• You can use a statistic to grab your audiences attention.
• Or, if you are good at humour use it – but if you are not then
  don’t!
• You have between the first 30 seconds and two minutes to capture your audience.
• You are aiming to get your audience to say “Yes” in their head.

For me, the importance of passion in selling is probably the most powerful piece of advice I can give to new speakers.  I always try to speak from the heart and connect with the audience in this heart-felt way.  When I bring my heart into my speaking, it always follows that my sales increase.  And believe me, this isn’t about trying to create more sales; it’s simply about being passionate about what I do. 

Bring Your Heart Into Your Sales
Think about it.  Children are some of the best sales people around, not because they know all the tips and tricks on creating a masterful close, but because they are undeniably passionate about their view point and their outcome.  They will not take no for an answer and they are not afraid to show it.

Likewise your passion for your product, service or message will shine through over and above any techniques you learn.  I’m not saying don’t learn the techniques:  you must.  But technique without passion is fruitless.

Passion on stage comes from being passionate about what you do in life.

The Attractor Factor
In the Attractor Factor, Dr. Joe Vitale cites a study where a group of 1500 people were given the option of joining two groups.  Group A was a group of people who were going to pick a career they believed was going to be a practical way to make a lot of money and then they were going to follow their passions after they made enough money.

1255 people joined Group A.  

Group B was a group of people who were going to pick a career that they were interested in and passionate about and just trust that the money would come.  Only 245 people joined Group B.

20 years later there were 101 millionaires out of the 1500 people who signed up for the study.  100 of the millionaires came from group B, the group of people who followed their passions and just trusted that the money would come.
 
Only 1 out of the 1255 people who picked a career because they believed it was a practical way to make a living actually became a millionaire.

This study shows that you do not need to have a plan or know how you are going to make money by following your passion.  All you need to do is to follow your passion.  Remember the great Dr. Martin Luther  King Jr. said,

       “I have a dream! . . .”
 
 He did not say:

       “I have a plan.”

The Key
Discover what you are passionate about.  You may already know this exactly.  What is it that lights you up?  How can you use this to inform your sales presentations? Try asking yourself some of the following questions to connect with your passion:

·    What did you love to do as a child?
·    What do you love about your product or service?
·    Why do you want the world to know about it?

Summary
It’s clear from this that living from that heart-felt passion will not only give you a sense of purpose in your career – and on stage – but it will also attract more abundance to you.  There’s no more compelling call to action from an audience’s perspective than watching someone come from a place of true authenticity and love.  Forget about getting ‘it’ right next time you speak, just try connecting more with your passions in your next presentation and see the effect on the audience this has.

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

• Stand Still
• There is nothing worse than a speaker who dithers and wanders aimlessly about the stage
• Standing still makes you feel more grounded…

…which gives you more confidence…

…which helps you to earn more money

• Be Strong, and Calm, and Centered. It makes you audience feel more comfortable with you.

• When you are doing a presentation you must stick to time
• At a multi speaker event if you over run, the promoter will not be happy.
• The speakers after you won’t like it either
• You can perfect your presentation timing by practice, practice, practice
• If you haven’t started to close by about 60-70minutes your close rate will start to fall off rapidly.

• A really effective way to establish credibility with your audience is to use testimonials
• If you can get a testimonial from a known name in the industry then it will go a long way to establishing you as an expert in the mind of your audience.
• Written testimonials are OK – but video testimonials are better