What makes public speaking and sales so nerve racking?

Why do we begin to sweat at the thought of having to stand in front of a group of people or speak to them if we are in a sales situation?

Public speaking is still the number one fear in America today and selling is a close second!

The chief cause of this problem is we center all the attention on ourselves and not on our audience or potential buyer, which is where the attention belongs. 

If you are wrapped up in yourself, you have a pretty small package.  And you will also have a very nervous speaker.

In order to remove the attention from yourself, you must acquire the skills necessary to speak with confidence, comfort and competency.  This is achieved by learning the Vital Skill Areas which allow you to speak and present with poise, control, and professionalism…whether speaking to 1 or 1000. 

Now you may be thinking…I am not a speaker – I am a salesperson!”

Well … think about it this way, as professional business-to-business salespeople (I am still one too), we frequently must give presentations to our prospects – sometimes individually and sometimes to a whole group of decision makers.

Which makes YOU a professional speaker.

Unfortunately, sales training doesn’t include any mention of how to be a good speaker or make effective presentations.

Therefore, I always say in business when you Step Up and Stand Out, you’ll be able to Sell More.

Below I have included some of my top tips and techniques to address this vital and often neglected set of skills.

According to Readers Digest, speaking in front of a group of people is still the number one fear in America today!

The following three suggestions may help you deal with that fear. 

These will assist you when speaking to anyone or any size group.

• Preparation compensates for a lack of talent!  Prepare the talk in advance.  Organize your Power Point, handouts, props, and material.  Practice and rehearse not only the content but also the delivery.  Analyze the audience by asking yourself these questions: What are the attendees interested in?  What is important to them?  How should they feel or think at the end of my presentation?
• Your “first burst” is important!  You should practice, rehearse, memorize, and/or choreograph your “first burst.”  This is your opening sentence or paragraph.  The purpose of the “first burst” is to grab the attention AND the interest of your audience.  Using hilarious humor, quotable quotes, startling statistics, topical stories, and/or a focusing question can accomplish this.  Use your imagination when creating your “first burst.”
• Your audience is more forgiving than you are!  Loosen up, lighten up, have fun when making a presentation.  Don’t take yourself too seriously.  The audience is not expecting perfection, and neither should you! 

If you or your team could use some in-depth training on presentation skills, including one-on-one feedback, please reach out to me to discuss bringing High Impact Presentations to your organization.