We recently added a new Chapter to The Expert MC Toolkit & Resource Manual. This is the 3rd Bonus Chapter with a couple more to come soon. Once these are complete all owners of the book will get a brand new copy with all the new chapters included.
This new chapter looks at 10 techniques to get more MC Assignments & grow your MC Business and is suitable for both beginner and experienced MC’s. Here’s just a couple of the ideas from the new chapter. You can read the rest in the Book.
#Sell from the Stage
Another subtle thing you should start doing is to be selling yourself from the stage. But, this has to be done carefully.
You see the problem is, if you do your job well, your audience will often assume you are part of the company, part of the organising team or part of the association.
I often get asked “how long have you worked in engineering?” Or “what’s your computer background?” depending on the group I’m working for. So try and introduce the fact that you are a freelance MC into the proceedings.
I sometimes mention this when I thank the organising team from the stage. “I’m a freelance MC, I get to work with many different groups and organisers, these guys have been terrific, don’t you think?” This has often prompted people to then come up and ask about my services and get a card. While you are actually thanking the team, you are also planting the seed.
Another approach is to make a joke earlier to the audience. “I was MC with a group of Accountants last week, they were … ” Once again the seed is planted that you are a “gun for hire.”
# Focus
Now this will probably be more applicable to people who have got paid engagements coming in already, but if you are aware of the technique right from the start it will really help.
There’s a huge range of events and markets that use paid MC’s. We cover many of these in our articles on the Blog and in our Video series.
The amount of marketing effort and money to obtain paid work in any of these is much the same.
So why not Focus on the ones that will give you the best Return on Investment. But, by this I don’t necessarily mean the ones with the highest pay rate!
My suggestion is this…
1/ Focus on assignments where there will be other possible bookers in the room. Weddings are a great example of this. There are always other people there planning their own or helping someone who is. Certain types of Association Meetings are another example. You could have hundreds of people representing hundreds of companies in attendance.
2/ Focus on assignments where you might get booked longer than normal. If you normally do one- off Gala Dinners, try and focus on getting full day assignments. Then focus on Multi Day Assignments.
3/ Focus on people who have the ability to book you more than once. This may mean an annual event. Or it could mean multiple events each year. My favourite client books me 10 times a year for 2 day events. I’ve worked with them for 4 years. The pay isn’t as large as I get from some others but the ROI has been huge. My colleague Scott Williams here in Australia has just done an annual conference for one of his clients for the 14th time!
If you can subtly focus on these sorts of clients from the beginning it will save you from going back to square one with your client acquisition each time.
# Professional Contacts
Another strategy that I have used in the past is to put the word out to the professionals that you use on a regular basis. By this I mean – your Dentist, Accountant, Doctor, Lawyer, Mechanic, Stock Broker, Plumber, Hairdresser, Electrician, Builder etc.
Chances are if they are any good, then they probably belong to a professional association. Associations have meetings and events. These need MC’s. The fact that you have paid them for a number of years to provide their services to you gives you a small leverage advantage here. Most will happily provide a contact point, testimonial or advice on approaching their association. My dentist happily gave me the contact in his group and I secured a great assignment from it.
Don’t make a big demand out of it, just share your enthusiasm and see where it takes you. If you don’t feel like asking them directly or feel it’s inappropriate keep an eye out for Associations & Institutes etc listed in their office, on their business card, website etc. Often in a waiting room you’ll see Association and Institute newsletters.
Extract from The Expert MC Toolkit & Resource Manual. Full details HERE