Make more presentations, Make more Money: 3 Reasons Public Speaking should be a sales tool in your toolbox!

Question:

What would be the better investment of your time/effort/energy?

Scenario 1:  Spend 6 to 8 hours preparing a bad #$% presentation about your company, services, products, and expertise and then share that presentation to a group of 100 people that would be potential clients for you 

OR....

Scenario 2: Spend the time calling, emailing, scheduling a meeting with 100 different potential clients to come by and have a conversation with all 100 of them?

I hope like heck you would go with scenario #1.  It is a much better use of your time and money to do the presentation route.  Here is why:

Establish you are a THOUGHT LEADER!
A GREAT presentation establishes your credibility and positions you as a thought leader in your industry to prospective clients and customers in a way that a sales call cannot do.  Your competition is out there doing the ol' make a phone call and schedule a meeting approach too.  Why do what your competition is doing? Do something different!  

For example, Christine Cunneen, CEO of Hire Image uses presentations to find new clients at industry conferences.  She attests: I plant the seeds that will help my business grow.  Although we have added numerous clients because of my speaking engagements, many do not happen right away.  We added a large university a year after they heard me speak at a conference."

A GREAT presentation creates an ENERGY & RESPONSE that a conversation or sales call simply cannot.  People are moved by a collective response in a way that a one-on-one conversation cannot.  The energy that is created by a great presentation can be transformational.  Think back to a GREAT and GAME CHANGING presentation you saw before and you will understand.  For example, when we look at historical turning points in our history, it is very a compelling speech we have to thank.  "I have a dream" is perhaps the best example of how a message can change a nation.  Now, I understand you probably won't need to create sweeping changes of this magnitude but if you could create some kind of ripple effect with your presentation, imagine the impact it could have on your business!  

CLIENTS SELF IDENTIFY!                                                              Let your new clients identify themselves for you!  When you give an amazing presentation people come to you!  Imagine that.  Your next client will actually come to you and say "tell me more." Of the three reasons to start using presentations this is perhaps the most powerful.  Out of an audience of 100, your goal should be to connect to and have a conversation with 10 of those people.  Lucky for you, those 10 people are going to hang out after your presentation to talk to you more about what you do, what you offer, what you sell.  They have done half the work already.  They present themselves as a "warm lead" without all the leg work.  That is pretty amazing if you ask me.  

If you are not sure where to begin for your next presentation, let's talk!  I build presentations from concept to completion with you.

YOU Have a Story To Tell!

Hallelujah and Peace on ya! I have seen the light...

Have you ever had the experience of someone having a spiritual awakening or religious transformation because of a chart? Exactly! But many are the time I have felt a collective moment of growth, change, or transformation in an audience after having listened to a compelling and moving story.The power of storytelling cannot be overstated.  Stories move us, compel us, and make us take action far better than any chart, statistic, graph, or piece of data ever could.  

There are ZERO reported instances where a
Pie Chart was a Game Changer.  ZERO.

Such was the case with my Leader on Loan group recently.  Leaders on Loan is a program with the United Way of Denton County where local businesses “loan” their organization’s leaders to the United Way for a nine-month program centered on professional leadership development.  I have the good fortune to be the facilitator for the development part of this innovative program. 

Three weeks ago our LOL’ers were tasked with creating a ten-minute presentation targeting specific aspects of the United Way to share with the group at our next meeting.  That meeting took place just three days ago, and I am still “high” from the experience.  This group of eight people were moved and transformed from one another’s presentations in a way that no other activity we have completed to-date has accomplished.  You see, in the context of their presentation they were told they had to share at least ONE story.  They took their task seriously and each of them brought to their presentation stories that humanized them in a way that we could not help but be changed for the better.  These stories revealed a part of who they were to one another and gave them a new level of credibility that their titles, degrees, and work history had not done.

And Now you are THREE DIMENSIONAL TO ME...

For example, one of our LOL’ers told a story about a young boy whom a moving vehicle struck. The damage this boy endured was unfathomable, and the response of his community who came to his family’s rescue with love, support, food, babysitting, encouragement, and more was a testimony to the power of what people can do and will do when there is a need to be filled.  The best stories are those where a happy ending presents itself, and we all sighed a breath of relief when we learned this young boy healed and grew and became a successful man both personally and professionally.  The REVELATION occurred when we learned that this man was our very own LOL’er--Tyler Hurd.  This was HIS story, and he shared it to draw a similar distinction between his childhood community and the United Way community. 

What did Tyler’s story accomplish?  Good question.  By using this story Tyler was able to create a parallel between his community and the good work of the United Way. Tyler’s story also added to his own credibility.  Like the president of Hair Club for Men, who is not just the president but also a customer, Tyler’s story made him more than a Leader on Loan.  Tyler was now someone who, through life’s circumstances, had lived out an experience where COMMUNITY changed his life and his family’s life.  Suddenly as someone in the audience, I felt the psychological satisfaction of knowing that Tyler knows what it feels like to NEED HELP.  I felt closer to Tyler having heard this story.  Forevermore, Tyler will not just be a guy who works at the City of Denton.  His is three dimensional to me, and I like to work with and alongside people who are three-dimensional.  I suspect you do too.

Stories are a universal language.  Anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists, and linguists agree that what separates us from other forms of life is not just our ability to use language but to TELL STORIES. 

A great story lets us get to the heart of the matter.

