Andy Neary booked a Fortune 50 meeting after a 2017 Denver keynote. He breaks down his IMPACT formula: open with a story, land a memorable message, name problems and answers, add a call to action, and show transformation. A repeatable way to turn speaking gigs into sales.
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Public speaking is one of the greatest prospecting tools you can bring to your business if you leverage it the right way. And in this video, I'm going to share an easy formula you can use to turn stage time into sales opportunities. Hi, my name is Andy Neary, CEO and founder of Complete Game Consulting, where we are on a mission to help 25,000 insurance producers sell their first $250,000. And in this video, I'm going to share an easy formula you can use to get up on stage and compel your audience to take action and take action with you. You see, most people are too afraid to public speak. Why? Because they don't know what they're going to talk about. We're going to fix that in this video. You see, my epiphany occurred in January 2017 when I went all in on my speaking career so I could grow my book of business in the insurance industry. At that time, I joined the National Speakers Association Speakers Academy, and I hired my own coach. I was all in. And in January 2017, I had my first chance to try it out. You see, I was picked to speak at a benefits conference in Denver, Colorado. So on a cold winter morning in January 2017, drove down from Fort Collins to Denver through traffic, and I get to the event center. I'm ushered into a breakout room where I'll be speaking about how to build a better health insurance plan for less money. Money. And as I start setting up my PowerPoint, attendees start walking in. And after nine of them entered the door, they shut the door. I said, really? I came here to speak to nine people. I was a little perturbed, but I said, this is what I wanted to do. I want to make public speaking a big part of my business development effort. So on I went delivering a talk on how to build a better health insurance plan for less money. And after the talk was over, I started packing up my things. We're getting ready for the drive back home. And one of the attendees walked up and he said, hey, man, I gotta tell you, I've never heard anybody talk about health insurance that way. That was pretty cool. Would you mind jumping on a call with my team? I would like to have a discussion with you because this is what we have been talking about for a couple years. I said, sure. Why don't you give me your business card and I'll give you a call or I'll shoot you an email later today. So he handed over his card. Now, the name on the card, I did not recognize. His name was Duncan McAlef. And he was the director of Total Rewards. However, that logo on his card was very recognizable because it was PepsiCo, a Fortune 50 company. And I realized in that moment, man, because I took the time to stand on stage and deliver a talk, I just opened the door to a Fortune 50 opportunity. What else am I capable of? What other doors could I open to grow my business? Using the stage to grow that book of business. You see, public speaking is one of the most powerful weapons you could ever bring to your business growth. Because there is not another platform that can turn a cold suspect into a hot prospect as fast as public speaking. When Duncan McAlef woke up that morning, he didn't even know who Andy Neary was. But by the end of that talk, he wanted to know more. Now, here's what I learned. This had nothing to do with where I stood on stage or how I was dressed or how I looked. It had everything to do with what came out of my mouth, how I created that talk that compelled Duncan to want to take action. And that's what I'm going to share with you today. You see, there's a secret formula I use to create keynote talks. Now, I can't take credit for them. I have learned from a lot of great mentors who have helped me with my public speaking career. But I want to share this formula with you. And we call it impact. If you want to deliver a public presentation that leaves a lasting impact on your audience and compels them to take action with you, this is the formula you want to use. The I stands for intro story. You see, when you are delivering a public presentation, you have to start every talk with a good story, because this is how the audience is going to get warmed up to you. This is how the audience is going to get to feel like they know you a little bit. So every good presentation must kick off with a good introductory story and preferably have it be about you. Now, the M is memorable message. When you get done with that introductory story, that intro story, what is the lesson that you learned or the message from that story that sets up why you are standing on stage? You see, there's nothing more powerful than to take a personal story and tie it into the theme, the subject that you are there to talk about. I was able to take my pro baseball career and tie it into what I did to help organizations build better health insurance plans. When you can take a personal story and tie it into your subject of expertise using a memorable message, you have a powerful talk. Because once you get done delivering the Memorable message. You can dive into the meat and potatoes of the talk, which is the P and the A. P stands for problems. When you're there to talk about a specific subject, what are the problems your audience is dealing with? What is keeping them from achieving their goals around the subject you are an expert in? You want to spend an a copious amount of time on the problems because you want to make them realize this is where you are today because that leads to the next letter in the acronym A. Answers. This is where you deliver the solutions. What are the solutions you have for the audience to help them overcome the their problems so they can achieve their desired results? Now, C C is a call to action. C is where you are going to drive the audience to take some form of action. Maybe it's to schedule a call with you. Maybe it's to download some lead generator you have. You see, you don't deliver the call to action at the end of the talk because it's too late. You have got to take time before you close the talk to deliver the call to action. Tell your audience what you want them to do once your talk is over, because that leaves the final letter T. Transformation. You see, one of the most important things you have to do in a good public presentation is you have to close out the talk appropriately. A good close transforms your audience. It takes them from walking into the room thinking and feeling one way, and it has them walking out thinking and feeling an entirely different way. When you transform an audience, especially transform their perspective around the subject you're speaking on, you've got an audience that's going to take action, that's motivated to take action, and they're going to take it with you. So you want to leverage this formula impact so that you can start delivering more effective talks on stage. You already know you're the expert. The public speaking stage can help you deliver your expertise in front of a lot of people at one time. When you take the stage, you have all the credibility in the world, but your job isn't done. You got to set up your talk effectively. And there is not a more effective way to set up the talk than using the formula Impact. Have a good intro story tied into the main portion of the talk with a good memorable message. Then deliver the problems, deliver the answers. Call your audience to action before you close, and then close it out with transformation. Give them that perspective shift they need so they can walk out of the room motivated, but most importantly motivated to want to learn more about you. So take these words, take the stage. This is how you will open doors you never thought possible. I didn't believe it was possible to use the public speaking stage to open the door of the Fortune 50 company because I was just a little independent advisor in Longmont, Colorado. But it's possible. Not because you take the stage. It's because you what you say on stage. So leverage the impact formula. Take the stage, create impact with your audience, and you'll be amazed at the doors you open. Give it a shot. Let me know what you think.
