What are the best gifts you can give? Answer: things that have some use.
Regifting is a hallmark of an unneeded, unwanted, unusable, useless gift. If you have no use for it, what makes you think the next recipient will?
In the old days of the speaking profession, we had to do a lot of showcases. You brought your promotional materials along, brochures, demo videos and audios and a variety of giveaways. The most effective item was the one they kept and used.
The name AUN is not exactly a household word. What I wanted was something they would retain and use.
Solution: I decided to go with a rubber grip that one could use to open a jar. Next, I had to produce a way to use AUN in the promo piece.
The end product was to include my name, contact information, and phone number so the potential client could reach out to me.
The late Kathy Gunter was my design artist as well as my in-house booking agent. She decided to use “Let Michael turn you AUN!” Pretty corny but what else are you going to do with a name like AUN.
I realized almost immediately that the idea of an item that people would use every day was a winner.
Some people would use it for its intended purpose, to open that jar that you wrestled with every time.
Others would use it as a “coaster” on which they could place a drink. Since it was made of rubber, it would not slide away.
Whatever the use, people would always take a couple, which was fine by me. I was just trying to get my name out there.
I realized it was a “keeper” when folks would call a few days later to ask me to send them additional grips.
One agent outright told me that she booked me because of the clever way Kathy incorporated my name into the promo item. There’s a great reason to book your next keynote speaker.
Make no mistake, one still must deliver the goods once you take the platform. What we were hoping to do was to engrave AUN into their mind’s eye when they thought about their next program.
The innovative approach worked in other ways as well. It led to the introduction of our web site “AUNLINE.COM.” Again, making lemonade from some lemons.
The along comes baby brother Andy, a Columbia, SC attorney. Andy does a lot of entertaining at his home on Lake Murray. He sends invites to “…AUN the lake.” How else can you make such an odd name work for you?
The next time you need a keynote speaker, “Let Michael turn your people AUN!”
Michael Aun, CSP ®, CPAE ® Hall of Fame Speaker is the co-author of “The Toastmasters International Guide to Successful Speaking” (Dearborn Financial Publishing)
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