As a professional speaker, you need to offer more than simply a keynote or two to your clients. But you don't want to offer so many different things in different forms that you confuse your client. You'll seem scattered and unfocused.

What is it that you're selling? Keynotes, seminars, consulting, coaching, training, retreats?

Decide what you really enjoy doing and focus on that. It might be keynotes plus consulting. In other words, offer to give a keynote address at your corporate client's year-end conference and then offer a short-term consulting service where you help employees or association members implement the changes you recommended.

You've just expanded your income and provided a great benefit to your clients.

Or you could also offer a keynote address plus a two hour training session on the same day of the conference.

There are many successful speakers who simply do nothing but keynotes. It's entirely up to you but I urge you to be both "flexible and focused" in the menu of services you offer.

Often speakers are asked to do both: the kick-off keynote and then a break-out or training session later on the same day.

High paid speakers such as Alan Weiss, author of The Million Dollar Consultant and Money Talks, often consult with the CEO of the organization on how to raise the company's ranking and improve the bottom line. Then Weiss gives a keynote address at the conference to get everyone on board with upcoming changes.

What can you do to enhance what you're offering?

Begin by thinking of all the different spins you can do on your topic. Your intellectual property - in other words, what you've written and spoken about - is what you have to offer. That's what you exchange for money. And you can package and sell that in many different ways.

I also recommend that my clients sell their services by appealing to the individual buyer as well as the big corporate client. That way, they're recession-proofing themselves in case of economic turbulence. (How propethic was that advice?).

This marketplace depends on a strong economy, a healthy population (Toronto had a SARS epidemic a few years ago which seriously affected the convention market) and a stable safe environment." And we can't promise any of that with any certainty.

When your expertise is of value to a wide variety of individuals, you'll always have internet income from all around the world, no matter what is going on in your particular corner.

So beef up your menu and get going!

Cathleen Fillmore, owner of Speakers Gold bureau, consults with speakers who want to find the money in the marketplace and maximize the returns on their talents. Cathleen is a member of MPI, a certified consultant with the American Consultant's League and a consultant to some of North America's top speakers.

To contact her,

visit
www.speakersgold.com
or
call 416-532-9886.