Give your audience the wow factor!

Here are 3 ideas you can use to make your big audience presentations more…..WOW!

• Obsess about your message
• Design a process for the speech
• Create a conversation

Let me explain:

1. Obsess about your message
Anyone can tell you about the person who impressed them on stage but broke all the rules. They didn’t move from the lectern, they didn’t have a modulated voice and they jingled keys in their pocket whilst they spoke. They broke all the rules! AND YET they were totally compelling….why? It’s because they had something to say that you wanted to hear. Do not get up to speak until you have first spent some time thinking. Obviously this is what THOUGHT LEADERS is all about. Forgive me for the plug but we know how to teach you how to do that better than anyone on the planet.

2. Design a process for the speech
Once you are clear about WHAT you want to say then start thinking through HOW you will say it. Don’t think about techniques like where you will stand and how loud you will speak but rather ‘What is the emotional or story journey that the audience will travel along?’ Make sure that at least every 7 minutes there is a major energy shift. Highs and lows, ups and downs, fast and slow. MyDrive Your Business Workshop ensures exactly this.

3. Create a conversation
The best public speakers make you feel like they wrote the speech just for you. The key to making this happen is to be in conversation with your audience.
Three ways you can do this:

• Interview a few people before you turn up to understand what they are going through and use these examples in your speech
• Ask rhetorical questions that demonstrate an understanding of their world
• Start your presentation in the room and walk into the audience throughout your presentation

Work harder on speaking better in public and take your message to a new level.

M@

Why academics don't sell!

Why do so many people dislike the sales process? The number of switched on people I meet who actively don't sell is staggering!

I believe it's an issue of identity...

The obvious elements that contribute to the anti-selling phenomena...

• Bad past experience
• Cultural bias
• The elitism of the academic world

It's all about language, meaning and service.

To serve is to solve problems.

You don't have to technically 'sell' anymore.

You do have to invite people to buy.

So, focus on doing great work, building a reputation and be sure to let people know how they can get more of you, your business or your cause.

Get out actively and have conversations with people who you can help and who may need what you have. But always let them know what they can buy, how they can buy it and why they should buy it from you.

M@

Are you building your personal profile?

One of the greatest ways to build your personal profile is to run seminars. In-house seminars if you work for an organisation, or public seminars if you run your own business.

Internal: For the employee, it’s the key to career advancement and becoming the subject matter expert within the business. For example... imagine you are the IT expert in the business... you run a monthly 'Get the Most Out of Your Computer' workshop, FOC for any staff. You can be sure that one month a member of the Senior Leadership Team will attend your 'Techniques for Emptying Your Inbox' session. I am certain that down the track if you then applied to be the IT guru transferred to Dubai (if that’s what you want to do?) you would get some preferential treatment.

External: For the business owner, it’s the same gig. You may be one of 25 real estate agents in downtown Manly. If you’re the one running the free quarterly property update on Residex prices, what is selling and why - people will come to know you. The quality of prospect you create is amazing and the standing you get in the community is huge.

Here are some tips for making this work:

1: Don’t be too smart for your own good.
Choose topics that make sense. E.g. How to reduce your inbox to zero / How to speak in public / How to sell your house for the most money in a tough market. Don’t be too creative.

2: Grow your network.
You need a list of people to invite. For the internal employee this is often easy. The 500 staff working in the Melbourne office are a perfect list. Simply go through HR or L&D to gain permission and the correct approach.

For externals, it’s a little bit harder. One way is to create a 7-page word document that you can send as a fact sheet/special report or e book. You might then place an add in the local paper, but primarily promote the special report as the reason for contacting you. Then, from the list of people who request the special report - you have your invite list for the event.

If no one requests the free report then at least you know your topic is a fizzer and you have saved yourself the embarrassment of running an event no one turns up to.

M@