If you haven’t received testimonials yet, do a presentation for small groups of business associates. When you’re done, ask for each person to give you a two minute testimonial. Record it on a digital recorder or a Flip type camera. It is extremely easy to transfer these files to your website and they raise the rankings of the site drastically. If you have to, write the testimonial for them and ask them to put it on their letterhead or to read it for you.
When I do speaking engagements, I leave feedback forms on the chairs for the attendees to fill out. Quite often the information on the forms can also be used for a testimonial.
Worse case scenario, ask your friends to do testimonials. As long as they have a business, they will be a valuable testimonial until you’re able to replace them with testimonials from speaking engagements.
Now you’ll need to send your “Press Kit” page to those who might book you as a speaker. I’ve found that there is very little response if I send it without calling the person and having an engaging conversation with them. It’s not good enough to call and leave a message.
You’ll also want to make sure you have a video compilation of several speaking engagements on your home page. Make sure it’s no longer than five minutes.