Once a client has a short list of speakers, it’s very common to set up pre-booking calls with
them prior to making a decision. Would you hire someone to work for you before speaking with them on the phone? Of course not. I’m always baffled by clients who don’t set up calls with the speakers they’re considering! Granted, a phone call is not the same thing as seeing them speak live, but it can give you a very good sense of their personality, approach, material, if they customize, and how easy they’ll be to work with.
A pre-booking call rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes, even shorter if they have a fairly long short list of speakers they’re interviewing. In reality, the first five minutes are the most crucial and will dictate how long (or short) the call is. Once you’ve received a request, make sure you collect the following information in advance:
– Date, time, time zone, call-in # and passcode, unless they’re calling you directly.
– Who will be on the call? Names and titles are helpful. Typically the person with the most senior title will be the decision maker and the others are influencers to provide feedback. Want to take it one step further? Find and study their LinkedIn profiles for nuggets of helpful information or things you may have in common.
– Ask if 30 minutes will be enough time for a call. If you have any appointments or other calls around the same time, let them know in advance. I once had a speaker dial into a call 15 minutes late because his prior call ran late. By the time he dialed in, everyone was gone and very annoyed. Needless to say, they were not interested in rescheduling the call and did not book him. Imagine if someone was significantly late for an interview? It’s strike one against them before they even say a word. And it’ll be strike three for you.
– Gather as much information as you can about the meeting: date, time, program length, location, audience, theme, which topic they’re most interested in. Review their event and/or organization’s website thoroughly. You never know what you might find and what might come in handy! For example, if you see they have one of your colleagues speaking at another meeting, or one of your best clients is a sponsor, you might want to share it with them to build trust. At the very least, when they ask you (and they will) if you’ve had a chance to review their website, you can answer with a resounding “Yes, thoroughly.”
– Write out some notes in advance. Perhaps you saw something in their recent news section that perfectly ties in with a new project you’re working on. Maybe you have spoken for some similar clients and can share your industry experience or provide some examples of what has worked well in the past. You don’t need lots of pages of notes here; just a few ideas that may be worth sharing, if it makes sense during the conversation. Prepare for the call like you would for a job interview. After all, that’s really what it is.
– Find out who you should contact, if for some reason you’re unable to connect. Accidents happen, maybe there was a typo in the phone # they provided. Maybe you added it to your calendar in the wrong time zone. This is why you should ask up front who to contact in case something goes wrong.
Some of you might be looking at the list above and thinking, “Geez, we haven’t even gotten to the actual call yet and I have to do all that!” As I have heard Howard Putnam so eloquently put it, “When the time to perform has come, the time to prepare has passed.” The better prepared you are for a call (or interview) the higher chance you have of being selected.
Next post, I’ll discuss what to say on the call and how to make sure you and the client are a good mutual fit.
Michele started her career in 1999 at a speakers bureau in Northern California and joined SpeakersOffice, Inc. as Director of Client Relations in 2005. She has served on the board of directors for the San Diego Chapter of MPI and San Diego chapter of ASTD, and received several awards for her volunteer leadership. She can be reached at moc.eciffosrekaeps@elehcim.
