The Cold Call: How to Approach a Church or Women’s Group for Speaking Opportunities

Recently in a devotional/Christian living blogger Facebook group, a woman asked how she could find speaking engagements. She has spoken in several places by invitation but wanted to know how to branch out into new places. 

I remember being in her shoes wondering how I could make the transition from speaking to people I knew in real life to entirely new groups of people. Warning: this transition requires cold calling! But you can do it 🙂 It’s not as scary as you think! 

Here are the different kinds of speaking engagement cold calls I have tried so far and how they worked for me. 

In-Person Cold Calls

I created a one-page flyer with my picture and bio and a description of several possible speaking topics. Then I drove around town to hand out my flyer. The librarian was excited, but she wasn’t sure how she could fit in something that religious into her programming. Next, I went to a church and the pastor met me at the door. She and I had a nice conversation and said that she didn’t have a women’s group but they had been thinking about having some kind of event so she would keep me in mind. The next two churches were less receptive. One secretary scowled as she took my flyer and reluctantly said she would put it on the bulletin board. That was not exactly what I was hoping for. Later a friend of mine said she noticed it on the bulletin board so that was good! The last church was similar. Someone met me at the door and I gave them the flyer. She wasn’t interested in chatting. Oh well. 

The in-person cold calling didn’t do well for me, but I should have followed up with the two that seemed somewhat interested. After my book is published next year, I will try again with topics related to my book and give a copy of my book for free if they seem interested. Having a freebie might be more attention getting and give me some clout with a total stranger. 

Email Cold Calls

Since the in-person cold calls didn’t pan out and took up a lot of my precious kids-are-in-school time, I decided to try email cold calls next. 

I typed in “church” on a Google maps search. I looked at the websites of all the churches within an hour drive to see who had a women’s ministry or MOPS group leader listed. Then I emailed the leader with this rough outline:

1. “I know you always need speakers for your group….” 

2. An introduction of who I am including my speaking/writing experience and why I’d be a good fit to speak to their group.

3. A list of possible speaking topics and an offer to make something new. I also provided a link to the full list of my speaking topics on my website. Now that I have a YouTube channel with a playlist of some of my teachings I would also include that as well. 

4. Contact info including social media links for them to check out who I am and what I am passionate about. 

This method worked for me to get speaking engagements for a MOPS group. They were complete strangers to me, but I think an email was effective because the leader had time to check out the links and get a feel for who I am. An in-person cold call puts a leader on the spot. But an email gives the leader time to look everything over during a time that is convenient for her. 

Online Cold Calls

Although not technically a cold call, it’s important to have an online presence with your speaking so that women’s ministry and group leaders can cold call you. I recommend having a page on your website that lists your speaking topics. (Hint: You do not have to have the whole talk prepared before listing it. Just list the idea and if someone is interested, then develop the idea into a full talk.)

I also recommend having a profile on womenspeakers.com. There are different levels of membership. I have the free membership, but it has worked for me to find speaking engagements. I also appreciate the emails I receive from the owner of the website with encouragement and teachings about speaking ministry. 

I also include my upcoming speaking engagements in my weekly email to my subscribers and post on social media when I have an engagement coming up. Although I haven’t gotten any engagements because of this listing (yet), I know that I am getting lots of prayers for the events! I also run into people who say “wow! You’ve been speaking a lot!” The listing helps solidify in people’s minds that I am a speaker. What I imagine will happen in the future is that when someone says to them “I need a speaker for our women’s group” my name will come to mind. 

No matter which cold calling avenue you travel down, make sure to start the journey with prayer. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you to the right group of women who need to hear the message God has laid on your heart. 

Has cold calling worked for you to get speaking events? Is there another way you have received speaking engagements? Comment below! 

Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s wife who is loving her church life. She writes about the hard parts of Scripture at readthehardparts.com. She has had devotionals published in the past, but now she is looking forward to getting her first Christian Living book published. You can connect with Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.