My other half works in an extremely fast growing internet company. Weekly I hear him discuss the sales approach of almost every sales person walking through the door and it reminds me of my own experiences which were much the same.
The sales person comes in, fires up powerpoint. Generally they are OKAY on the interpersonal skills (not great), well turned out, and professional. However, they then fire up powerpoint and take you through the same ridiculous process:
"we are company XYZ, here are the same slides I show everyone else (if I really want to look good, I add your logo or some of your webpages). We were established in xxxx (who cares?). We are the leading company in (service). We have lots of big clients (unrelated to your industry as you are just another company). Therefore we are great at what we do. Here's, therefore, what we can do for you by listing our standard product range...basically the same thing as we did for all the rest."
This goes on for ten minutes typically without any interaction from the client. At this point, one of the client's management team strats to ask questions, often related to the lack of presentational relevance of their business. The salesperson is tired as its there third presentation that day, stressed, and annoyed that its obviously a different scenario from the list of unrelated clients that they have presented before them. But its accepted as the status que, so the client actually can feel awkward asking these obvious questions and the salesperson rightly aggrieved in their own mind.
I watched a video on Youtube recently which I now cannot find!!!! It was by an American business coach who hit the nail on the head when it comes to this scenario. She said "imagine the average sales pitch as a date".
Now this really shows how lousy this approach is, and yet every sales person in the UK seems to follow it!
She asks us to imagine going out on a date, exchanging niceties and sitting through:
"I am great..,, I studied at X, joined X, I was promoted, founded a company, achieved x, y,z, turnover x million / billion, etc. Now because I did all of this, I would be really great for you, because you are like all the other women /men out there. Any questions now after ten minutes of talking about myself?"
The parallels between the two approaches are obvious and that is why most sales people, and most dates "convert" in the low single figure percentages, and especially in the average market where competition is strong.
Now imagine a sales pitch or dinner date which involves "the audience". A good salesperson or "dater" will shown an interest in the other person. They do this by asking lots of relevant questions (not too deep to begin with!), verbally nodding, smiling, holding eye contact for a natural period of time, acting interested but not overbearing, etc. Imagine the impact of these basic skills on sales performance by keeping to these basics. On my sales and negotiation courses, I regularly stun experienced sales directors, executives, and managers by taking them back to basics. They do not realise what their own actions. They cannot believe the bad habits they have fallen into. Then I hit them with all the secret skills and techniques they never imagined to exist!
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Saturday 19 July 2008
Business networking - how to approach groups and strangers
Business networking guru Elizabeth Clark shows how to successfully approach strangers and groups. Discover the 3 zones of business networking, and the critical one which you must master or avoid!
Friday 11 July 2008
Booking Speakers? Save 20% by watching our great video!
Booking speakers? Don't book without watching our free video. Learn how to save 20% when booking a speaker and get our free guide!
Call 08453 700155
Call 08453 700155
Sunday 6 July 2008
Great Presentation Skills
Great presentation skills:
This article will give you all the information you will ever need to give a great presentation. A common mistake that most people make is that they focus on the words and technical content, when actually the measure of a good presentation is the audience’s reaction. If your presentation has awoken their interest, guided their understanding of the topic and then incited them to action, then you’ve given a great presentation. The way to achieve this is to prepare, prepare, and prepare again! Nobody ever got worse by practising!
Here are some tips on how to achieve this:
1. Use audio + visual aids; you don’t have to have a great knowledge of PowerPoint, a basic understanding of the programme would do, such as Steve Jobs that recently did a presentation and used a very simple visual presentation for his subject. As long as your visual presentation flows with your talk it will be fine. However some people think that the best visual + audio aids are the ones which are more complicated and this just isn’t true.
2. Be well researched on your subject but pay attention to time and duration. You don’t want to go into the presentation and be talking about your subject, then found that you’ve used all you points and still having 15 minutes left. So you resort to babbling on about your used points and drag it out, which is not acceptable. Equally, you should never over-run or you risk upsetting the host and your fellow speakers.
3. Treat the talk like a conversation; allow the audience to participate and ask questions where appropriate (generally at the end). You can get your audience to participate by asking them to raise their hands if they agree or disagree with your point or if they fall into a certain category, etc.
4. An important thing to remember is that with every action will come a reaction (Action = Reaction).
5. Try to have FUN with your presentation; if you enjoy the presentation, your audience will enjoy the presentation.
6. A beneficial tip to remember “is to know your talent” what I mean by this is find out what your good at in presentations, is it telling a story, etc, try to stick to things you are good at during the presentation which will help you get it correct first time round.
7. You must have confidence. If you don’t have confidence your audience aren’t going to listen.
8. An important thing to keep in mind is how you build your speech, you can’t just jump in with how to sing a song, you NEED to introduce yourself, so here is an example of a speech on “how to sing a song” set up:
Introduction
Learn your lyrics
Get the sound right
Have the timing
End
9. A great way to stop the audience from loosing their interest is too use simple words, try not to use big words as it bores the audience.
