Jeff Havens is not your typical Keynote Speaker. Join us on this episode where we dive deep into the key elements of speaking. You may think content is everything when it comes to your speeches. Jeff tells us why it really isn’t. How can you distinguish yourself in your market? And then once you do that, how do you maintain a relationship with those who you’ve influenced and inspired? Tune in to discover!
In this episode we’ll cover:
- Using your own UNIQUENESS to engage your audience
- How to be consistent with follow up
- Why HUMOR seriously works for Jeff
- Why the delivery of what you say is far more important than the content
- What key things Jeff wishes Speakers knew
Target Audience: Jeff is a professional speaker who speaks on topics under the professional development umbrella. What makes him distinct is his own unique high energy and humor.
What Jeff Wishes Most Speakers Knew
- Be nice to people- do not walk in with the energy like you are doing them a huge favor or a major service. Some speakers get big headed.
- Their Marketing is misrepresenting who they are.
- A lack of follow up with people (on whatever that may be) thank you notes, phone calls, etc.
Distinguish Yourself
Not enough people are distinguishing themselves in the market. Having your own unique Stage Presence is everything. If you want to stand in front of people for any reason, content is secondary to the delivery. Guess what? There are a million people who can deliver the content you can. The content itself is not unique. Focus more on how you DELIVER that content.
UNCRAPIFY Your LIFE!
Jeff often does talks where he starts off talking about how to “Outsourcing Blame.” In other words, he teaches people how to “do it effectively.” Obviously this is terrible advice and people catch on to this. But it’s about the entertainment and engagement quality to it. After the chuckles are in, he then educates the audience.
Jeff’s Follow Up Strategy
A lot of speakers tend to be lazy in this part. Your absolute best work is through referrals. Someone who has seen you speak can recommend you to others.
Jeff’s formula is contacting people every 3-4 weeks. This is often enough for people to remember who he is but not often enough that he is irritating them. It is basically a quick email that offers his availability. 90-95% of the time there is no response. But it doesn’t matter. It is just to remind people you exist. But don’t be spammy.
Jeff’s goal is to walk a fine line between being funny and educational. Everything he does reinforces that. Figure out what makes people laugh or feel inspired- what’s effective with one audience might very well be funny for another.
Practical and Actionable:
Have a newsletter. Have some regular form of communication (could be video, etc). Create something regular so people don’t forget about you.
