Making the time to develop your voice increases your ability to emotionally move roomfuls of people and in turn increases your conversion rate.  Public speaking is an area with the potential to make a lot of money so it makes sense to invest time on your voice.  Remember….

Your voice becomes your money-making machinery.

Developing your voice also:
Builds your confidence on and off stage
Having a strong and powerful voice builds and carries your confidence to every member in your audience.

There are two sides to this coin:

1. It’s your voice that will give you away if you’re not confident.
2. A confident voice will cause you to feel more confident in your presentation and in yourself generally.

So with a good strong confident voice you’re going to really make that lasting impression we are after.  It is a positive feedback loop.

It enables you to perform and create whilst on stage

A powerful and flexible voice gives you the ability to create the most incredible moods. These are the moments where it is just you and the audience, hanging on your every word, feeling your every nuance.
Your voice enables you to create a full palette of moods:

• Conspiracy: “shhh- don’t tell anyone but…”
• Expectation:  “when all of a sudden, you would not believe it…”
• Pain: “It was the most heart-wrenching decision I had ever had to make…”
• Elation or hysteria:  “I was stunned, rapt, we were wildly celebrating…”
• Seduction: “As I looked at the options, I could tell there was really no choice but to…”

You name it…with your voice, you can create it.

When you become a master of creating mood in your audience, what happens is you become a master of the emotional journey of your audience.

A salesperson who is in control of the emotional journey of the person in front of them can control the action they take on that journey…and there you have it – “sales” in a nutshell.  This is why sales from public speaking is so powerful.  You’re not just converting one person, you’re converting hundreds!

When you can control the emotional journey of your audience you can control the action they take on that journey.

So, next time you stand on stage with the aim of making sales, why don’t you spend some time focusing on creating mood in your audience and then see what happens when you take them on an emotional journey.  You never know what magic might happen to your conversion rate!

Speaking is a key area in almost every business, be it negotiations, promotions and of course, speaking and selling from stage. 
This makes it ALL THE MORE important to know just how powerful your voice can be. 

Your Voice Is Your Money-Making Machinery.

Understanding this will make you a truly exceptional speaker with the power to move roomfuls of people AND make you huge sales from your public speaking.  If you’ve ever watched any great speaker, the people that stand out in your mind well after the story has ended are those who create a mood in the space. They convey emotions so powerfully that it takes you on the journey with them.
Interestingly, sales are about the emotional journey too. A big part of being a speaker and taking people on an emotional journey is the use of your voice.   An even bigger part of being a speaker is to make sales.

How Improving Your Voice Will Make You More Memorable, Captivating and Entertaining As A Speaker

There are many great and profitable speakers out there who have never considered how improving their voice could benefit their sales, so that’s where you already have a leg up on them!

Whilst your voice is not the most important thing that will directly impact your sales from your public speaking on the day, it WILL directly impact how memorable, captivating and entertaining you are as a speaker…so think of those referrals and the long-term goals of your business!

In other words, WHY should you consider becoming a vocal artist?

The benefits of becoming a vocal artist

• If you learn to protect your voice and rehearse effectively you will have a long and profitable career as a speaker
• Great vocal control builds your confidence on and off stage
• Powerful vocal technique gives you flexibility to perform and create whilst on stage

If speaking is a key element of creating your business, be it promotion, sales or communication, your voice becomes your money-making machinery. If your voice is not in shape then essentially you are losing your uniqueness in the marketplace and losing sales from your public speaking.

Remember, your voice is your money-making machinery, so what can you be doing right now to start caring more for your voice?

If there’s one thing I love more than public speaking for sales, it’s helping others speak and sell from stage too

Why Do It, Jo?
 
Many sales professionals never consider the opportunity to do workshops, seminars and presentations in front of the public. If you are one of them, then you are missing a golden opportunity.

Public speaking is my number one strategy in capturing sales from my potential clients. Speaking allows me to get in front of prospective clients and to share my passion with them. It allows me to showcase my knowledge and expertise. Many times, I have secured clients, even before I leave the room.

By speaking on a regular basis, this has allowed me to be in front of hundreds of people at any one time.  Let me ask you a question, “What is your time worth hourly? Maybe it’s worth $50 or a $100 or $200-plus an hour. Will you have a better chance accomplishing that one-on-one or in front of a roomful of potential clients and opportunities?

If you have a cause close to your heart, will you have a better chance of accomplishing this cause one-on-one or in a room with 500+ potential followers?

As a sales person, public speaking is the best way to present your products or your services to a wide audience and it’s one of the most lucrative ways to make money.

Showcase Your Knowledge And Shine!

Getting in front of a group of potential clients speaking allows you to showcase your knowledge and it also allows you to showcase your dreams to a far wider audience.

It gives you tremendous visibility and credibility over time. The more you speak, the greater the chances that over time, people will consider how successful you are, and they will look upon you as the authority in your field.   And in turn, the more sales you will make.

So, why not book your first public speaking gig of the year and get out and there and start to sell?  It’s time to showcase your talents to the world and shine!

If you are too busy working in your business to notice that your life has been on hold for a few years now- then chances are you don’t even have time to read this article.  But I promise you if you do, you will be richly rewarded.  You see, as Michael Gerber said in the The E-Myth most of us get into business because we want to be our own boss- and then our Lifestyle goes down the tube in a flurry of tax preparation, stock taking, hiring and firing and general stress!

But times are changing and more and more business owners are undergoing what I refer to as “The Lifestyle Shift”.  They are waking up to the fact that they are the boss, and they should be able to design their business to match their lifestyle.  From the ground up.

If it’s time for you to have more time for yourself, your family, and for your dreams, then read on…

Your lifestyle is ultimately your life’s work. We are all artists, whether we acknowledge that or not. And every day we are gifted with a canvas upon which to create our design. We are now operating in the Information Age, at a time of great wealth and great possibility. Yet seemingly intelligent people continue to operate under old assumptions. Too many people I know “work hard” for no other reason than they thought that’s what they were expected to do. There has never been a greater time than now to design a life the way you want it.

How do you “Design Your Life?”

The first step is a simple one. 

Wake up to the fact that YOU  ARE THE BOSS.  Your life is the way it is because you let it be that way- either by your actions or non-actions.   You are tolerating it, or fostering it, or forcing it to be just how it is.  Most of us get so busy just getting the work done that we forget to take stock and remember who’s in charge.

You started your business.  It is a direct reflection of you.  So isn’t it time to take responsibility for your deepest desires and start making it JUST HOW YOU WANT IT?

My greatest wish for the world is that everyone lives a life of self-expression. By that I mean that one’s life is an expression of that unique identity within them. It honestly breaks my heart when I speak to business owners who describe their lifestyle as anything less than awesome. As business owners we are in pole position to craft our lives the way we want to. For heaven’s sake, if the guy or girl running the show can’t have it they way they want it, what hope is there for anyone else? I think it’s just that we get lazy. We get lazy because questioning our assumptions and making changes in the way we operate is actually harder to do than work 70 hours a week! 

So what can you do? 

Take a half a day for yourself.  Get out of your routine.  Go to a place that conjures up “the sacred” for you.  That is different for everyone.  For some its a church, for some a park, for some a bookshop or the Virgin Megastore!  Wherever you feel connected to your creator, the universe or your higher self.  Spend a couple of hours just hanging out with yourself, and then in that space – ask yourself one simple question:  “is your business supporting your lifestyle or eating away at it?” 

Make no mistake- if it is not actively building it up, it is wearing it away slowly through attrition.  There is no middle ground here.

Commit to taking one action this week that will allow you to reclaim your lifestyle.

I’ve been speaking from stage for around 8 years now and within that time I’ve seen some very strange myths about speakers.  

Today, I’m going to dive into them and dismantle them one by one!

Here are four common, and untrue myths.

Myth #1: You have to be educated to become a public speaker.

Although education is a great asset, it is not a requirement to start a speaking career. Although a high educational qualification may appeal to some buyers it all depends on your niche. If your market is highly academic and scholarly, then a good educational background can pull interest from buyers.

On the other hand, most of the market does not demand a highly educated speaker. A lot of speakers do not have college degrees but still earn hefty amounts of money from bookings and selling from stage. In some niches, blue collar speakers with little or no education may possess more mass appeal because the audiences can relate to them. It all depends on the topics and the chosen niche.

Sometimes, to motivate people, a speaker must show that they are human and a lack of higher education may do just that. A speaker can show the audience that even though they are not college educated they have achieved professional and financial success. It is an inspiring premise.

Myth #2: You have to possess the gift of speaking in order to stand up in front of people to speak.

Public speaking is a skill and just like any skill, it can be developed and practiced. There are formulas that anyone can use to create great speeches. All you need is a message and the willingness to deliver that message to your audience. After a few tweaks, revisions, and rehearsals; you can present a knockout speech even without the possessing the “gift of speech”.

Technique and practice are the key factors in improving public speaking skills. If someone dedicates himself or herself enough, anybody can be great.

Myth #3: You have to be different or change who you are to speak.

Many people will often say that a career in public speaking will make you fake, somewhat pretentious and change your personality.

If this is the case, public speaking seems like very hard work but in reality, you do not have to change in order to become a speaker. Great speakers are individuals who stay true to their characters, including their weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. It makes them human.

Myth #4: You have to work hard to be a public speaker.

This can be rather subjective. Yes, it can be hard work if your heart is not into it. Any endeavor without passion is not an easy task. However, if you are really committed to the career and loving it, it won’t matter, will it?

Moreover, once you get the hang of it public speaking will come naturally to you.

I love speaking- and when you love it- it’s easy.  I hope I can share that enthusiasm with you!

What makes a good speech quote?  And should you use quotes in your speech or is that done to death? You’ve probably noticed that people who know how to deliver effective presentation will oftentimes use famous quotes to get their message across.  Why?

Well for one, as Sophocles said:  “A short saying often contains much wisdom.”  So let’s look closely!

Why use quotes in your speech?

There are a few good reasons to use good speech quotes:

1. You increase your credibility by association.  When you use quotes from someone famous or well liked by your audience, you will by association rise in their esteem.  
2. It fills the “I know” factor.  Audience members like to be proven right, rather than wrong.  In fact all people like to be right.  When we see a quote that is familiar to us, or from someone we know we think “I know that” and it makes us feel good inside.  When you’re audience recognize a quote it adds to rapport because people now have another point of similarity and alignment with you.
3. Speech quotes improve recall.  Oftentimes if you teach a point, it may be remembered; but people are much more likely to remember a quote than a basic teaching point. After all as Cesare Pavese  said “We do not remember days; we remember moments.” The same can be said of seminars.  We do not remember points, we remember stories and quotes!

What are good resources for speech quotes?

I usually type the word I want a quote about into google like this “quote: TOPIC” and get great results.   Oftentimes search results will send me to:
www.wisdomquotes.com – easy to browse by topic
www.thinkexist.com
www.brainyquote.com
www.quotesdaddy.com – good search function and looks pretty!

So use lots of quotes.  But remember Horace:
“Whatever advice you give, be brief.”

I believe that one of the best presentation skills you can have is the ability to deliver “effective presentations”. These are the kind of presentation that don’t just inform, but involve, inspire and move people to action.

A core part of moving people to action is that you have to prove and back up your points and arguments.  There are various presentation skills that will support you in this- use testimonials, quotes, stories and so on. But we all know that “STATISTICS DON’T LIE!”

So it’s great to use statistics in your presentations, but this needs to be done with a certain level of skill and aplomb.  Here are some guidelines.

Statistics as a Presentation Skill

1. Do not overwhelm people with all the statistics in one part of your presentation.  There is such a thing as too much data! Try to restrict it to 3 stats at a time, and then some qualitative information, or stories.
2. It’s a good idea to mention the source for data.  We know that the more legitimate your sources are, the more credibility you will have; and therefore the more power your presentation will have.
3. Back up statistics with personal stories or stories of clients that further demonstrate the point your statistics make.  Generalizations are great and can hold power, but people will remember the specifics of stories. 
4. Make any numbers “real life”.  This is one of the best presentation skills you can develop.  For instance you might say “In the year 10,000 B.C., there were only 5 million people sharing 57,268,900 square miles of land- imagine that!  The current population of Sydney spread out over the entire planet!  My how we’ve grown!”

Don’t avoid statistics because you think they may be boring. They can be really influential and quite exciting if used in the right way.  What’s more, when people “see the proof” they are more likely to act! And having people take action is the best presentation skill you can ever learn.

Should You Be Using Ice Breaker Activities in Your Presentation?

When you are delivering an effective presentation, you have around 30 seconds to engage your audience and capture their attention.  If you miss it in the first 30 seconds, you can get it back, it just takes a whole lot longer!  And it’s hard work.

There are four different ways that I teach to capture attention in your presentations and the first of these is “Icebreaker Activities”.

Why Should You Use Icebreaker Activities?

I love Icebreaker Activities in my presentations because I’m generally pretty lazy!  If I can get my audience to get themselves energised and engaged, it sure beats having to be “spectacular” myself!

Here are 5 reasons I love breaking the ice with an activity:

1. For better or for worse, people are judging you the second you’re on stage.  So you can either be absolutely fabulous, or you can use the vastly untapped resource of your audience to shift focus.
2. By using an Icebreaker Activity this gets attention off you.  The crowd are now focused on one another, and are judging each other rather than you!
3. An activity like this not only breaks the ice but also increases energy and fun in the room.  I love it when people come back form Icebreaker Activities because they are smiling, happy and laughing.  They will usually be more polite with their fellow audience members than they will be with you!
4. All this means you don’t have to work so hard to capture attention and engage your crowd. Phew!
5. It allows audience members to build rapport with one another.  And of course if they have fun, that rapport will then be crossed over to you!

So use some kind of an Icebreaker Activity when you first hit the stage.  It really will make your life that much easier.

Icebreaker Activity Ideas

So what sort of things can you use as “Icebreaker Activities”?

Here’s a few simple examples that you’re welcome to use.

1. Long Lost Friends.  Nothing breaks the ice like pretending someone’s a long lost friend.  I invite people to go and meet 5 people that they don’t know, but greet them like they are “long lost friends”.  This usually works well in a personal development type environment, but might not be too crash hot in corporate.
2. What’s your intention? In this exercise you send people off to introduce themselves to 3 new people they don’t know.  Have them share their name, occupation and what their intention is for the workshop.  This is a great idea because it has the added advantage of getting people thinking about why they are there and what their outcomes are.
3. Share a Dream Holiday.  This is a great one because it gets people instantly in a good mood!  Have participants introduce themselves to 5 people, share their name and and where they would most like to visit on a dream holiday and why.
4. Memorable Moments.  I like this because again it raises the emotional energy.  Invite people to introduce themselves and tell the most memorable moment in their life so far, in a wildly inspirational way.

For my Icebreakers I prefer to send people off into small groups, or to network and meet people personally rather than having each participant stand up and introduce to the whole group.  The reason is that the intention of my icebreaker activity is not only to get to know each other, but to raise the energy in the room.  So the more noise, and fun, and hub-bub we can create, the better.

I also like to play some fun music underneath!

Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Audience Part 4

There Are 4 Key Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before You Settle On a Niche For Your Speaking. 

In the last blog article we looked at some easy ways of accessing your niche.

 
This week and in the final part of our series, the fourth key question to ask yourself before you settle on a niche is….

Do They NEED Your Information or WANT it?

This question will often have a subtle answer.  However it will need some attention because the answer will have a direct impact on the success and EASE of growing your speaking business.

Imagine a child of 2 years old…..

Imagine your small child has an ear infection.  It’s extremely painful and she needs to take some medicine.  But the medicine tastes horrible.

If you gave her a choice of chocolate milkshake or medicine which would she choose?

Most 2-years would choose the milkshake.  And unfortunately, most adults are the same!

Why else is it that most people will buy a big plasma screen television before getting the car serviced?  The car NEEDS a service, but they WANT the tv.

You’re going to find it so much easier to grow your speaking business if you are speaking about something people really WANT.

Example:  Does a doctor need to learn life/work balance?

Absolutely!  Do they want to?  No.  Not usually, not unless they’ve had a massive stroke or heart attack or some other big wake-up call.

Do they want a holiday?  Hell, yes!

You get the picture?

Try to create your speaking business around what your niche want rather than what they need.

Finding good training venues that don’t cost you an arm and a leg can be tough; but with a little focus and clarity about what you’re after you should be able to find a good one and keep the cost low.

Some Tips to Remember When Finding Good Training Venues

1.    Get Clear on the Outcome of Your Training.  The clearer you are on what impression you want to make at your training, the number of people who are coming, and the ideal location, the easier your search will be. 

2.    Think about the Location of Your Training Venue.  Think about things like:

• Who are your target market?
• How mobile are they?
• Are they driving or catching public transport?
• What impression do you need to give?

If a lot of people are flying in, it is a good idea to have your training venue at or near an airport.

3.    Think About What Your Training Venue Says About Your Company.  Every part of the training experience, right down to how easy it is to find parking says something about you and the brand of your company.  Be aware of this when making your selection.

4.    Think About Your Budget For Your Training Venue.  Be realistic about the cost of training but always be ready to negotiate. It is not uncommon to be able to get a venue down to 75% of an original quote if you negotiate well.

Remember to cast your net wide when looking for venues that suit your training requirements, and give yourself plenty of time.  Don’t be afraid to play venues off against one another for your custom!