10. When you give your presentation try to be as relaxed as possible, because when you are tense and anxious you will say everything really quickly, (HINT: a good way to extend your talk is after a sentence say “BANANA” in your head). It will force you to slow down your speech if you tend to speak quickly or are anxious.
11. A nice thing to add to presentation is body movement e.g. if you say “I want to take 10 minutes of your time” hold up 10 fingers. It makes whatever you are saying much more memorable.
12. You should always try to win over the audience, you can do this by putting your points out in the open and reinforcing them .
This has been Calum, 13, and I’ve just won the public speaking competition at my Grammar School after lots of practise.
This article will give you all the information you will ever need to give a great presentation. A common mistake that most people make is that they focus on the words and technical content, when actually the measure of a good presentation is the audience’s reaction. If your presentation has awoken their interest, guided their understanding of the topic and then incited them to action, then you’ve given a great presentation. The way to achieve this is to prepare, prepare, and prepare again! Nobody ever got worse by practising!
Here are some tips on how to achieve this:
1. Use audio + visual aids; you don’t have to have a great knowledge of PowerPoint, a basic understanding of the programme would do, such as Steve Jobs that recently did a presentation and used a very simple visual presentation for his subject. As long as your visual presentation flows with your talk it will be fine. However some people think that the best visual + audio aids are the ones which are more complicated and this just isn’t true.
2. Be well researched on your subject but pay attention to time and duration. You don’t want to go into the presentation and be talking about your subject, then found that you’ve used all you points and still having 15 minutes left. So you resort to babbling on about your used points and drag it out, which is not acceptable. Equally, you should never over-run or you risk upsetting the host and your fellow speakers.
3. Treat the talk like a conversation; allow the audience to participate and ask questions where appropriate (generally at the end). You can get your audience to participate by asking them to raise their hands if they agree or disagree with your point or if they fall into a certain category, etc.
4. An important thing to remember is that with every action will come a reaction (Action = Reaction).
5. Try to have FUN with your presentation; if you enjoy the presentation, your audience will enjoy the presentation.
6. A beneficial tip to remember “is to know your talent” what I mean by this is find out what your good at in presentations, is it telling a story, etc, try to stick to things you are good at during the presentation which will help you get it correct first time round.
7. You must have confidence. If you don’t have confidence your audience aren’t going to listen.
8. An important thing to keep in mind is how you build your speech, you can’t just jump in with how to sing a song, you NEED to introduce yourself, so here is an example of a speech on “how to sing a song” set up:
Introduction
Learn your lyrics
Get the sound right
Have the timing
End
9. A great way to stop the audience from loosing their interest is too use simple words, try not to use big words as it bores the audience.
10. When you give your presentation try to be as relaxed as possible, because when you are tense and anxious you will say everything really quickly, (HINT: a good way to extend your talk is after a sentence say “BANANA” in your head). It will force you to slow down your speech if you tend to speak quickly or are anxious.
11. A nice thing to add to presentation is body movement e.g. if you say “I want to take 10 minutes of your time” hold up 10 fingers. It makes whatever you are saying much more memorable.
12. You should always try to win over the audience, you can do this by putting your points out in the open and reinforcing them .
This has been Calum, 13, and I’ve just won the public speaking competition at my Grammar School after lots of practise.
Saturday 28 June 2008
"advanced presentation skills tips with Elizabeth Clark"
http://www.rapportunlimited.co.uk/presentation_skills_training.php
Call 08453 700155
Need advanced presentation skills? TV's Elizabeth Clark offers training, advice, tips and courses to transform!
Call 08453 700155
Need advanced presentation skills? TV's Elizabeth Clark offers training, advice, tips and courses to transform!
Thursday 26 June 2008
Body language sins
Improving your body language!
I know I am repeating myself,but its just not hitting home guys..
Women should be able to wear whatever they choose. Guys would behave themselves.
But men are men, and they are physiologically attracted, and are instinctively drawn to colour and shape, i.e. cleavage, porn, bright colours, fast cars in bright colours (shape again). Now if Brad Pitt is doing the oogling, women wouldn't generally mind. The only woman I know who never has anyone ogle her assets in her presence is Jodie Marsh, former glamour model, celebrity, etc. She says there is always so much of her on show that men can't bare to look. However on a TV show we were filming, the TV company had her all covered up as they were trying to portray Jodie as a serious presenter - there's a message there ladies whatever you may or may not think of Ms Marsh (and she was really great with me but the press are pretty cruel sometimes). A major TV channel says cover up..........
