Have you been calling up churches pitching yourself to speak and nobody’s returning your phone calls? Let me ask you this: if it’s not your church, do any members of the staff or congregation know who you are? Back in the day, cold pitching worked a lot better. Nowadays, anyone can send an email to a women's ministry director, and that's exactly what happens. Since so many unsolicited emails from unknown speakers land in their inbox, getting a meeting is becoming harder. But if you make a genuine connection, you stand a better chance of getting your foot in the door.

In the coming weeks, we'll talk about the three keys to getting booked as a speaker. Connections, conversations, and conversions are the keys. Our topic in this episode is connections. 

Highlights from this episode include:

• Why you need to make connections
• How to get your foot in the door to speaker
• Find people to ask “will you help me?”
• The importance of the follow-up
• How to use email to follow-up on your phone call
• Make a list of people you can ask for help

Use everything at your disposal to make connections. Your homework is to make a list of 20 people you can reach out to and ask for help. If you say Mary, I can't think of 20 – think of as many as you can. People close to you, from your church, from your social circle… don't limit yourself! When you’re done, let me know how many people you were able to reach out to.

I’d love it if y’all came to join the conversation in the Facebook group – Take the Stage Speakers and take a moment to share with us! If you aren’t on Facebook, find me on Instagram! I would love for you to share it with me.