Public speaking is one of the coolest jobs in the world. After all, what’s more exciting than getting to travel the world and own the stage as you share your message with thousands of people? And yet, there are also drawbacks. You can only make money while you’re actually speaking, which creates a limit on how much you can make relative to your speaking fee. Additionally, to maximize your revenue, you often have to endure a grueling travel schedule, all while maintaining the “business” side of your speaking business that gets you the gigs in the first place.
This can lead to burnout, even for speakers who absolutely love their job. This is where diversifying comes in, which is a key part of the K in our SPEAK framework – Know When to Scale. One popular way of diversifying your revenue streams is by offering coaching and consulting packages to clients.
Speakers are uniquely qualified for coaching and consulting in their niche, and it’s a great business model for a variety of reasons. In this article, we’ll dive into why speakers make such great coaches and consultants, why the business model makes so much sense, and how you can go about implementing it into your speaking business. Let’s jump in!
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Why Speakers Make Great Coaches and Consultants
The journey from speaker to coach or consultant isn’t a random pivot, but a natural evolution of your career path. Your speaking career has already given you several advantages that position you perfectly for coaching and consulting work:
- Established Authority: Every time you step on stage, you demonstrate expertise in your field. Audiences already see you as a thought leader, making the transition to a trusted coach or consultant natural.
- Problem Solving Skills: All public speakers should frame their services as presenting a solution to a problem their audience has. Solving problems for audiences naturally positions you to solve problems for individual clients in coaching or consulting formats.
- Marketing Opportunities: Each speaking engagement becomes an opportunity to attract coaching and consulting clients. You’re essentially auditioning for deeper engagements every time you speak.
- Large Networks: Public speaking often puts you in the room with corporate executives, decision-makers, and industry leaders that make ideal clients for a consulting or coaching program.
Why a Coaching or Consulting Business Model Makes So Much Sense
Beyond the inherent advantages public speaking gives you in the coaching and consulting markets, it makes a great deal of sense from the business side of things as well. Here’s a few reasons why:
Diversified Income
Instead of all of your eggs being in one basket, coaching or consulting allows you to earn money in other ways. This not only allows you to earn more, but also provides a measure of financial security if your speaking business sees a downturn in demand.
Higher Earning Potential
Of course, the primary benefit of adding income streams is that you can make more money. If you do 30 speaking engagements a year at $5,000 each, you’re making $150,000 a year speaking. Now imagine you add 10 coaching clients who pay you $1,000 per month for your services. That’s an additional $120,000 annually!
Importantly, coaching and consulting isn’t limited by the number of days on your calendar in the same way that speaking is. Group coaching programs, online coaching, and retainer-based consulting can scale far beyond what’s possible with speaking alone.
Less Demanding Schedule
Adding coaching and consulting to your offerings may seem like it would mean even more work, but that isn’t necessarily true. If you’re earning enough through coaching or consulting, you may not feel like you need to book as many gigs every year.
You can be more selective about the gigs you accept, and even raise your speaking fee to reflect the increased demand on your services. Additionally, coaching and consulting are often done at least somewhat remotely, meaning you have to travel less.
What’s the Difference Between Coaching and Consulting?
Although we’ve been talking about them together, there are major differences between coaching and consulting that you should be aware of. They serve different purposes and require different approaches.
Coaching
Coaching focuses on transforming individuals and groups. As a coach, you’re guiding clients to find their own answers, overcome obstacles, and achieve specific goals. The coaching relationship is typically ongoing, with regular sessions over months or even years. Coaches can work with clients in a wide variety of areas depending on the area of expertise, but it usually is an area where the client has the knowledge but needs support in implementation and accountability.
Consulting
On the other hand, consulting involves providing expert advice and solutions to organizations that need your specific skills and knowledge. Consultants are hired to solve problems, implement systems, or provide strategic direction. The relationship is often project-based and may involve delivering specific outcomes, such as a plan, training program, or assessment.
While these approaches are very different, many speakers also combine them and offer either service depending on the context.