If you are under the impression that stories are only appropriate for the Sunday morning church service, the inspirational speaker, or topics that are naturally inclined toward the “touchy and feely” know this: Stories are Necessary and good anytime, anywhere, and for any audience.

Architects need story.

Engineers need story,

Accountants need story.

IT people need story.

You need story.

All this begs the question: how can I tell better stories?  Here are FOUR BIG ideas to get you started. 

1.  Get to know TED.  No, Ted is not a friend of mine.  TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a genius movement of people who get together across the globe to share their ideas in a presentation format.  Their motto is “Ideas worth spreading.”  Go to www.ted.com and start with my favorite speakers: Sir Ken Robison, Jamie Oliver, and Benjamin Zander.  STUDY them as presenters and notice how pivotal STORY is to their presentation.  (If you are like me, grab a few Kleenex before you watch Ben Zander.  I cry every time, and I have watched this presentation about twenty times.)

2.  Get more academic about telling stories.  You can view my slide presentation on storytelling at http://www.slideshare.net/BravoCC/the-stories-wetell to learn more about TELLING stories.

The stories we_tell from Libby Spears

3.  Learn from the masters: Advertisers.  The world of advertising is about telling stories that stick visually, textually, and through rich and interesting characters.  Here is my favorite from the great minds at Toyota: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4.

4.  Have a storytelling lunch and learn with your people/co-workers/team/family/colleagues.  Organizationally it is essential that everyone from top to bottom can “tell the story” of the organization.  Can you tell that story?  Can your people tell that story?  Grab some sandwiches and drinks, get around a big table, and spend some time telling stories. 

There are stories in you just waiting to be shared and told to others so that they may connect to you and your purpose.  As you embrace your inner storyteller you will find that you are becoming more successful in your pursuits.  Why? Because people want to connect to you on a human level and know that you are real.  Degrees, titles, corner office, and fancy charts and graphs--while they serve their purpose--they fall short when it comes time to truly connect.  Don’t abandon those things but give them context and meaning with your story. 

One of the rock star celebrities in my former world of academia is communication scholar Robert McGee.  I love this quote: (feel free to cut and paste and put this on your desktop!): “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.”

Share your story today with me at www.facebook.com/bravocc.

The case of the DIAGONAL twins: Does YOUR Story RESONATE?

Once Upon a Time....

When my daughter Maddie was about 4 years old, she came into my office where I was working diligently to tell me about her new friends. As it turns out these two friends were twins.  One of them was 4 years old and one of them was 5 years old.  I listened to her story with great interest and enjoyed the details of this new friendship through the eyes of this little person.  Eventually there was a pause in her telling of the story and I told her "Maddie I think twins have to be the same age as one another".  Without skipping a beat she looked at me and said "I know mom, but these are diagonal twins". Cue laugh track.

She loves that story.  So do I and over the years we have told and retold that story to friends and family and even just between the two of us.  It captures the innocence and joy of being a child and illustrates why shows like "kids say the darndest things" was such a big hit.

The value of a good story told cannot be measured.  It connects us to the teller of the story and creates emotional responses that in turn cause us to consider or reconsider the underlying issue told in the story.  Stop for a minute and think about how many stories you tell in one day and in turn how many stories are told to you.  I can guarantee you that a good deal, perhaps even 50% for some people, of our communication is done through the telling of a story.

Do you tap into the POWER of your story in ways that other people want to participate in whatever it is you are selling: your friendship, your business, your product, your service?  Because yes, stories do sell things. They sell ideas, points of view, they even sell the person telling the story.  In our personal life many of us are far more likely to tell and share stories with our family and friends.  Why not in business?  The business world prefers, even gives preference to facts, figures, statistics, charts, graphs, evidence.  Now, these things are in fact very important but should not be chosen in lieu of a good story. 

The combination of evidence + story is where persuasion happens.  

Knowing that, do you and your organization have control of "the story" of

WHO WE ARE

WHERE WE HAVE BEEN

WHERE WE ARE GOING

HOW WE ARE GOING TO GET THERE

WHY WE ARE GOING THERE

WHO IS GOING WITH US

?

To determine the answer, here are THREE questions you should be asking in your organization to determine the potency of your story:

1. Can everyone tell the story of the organization's beginnings from the top down? (do they know the mission statement for the organization is another potential question to see if your story has internal sticking power).

2. How does our story compare to that of our competition?  The power of a GREAT story is that it is unique.  If your story looks and sounds a whole lot like the story of your competition then you are in trouble buddy.  Better get some heads around the table and have a brainstorming session to find a story that will differentiate you from everyone else.

3. Does your story match up in all contexts: internally, marketing, who customers say you are, on your website?  A consistent story means branding and branding means name recognition. Name recognition means market share.

Never ever underestimate the power of STORY.  The worlds greatest brands--Coke, Nike, Apple--are the best storytellers around.  Become more academic about telling your story for a while until you perfect this all too important art form.

Need help?  That's what Bravo CC is around for--we teach people how to stand out in a CROWDED and COMPETITIVE Marketplace.  You can see our upcoming events including "Death By Presentation", a webinar AND "What's YOUR Plan BE? 2012" the workshop.  Dates and details can be found HERE

Finally, take a look at this Bravo CC Slideshare presentation on STORYTELLING.

The stories we_tell

View more presentations from Libby Spears