I think buying email lists is mostly a waste of money.
If you want more speaking bookings, buying a list of thousands of email addresses can look very tempting. Lots of people to contact, lots of potential opportunities, and technology now makes it incredibly easy to email all of them.
I think that’s mostly the wrong way round.
A database gives you names and contact details. It doesn’t tell you whether those people are actually likely to book you.
Do they organise events?
Do they have a budget for speakers?
Is your expertise relevant to something happening in their organisation?
Are you speaking to the person who can actually make or influence the decision?
And have they got any reason at all to respond to you?
A big list can give you the illusion of having lots of prospects. But volume and opportunity are not the same thing.
When I ran my speaker bureau, I wasn’t interested in everybody knowing every speaker on our roster. I wanted the right speaker to be known by the right booker at the right time.
I’d apply exactly the same thinking to your own business development.
Instead of buying 5,000 names, build a list of 50 organisations where you can answer three questions:
Why them?
Why you?
Why now?
Then find the right person inside each organisation. Research them. Understand what they do. Look for a genuine connection between their world and your expertise.
Then contact them like a human being.
That might mean mentioning an event they run, something happening in their organisation, a challenge in their sector or simply asking whether they are the right person to speak to.
It is slower than uploading a database and pressing SEND ALL, but the goal isn’t to send emails. The goal is to get bookings.
And the better your list, the easier the next part becomes. Your outreach becomes more relevant, your message becomes easier to personalise and you have a genuine reason to start the conversation.
So here’s your exercise.
Pick ten organisations you would genuinely like to speak for.
For each one, write down:
Why could my expertise matter to them now?
What evidence do I have that they use speakers or run events?
Who is most likely to be involved in choosing them?
That’s the beginning of a useful prospect list.
Not thousands of names.
Actual prospects. Now do the next ten, and so on.
If you need a bit of help to get started, spend the day doing exactly that with Mary and me. We’ll be going much deeper at Find It. Win It. Grow It. on 29 October.
https://find-win-grow-speaking-a6bwqdr.gamma.site/
We’ll be looking at how to identify the right opportunities, find the actual people behind them, approach them effectively and then grow the relationship once you’ve got the work.
Not free? Book a consultation and let’s have a chat.
Maria
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