Creating Coaching and Consulting Packages
The next step is to package your expertise. Simply saying “I’m available for coaching” is too vague. You need to create tangible, compelling offers that clients can understand and buy. Think of your keynote as still communicating the “what” and “why” of your message, while your coaching and consulting services focuses on the implementation, or “how” of that message.
There are several types of coaching and consulting packages you can offer your clients. Here are some examples:
- 1-on-1 Packages: This is the ultimate premium-priced model. You might offer a 3-month or 6-month engagement that includes calls, email support, and regular reviews.
- Group Coaching: This is a more scalable model where you take a small group of clients through a specific curriculum at the same time. It’s a great way to serve more people at a lower price point and build a community around your work.
- Project-Based Consulting: This is a project with a defined scope that has a clear beginning, end, and deliverable.
- Retainer Consulting: This is an “on-call” model where a client pays you a flat monthly fee for a set number of hours or for ongoing access to your strategic advice. This is excellent for creating stable, predictable, recurring revenue.
One crucial piece of advice, however: don’t charge by the hour. This puts you right back into the “trading time for money” trap you’re trying to escape. Price your packages based on the value of the outcome you provide. Your authority as a speaker already allows you to command premium fees.
How to Sell Your Services Successfully
This is the best part: your speaking career is the ultimate marketing machine for your coaching and consulting. You don’t have to spend thousands on paid ads; in fact, you get paid to stand in front of a room full of your ideal clients.
Make Sure You Have Permission
Of course, before you do anything, confirm with the client that it’s okay to sell your product. Never assume permission. You will want to mention this to them early on in your booking conversations. It’s also a good idea to include it in your speaking contract, and then remind them again before the event just to make absolutely sure there isn’t any misunderstanding. Selling your products when the client isn’t expecting it can come off as deeply unprofessional, so you want to avoid it at all costs.
Offer Additional Services to Your Clients
You actually have two audiences you can sell to: first, the clients themselves, and then the audience. If someone hires you for a keynote, one option to make more money and get more business is to let them know about your consulting services and ask if they’re interested. Your first and easiest client is almost always the company that just hired you to speak. They already believe in you and have invested in you.
You can even consider combining your services into a package deal, or discounting the keynote price if they hire you to do additional consulting work. Always look for other ways to add value for the client and your audience beyond the one thing they hired you for.
Keep Your Pitch Short
In your speech, reference your products but don’t spend a lot of time talking about them. Nobody likes when the speaker goes on and on about their products and the whole thing feels like one big sales pitch. Reference the product in passing during your speech, but make the pitch right at the end. Keep it short and sweet and let people know where they can find you afterward. Always ask your client what their parameters are, and respect them no matter what.
Leverage Conversations After a Talk
After you speak, people will line up to talk to you. When someone says, “That was amazing, you really hit on our biggest problem,” don’t just say “Thank you.” Instead, work a sales pitch into the conversation. You could say something like: “Thank you! I’m so glad it resonated with you. That’s definitely one of the biggest challenges I see. I actually run a coaching program to help people implement these solutions. Here’s my card. Let’s set up a 15-minute call next week to see if I can help.” Not everyone will be interested, but if you do this when you sense a good opportunity, you could turn a compliment into a qualified lead.
Get The #1 Marketing Asset To Book More Paid Speaking Gigs Join us for the Booked & Paid Bootcamp — our NEW 2-day virtual event designed to help you start booking more paid gigs FAST. Over two 5+ hour days of live training and Q&A, our team of 6 and 7 figure speakers will give you the proven playbook you need to become a successful paid speaker.
Conclusion
Adding coaching or consulting to your speaking business isn’t just about diversifying revenue streams, though that’s certainly valuable. It’s about scaling your speaking career into a business that can evolve with you as your goals, circumstances, and interests change over time.
You may start as a pure speaker, transition to mostly coaching, then swing back to more speaking, then add consulting projects. The beauty of having multiple ways to package and deliver your expertise is that you control the mix. You’re no longer entirely dependent on being on a stage to generate income, and you’re no longer limited by how many days you can physically travel. What are you waiting for?
