Only 3.7% of Fractional CFO firms generate revenue of $1M a year or more.

Would you like to know how most of these firms actually get clients?

Based on my conversations with other 7-figure firm owners, they mainly do two things:

They nurture referral partners (more on that in another edition)

and…

They speak at events, workshops, and conferences.

Speaking is one of the lowest-risk, highest-reward lead generation strategies I know of (and use myself). So in this edition we’ll cover why speaking works, why so few CFOs are willing to do it (even though it works), and how you can get on your very first stage. 

My goal is to convince you that speaking on stage is such a low-risk-high-reward marketing channel that you'd feel foolish not to try it (even if you’ve never spoken in public before and are petrified by the idea of it!).

The Formula: Get Stages, Get Clients

If you can get on stage and talk, you will almost certainly leave with hot, qualified leads (if not a client or two).

This is not an ironclad guarantee or a law of the universe... but it’s pretty close. When you speak to an audience of your ideal buyers, getting clients is basically a done deal.

Why?

You deliver value to people who have the kinds of problems you help solve, they see you as an expert, they want to work with you.

It’s going to happen.

Hardly any Fractional CFOs get clients from speaking not because they’re doing it wrong, but because they aren’t doing it at all.

Here’s how to do it in 5 steps.

#1. Find Stages (They Really Want to Hear From You)

How hard is it to find stages to speak on as a Fractional CFO?

Not hard. On a difficulty scale from 0 to 10, finding stages is a 2. Why? Because the competition is so limited. It's not as though tons of speakers are fighting to get on stage to talk about how to maximize your cash flow at a civil construction company.

Conference organizers are begging for speakers to come and talk about topics like profitability and cash flow.

Put yourself in their position: Your audience can only afford to buy your conference tickets (and your other products) if they’re making money. So you want to bring in experts who will show attendees how to increase their cash flow and their profitability. You help their audience win so they can spend more at their conference. 

If you reach out to conference organizers, they will most likely be thrilled to hear from you.

#2. Ask to Speak, Because You Do Have to Ask

Want to hear how I broke into the Dirt World conference, with 5,000 attendees from the civil construction industry? 

I asked.

It said something like: “I know most heavy civil construction companies struggle with cash flow and razor thin margins. How about your audience?"

(It’s a silly question. I know the answer is YES. But I still had to ask the question.)

The organizers replied: “Absolutely, our audience has cash flow struggles. You talk about this? We've never found anybody who would talk about this!”

So I got a spot on stage. And I closed multiple $100,000/year clients as a result of that one keynote.

It really is that simple. How do you get speaking opportunities? You ask.

“There has to be more than that, Michael!” -You, probably.
"There isn’t." -Me, definitely.

You literally just tell them who you serve, tell them what problems you help solve, and ask if their audience has similar problems.

#3. Prepare a Helpful Presentation

Once you have a stage lined up, you still have to prepare a speech. 
*Gasp*

Again, this is easier than you’d expect. I recommend you stick with the topic of cash flow because it’s a universal concern. Whether your audience consists of businesses doing $100,000 or $100 million a year, they all want better cash flow. Give them a 5-step framework for how to think and how to act.

You don’t have to be as polished as a TEDx speaker. Forget about fancy slide decks that cost $10,000 to design. Give a simple framework. Tell some stories. Challenge a few beliefs or myths.

Afterward, they’ll tell you, “I’ve never heard this explained so simply before.”

This is your daily bread, but to them it’s manna from heaven.

#4. Speak, Even Though It’s Scary

Ask any Fractional CFO “What are your 5 worst fears?” and their list will look something like this:

Fear #5. Swimming with sharks
Fear #4. Holding snakes 
Fear #3. Skydiving
Fear #2. Skydiving with sharks while holding snakes
Fear #1. Public speaking

Most Fractional CFOs (and most people in general) are terrified of getting on stage. And as someone who has spoken on stages ranging from 50 people to 5,000 people, I can confirm that it’s exactly as scary as you imagine.

But I’m also terrified of being broke, and that outweighs my terror of getting on stage. So I pick the less terrifying thing. Being on stage (and getting clients from it) is a whole lot less frightening than going bankrupt.

#5. Set Appointments Afterward

When you get off stage and walk to the back of the room, you’ll find a line of people who want to talk to you for the next 30 minutes. At that point it’s like shooting fish in a barrel:

• Ask quick qualification questions.
• Offer to meet to discuss whether you can help.

Every time I do this, half an hour after the talk I’m exhausted from rapid-fire conversations… and my calendar is packed full of appointments with ideal prospects.

I’ve made literal millions doing this over the past few years.

Isn’t it worth you giving it a shot?

How To Get Your First Stage

What if you’re a newer Fractional CFO and you’ve never spoken on stage in your life? Where should you start?

You probably shouldn’t pitch a conference with 5000 attendees.
(Although you could.)

Here’s what I recommend: Find your local Rotary Club or something similar.

I started with a Rotary Club. Most medium-to-large cities have one. And Rotary Clubs are always looking for experts to come speak to their members. I got one speech under my belt and built from there.

If speaking to a crowd of any size (even 20 people) feels intimidating, start with a webinar, and deliver the same exact talk you will someday give on stage.

It’s significantly less threatening and that’s why I call webinars the “gateway drug to public speaking.”

This Works, But It Won’t Last Forever

I have never spoken on stage and not gotten a client out of it. And I’m not even that good of a speaker.

Yeah, today I’m a good-ish speaker but between you and me, when I first started talking on stage, I sucked. But I still got clients! Because I sailed my dinky little ship into the wild blue ocean of business owners who want better cash flow.

Blue oceans don’t last forever. Over time they get crowded. Eventually they become red oceans where competition is fierce and breaking in is nearly impossible. 

So if you want to get clients by speaking, don’t wait. Find an event, contact the organizer, feel the fear, and do it anyway.

Start this month, and your future self and P&L will thank you.