Instead with Carol Cox
• Episode 61: A Game Changer for Your Business and Presentations: Developing Your Own Framework
• Episode 74: Increase Conversions at Your Speaking Engagements with April Caldwell [Coaching]
• Episode 96: Booking Corporate Workshops from Local Speaking Gigs with Louise Brogan [Coaching]

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable