Public speaking is full of people making basic mistakes.  Luckily, you don’t have to be one of them!  Now you’ve successfully ‘opened’ your presentation, here’s how to avoid the 3 biggest mistakes people make when they start getting into public speaking – and selling from stage.  This article is a great refresher for both experienced speakers and oh so important for those just starting out.

Presentation Skills = Great Selling

You may or may not have considered this yet. But something you need to get clear in your mind is that if you want to master the art of public speaking and intend to make a real difference in the world, you need to become a great sales person.

I believe great leaders who inspired great change, such as Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, JFK were all amazing sales people.  What do I mean by sales?  Well, for me sales is when you create an environment of influence where you inspire people to take action in accordance with their vision.

I hold teachers in very high esteem.  However many teachers think their job stops after the information is imparted.  True leaders, or sales people, know that their job finishes only once someone has taken action toward their dream.

So I invite you to start to think about yourself as a great leader.  I know you have a message that is close to your heart; whether you are conscious of it or not is irrelevant.  There is something that inspires you.  So begin to think about yourself as someone who is destined to change the planet for the better in some way.

Once you see yourself as a great leader then you are ready to start selling from stage.  But what you want to do is avoid the following selling traps.

Three Big Mistakes To Avoid When Selling From Stage

Here are some surefire “kisses of death” for selling from stage right up front.  I’m putting there here so you can avoid them!

Mistake #1: The speaker thinks a seminar is about imparting information only.
People learn through their emotions. Not their intellect. Emotions are the glue that make learning stick. So when you teach, how are you managing the emotions of your audience?

Mistake #2: Looking like crap on stage.
Honestly, if you are teaching or selling in your presentation, I don’t care who you are, please make yourself look at least half way decent when you’re speaking in public! If you can’t pull it together, get an image coach. Ladies, I’m sorry, this is even more important for you because yes, we do get judged more than men on how we look.  It doesn’t take much to get it together with the right contacts.

Mistake #3: Having no integrity or out and out lying from stage.
The sad truth is there are some presenters and companies out there who will tell you one thing and then do another. I have even witnessed speakers lying through their teeth on stage. Please don’t be one of them.

Summary

You are something special.  Do you get that?  So this week, in fact starting right now, begin to think of yourself as someone special.  Someone with a lot to offer and a mission to fulfill. You may already know what this is, or you may not.  But commit right now to becoming a great leader.  And commit right now to becoming  a magnificent salesperson.  Not just a conveyor of information, not just a teacher, but someone who sells from stage.  In public speaking, the bigger your vision, the easier it is to inspire people to take action.

Let’s start at the beginning – those valuable first few minutes on stage. Full of nerves you stand in front of a sea of faces… So, how do you open your presentation and get your audience’s participation from the word go?

• Ask a broad question that people are most likely to answer yes to.
• Then Flip It – because that way you have involved everyone
• Sometimes you might have to encourage your audience to join in
  by a physical signal to put up their hand.

Last week we looked at 10 great leadership styles to model.  In the 2nd of this 2-part series, we’re focussing on the 10 major causes of leadership failure.  Read these to avoid the pitfalls!

Disorganisation of Details
No leader is ever ‘too busy’ to do anything.  When you admit you are too busy, you show up your inefficiency.  One leadership style to definitely avoid is the “I’m too busy” attitude.

Unwillingness To Do Menial Tasks
To be a great leader, you have to get your hands dirty sometimes! If you want a great example, you only need to think of Gandhi.  His leadership style was so effective because he wasn’t above his followers, he was one of them.

Expect To Be Paid For What You Do
The most successful leaders I know get paid not for what they know, but for what they do with what they know.   Leadership style focusses on action.

Fear of Competition
Don’t focus on others, focus on what you are doing and how you can do it better.  The best leaders in the world train their team members to take over.  Only in this way, can you give attention to many things, i.e., leverage out to make more money.

Lack of Imagination
A weak leadership style is one of no imagination. With no imagination then you have no hope of meeting emergencies and of creating plans which your team will be inspired to follow.

Selfishness
If you’re the kind of leader who claims all the credit then this is bound to cause resentment.  The most powerful leaders actually give all the credit to their team because it’s a fact that people work harder for commendation and recognition than they will for money alone.  Love your team and they will love you!  Another definate leadership style to avoid is selfishness.

Over-Indulgence
This clearly does not command respect.  Enough said.

Lack of Loyalty
Any leader who is not loyal to his/her team will not be leader for long. 

Authority
If you’re trying to lead through the “authority” of your role, you’re trying to lead by force.  Real leaders lead through encouragement.  In the wise words of Mo-tzu,“People only become unmanageable when one tries to lead them with a violent love….But if one approaches them with trust and takes them by the hand….there will not be a single one will not adapt himself to the rule.” 

Your Job Title
Great leaders don’t need fancy job titles to gain respect.  A true leadership style is one through his/her actions not by the words on their business card – their offices are free of ostentation and open to anyone to enter.

Bonus Tip – Good Delegation

OK, so this isn’t one to avoid, but it’s so useful I thought I would include it anyway. To be a good business owner we have to be prepared to let go of the things we are not so good at and delegate them to others.  But not abdicate responsibility for them.

Good delegation is:

1. Ask someone to achieve an outcome
2. Ask if they accept responsibility for it
3. Give them authority to complete it (or outline what you want to be consulted about)
4. Schedule to review progress on estimated completion date.

Most people just hand it over like a parcel and never check in.

What’s Next?
A strong leadership style is to be modeled over time. I don’t think it’s something to be achieved overnight, but we can certainly start now.  It might help if you looked at the list honestly and asked yourself “Which of these am I doing?”  “Which of these could I stop doing?”  Choose one of the things you want to start doing now and you might just find that you’ve taken the first step towards great leadership.

Leadership shows up in all areas of business and especially so from stage. In fact, to be on stage, you really do need to possess strong leadership skills. How else will you get your audience to respond to you and buy from you if you don’t show leadership?

• You must let your audience know that you are the boss
• Train them to be happy doing things that are normally out of their comfort zone
• That way when you say to go to the back and take out their credit card they will feel less resistance
• Use it. It works.

What do you have to do to create a great team around you?  The very first thing is to become a great leader.  A great leader will automatically attract a great team. Here in part 1 of a 2-part article on Leadership are 10 fabulous leadership styles to model.

Summary
 It’s clear looking at this simple list of major leadership styles that real leadership is all about the kind of person you are and the values you hold.  If you live up to these values then you won’t even have to hunt for your team – they’ll be attracted to you as if by magic.  Great leadership is not so much about ‘doing’ anything as is commonly thought.  It’s about ‘being’ someone special and when you’re that someone special, people will flock to work for you.

What’s Next?
I suggest reading this list a few times and being totally honest with yourself.  What qualities are you being and what are you not being?  Choose one quality of the list – the one quality that resonates with you – and make it your intention to be this quality as of today.  Great leadership begins with yourself.

Next week we’ll be looking at some classic leadership mistakes which you will definitely want to avoid!

• Your crew are your support team.
• You must have a crew who believe in what you are speaking about and who back you up.
• They are the guys behind the scenes who make everything possible.
• Love them and look after them and they will look after you.

Just like plants or trees, businesses (and humans) need periods of rest before they can spring forward again.

Your Business Is A Tree
It needs roots to anchor itself, a solid trunk for strength, the branches are the different wings of your business, the leaves are your activities and the fruit of the tree are your rewards.  And if you’re a competent gardener, then you’ll need to prune.  Why do you prune?  Because a gardener knows that in order to stimulate growth, there first needs to be cuts. 

Tip 1 – Pruning Is Powerful
Yes, get those metaphorical scissors out (if you’re really feeling bold – the chainsaw!) and get pruning.  Don’t be timid here – hack, chop and be brave!  Get rid of the deadwood.  Sometimes this means cutting off twigs that are actually still alive.  It’s tough but true.  Use this as an opportunity to let things go.  What is not working in your business?  What old assumptions no longer serve you?  Are you still harbouring old ways of thinking?  Are there staff members you need to let go?  Are there areas in your business that no longer energetically feel right? 

What do you need to cut away?

Tip 2 – Recharge Your Batteries
Now the deadwood has gone, what do you do next?  You’re staring at a pruned back business but you’re still wondering what to do in order to make it grow.  My suggestion is do nothing.  Yes, that’s right.  You don’t have to do a thing.  Do you stare at a plant and will it grow?  No, you feed it a little water, you place it in the sun, and if the plant is lucky, you feed it some fertiliser.  You nourish it.  This is what you do next.  You take some time out to nourish yourself.  Remember, my philosophy is that business guidance comes from within so when you are feeling nourished and full, then the externals of your business will also grow. 

It’s time to go on that spa day you promised yourself.  Take that yoga retreat.  Go on a golfing holiday.  Take a trip by the seaside.  Go for a bushwalk.  A mountain hike.  Do something that will nourish you.  Feel the sun on your face, swim in saltwater, breathe in the scents of the wood or the rainforest.  Feel connected to nature.

Inject Life back in.

Tip 3 -  Sharpen The Saw
What I love most about pruning is watching the fresh, new buds of regrowth appear.  It always makes me smile.  There’s something almost magical about it.  You think you’ve killed your plant because it looked so bare and forlorn, but suddenly one day a sprig of green appears, and then another and another, and before you know it, the plant has exploded into life. What do you do now?  There’s regrowth all over the shop!  You need to train it to grow in the direction you want, because if you don’t the regrowth has no clear direction.  So you stick a pole next to your plant and gently guide the direction of the new growth.  You do not force it, you simply guide and allow the growth to follow your direction.  With your help, the plant can grow to new heights.

If you’ve decided on a new direction, what training do you need to take you to that next level?  Is there a course you need to take?  A mentor you know you just have to study with?  Is there a product you have to invest in?  Do not think you need to grow your business all alone.  Starting afresh is a bold move and there are tonnes of people out there who have trodden the path you now wish to take.  Follow their gentle guidance to take you to new business heights.

Summary
So, there’s my 3 top tips for Is there any pruning you need to do this week?  What do you need to cut away?  Perhaps you have already pruned, is now the time to take your rest and recharge for the next phase?  Or maybe there’s a course you need to undertake.  Whatever you choose, remember now is the perfect time for regeneration.

Market trends necessitate us always staying on top of what your audience wants – at all times during the year. It’s all about matching your audience to your market.

• What you are delivering must match up to the people in your audience
• If they’re not your target market – you won’t sell
• It is possible to make sales from an audience that’s not your target market – but it’s so much easier when they are.
• Even if you are a terrible speaker – you will make money – if you have the right match.