I've put a short video clip on the website for more info on how to handle this delicate matter. business body language tips . In the meanwhile, chaps the onus is on you to concentrate on your eye contact if you don't want to lose business, and ladies, if you want to be taken seriously, show a little decorum.
Get it right and effective non verbal communication can produce more business, help you understand and act upon your clients thoughts, and get you better deals in negotiation, to name but a few of the advantages. Check out what our business body language sessions could do to enhance your performance.Now this weekend, I have a special guide coming out. If you are a public speaker wanting incredible public speaking tips and audience participation, I am going to show you exactly how its done on video with a real, live audience. If you are looking to hire a great public speaker, I have something for you as well.
See you soon
Elizabeth
Monday 23 June 2008
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Speakers Nerves - Take Control
Ever had to give a presentation to a room full of people and got that awful stomach churning feeling. You can get this feeling on the day, just before you go on, often in the 48 hours leading upto your presentation or sometimes even weeks before. My other half competes in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and he is a nightmare to live with before some competitions. The thought of speaking to a room is uncomfortable, just like jumping out of a plane or fighting an opponent - anything that tests your normal comfort zone. The thought of getting armlocked, thrown on your head, or strangled in front of your coach, friends, girlfriend, and several hundred total strangers means that at some point, my other half will get them. Sometimes its a few weeks out from the event, occasionally its on the day. However, its all in the mind whether you are speaking / presenting, or preparing for a big fight. Taking control of those butterflies is the key!
This is how you do it:
1) Slow, deep breathing
2) positive self-talk!
Yes we all know that we need to do it (breathe!) but how many of us work on our breathing for when we are presenting or preparing for a tense situation. Now there are techniques within Yoga that are extremely helpful. However, whilst I love a stretch and the relaxing warm-down, its not neccessary to go and enrol at your local leisure centre. Or entering a combat sport!
Simply take yourself away somewhere quiet, maybe outside, to the toilet cubicles, anywhere where there are no distractions! Now breath in slowly BUT breath out for at least three times as long. The slower the exhale the better.
Now positive self-talk. "I am going to smile warmingly, make eye contact with my audience and blow them away with my presentation. I will walk out there like James Bond walking into a casino. I will breath normally." Visualise from your own eyes perspective the crowd smiling back at you, nodding approvingly, and laughing at your quips.
You can reinforce your positive self talk with a "positive tell". Ever seen a top tennis or golf player punch the air or give a gripped fist to the crowd after a winning shot? Henman, McEnroe, Tiger Woods, - I can name so many sports stars giving out their postive tells and you can see the winning feeling in their entire body. If you don't know your positive tells, start to learn them from whenever you enjoy success. Do you give yourself a knowing pat on the chest, a smile maybe? Reinforcing these tells with your positive self-talk will produce even greater results.
You can check out my courses on advanced presentation skills training by following the link.
Best of luck and be sure to let me know your comments below.
Elizabeth
This is how you do it:
1) Slow, deep breathing
2) positive self-talk!
Yes we all know that we need to do it (breathe!) but how many of us work on our breathing for when we are presenting or preparing for a tense situation. Now there are techniques within Yoga that are extremely helpful. However, whilst I love a stretch and the relaxing warm-down, its not neccessary to go and enrol at your local leisure centre. Or entering a combat sport!
Simply take yourself away somewhere quiet, maybe outside, to the toilet cubicles, anywhere where there are no distractions! Now breath in slowly BUT breath out for at least three times as long. The slower the exhale the better.
Now positive self-talk. "I am going to smile warmingly, make eye contact with my audience and blow them away with my presentation. I will walk out there like James Bond walking into a casino. I will breath normally." Visualise from your own eyes perspective the crowd smiling back at you, nodding approvingly, and laughing at your quips.
You can reinforce your positive self talk with a "positive tell". Ever seen a top tennis or golf player punch the air or give a gripped fist to the crowd after a winning shot? Henman, McEnroe, Tiger Woods, - I can name so many sports stars giving out their postive tells and you can see the winning feeling in their entire body. If you don't know your positive tells, start to learn them from whenever you enjoy success. Do you give yourself a knowing pat on the chest, a smile maybe? Reinforcing these tells with your positive self-talk will produce even greater results.
You can check out my courses on advanced presentation skills training by following the link.
Best of luck and be sure to let me know your comments below.
Elizabeth
Saturday 14 June 2008
Advanced Presentation Skills Blog
Hi,
This is Elizabeth Clark, founder of Rapport Unlimited (http://www.rapportunlimited.co.uk).
I will be bringing you the very latest in Advanced Presentation Skills with videos, tips, techniques, and skills.
Elizabeth
This is Elizabeth Clark, founder of Rapport Unlimited (http://www.rapportunlimited.co.uk).
I will be bringing you the very latest in Advanced Presentation Skills with videos, tips, techniques, and skills.
Elizabeth
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