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Want to avoid coming home to an empty speaking diary after your holiday?

Many speakers will have taken several weeks off over the summer as it’s a quieter time for conferences and events and now have gradually come back to their businesses.  Today is my first day back after a 9-day break.  I didn’t want to come back to an empty diary and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way.  Fortunately, I haven’t, my diary is filled with bookings.  But that didn’t happen by chance, it wasn’t fortunate, it was planned.  I knew I would be away, so I took action to make sure that I returned to business as usual.

Here's what I do to keep things ticking along:

I have a mini-me

I have help.  My out of office sends people to a freelancer who can pick up and answer anything that needs handling while I’m away.  My freelancer has been working with me for so many years now, she is part of the team and can run most of my business.  Recently she has been covering for speaker bureau owners and speakers who wanted similar support while away.  I can put in a good word if you need her.

I give people access to my diary

If anyone wants to book to work with me, they can book in my absence as I use Calendly.  Whatever programme they want to book, they can find a link on my website, check my availability, and book a session.  When we ran our speaker bureau only a handful of speakers gave us access to their diaries so that we could see their availability.  We couldn’t change or add anything, but it meant we knew, without any delays if they were available or not.  Oddly enough those speakers happened to also be amongst the most booked speakers on the roster.  Strange that.

I let people know I was going to be away

I had prospects wanting to book but not ready at the time of sending my proposals.  I let them know that I’d be away meaning that there would be less availability.  That encouraged several advance bookings as it was clear from my Calendly that fewer options would be open to them if they waited.

I’d love to hear what you do to keep your business flowing.

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