The Business of Speaking: From Lead Gen to Speaker Fees

Are you getting paid - or at least generating leads - from your speaking engagements?

Whether you’re speaking on stages, at conferences, or to community groups, your talks can (and should!) work for you, either by bringing in leads and clients or by earning you a speaker fee.

But here's what I often hear:

“I don’t want to make a sales pitch in my presentation.” “I’m not sure how to tell the audience what I actually do.” “I tried once, and it didn’t work, so I gave up.”

In this episode, I share specific strategies you can use to:

• Align your presentation content with your offer (without sounding pitchy)
• Plant “sales seeds” by sharing client examples and stories
• Confidently include a call to action that feels natural and helpful
• Use my gold-standard feedback form to generate leads you can follow up with
• Know what to charge and how to communicate your speaker fee
• Have productive, confident conversations with event organizers

You’ll learn practical tips you can start using in your very next presentation.

This episode originally aired as episode 344 on August 28, 2023.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/344/

Download example feedback form (no opt-in needed): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7scnmn11eqpfeh863i878/Speaking-Your-Brand-Example-Worksheet-FeedbackForm.pdf?rlkey=bmqkj2pzyjewmrg8r0smml2vu&dl=0

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/

Attend our 1-day speaking workshop in Orlando: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/workshop/

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 290: [Coaching] Get More Leads from Your Presentations with Monica Young

• Episode 289: Less Free, More Paid: How to Increase Your Speaker Fees with Carol Cox

• Episode 288: A Framework for Creating a Signature Talk for Income and Impact with Carol Cox

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