What’s Football Got to do with Speaking?

Several things have popped up in my personal life
lately that have left me a tad stressed.

I won’t bore you with all of the gory details, but
let’s just say that having a 15-month old move in
with you, renovating a basement and purchasing a
property for a handicapped family member all at
the same time can be enough to drive anyone to
drink.

One of my clients, Michelle May, MD shared a
analogy with me that has been extremely helpful.
She said that when things get hectic in her
business (and life) her goal is to ‘move the ball
forward’ every day.  Like on the football field,
the players may not be going for a touchdown on
every single play, but they are attempting to
advance the ball.

Sounded good to me. And I think it might be useful
for you in your business as well.  Because let’s
face it, we do sometimes tend to focus on the lost
yardage, rather than a gains.

So here’s a strategy that you might apply when
your business (and life) starts to feel
overwhelming:

1.  Stop.  Assess what’s going on around you and
make a list of all of the things that need
resolving.  If your list is huge, you may need to
choose 3 things at a time to work on.

2.  Visualize a positive outcome.  Write down what
you want to happen as if it’s already taken place
imagining the most perfect outcomes possible.  I
find this helpful on two levels because it gets me
focused on what I do want to have happen and it
gets the worry outside of my head and on paper.

3. Put a sign or post-it note on your desk that
will remind you to ‘move the ball forward’ every
day.  This means taking action.  Do something,
anything to make progress on your chosen task.

4.  Assess.  At the end of each day check in and
see how you did.  Most people tend to beat
themselves up over what they didn’t get done
rather than recognize how much they moved the ball
forward.  A gain is a gain.

I find that even in the throws of major change, if
I can advance the ball even a few yards, I feel
better at the end of the day.  Dealing with
disability challenges, wheelchair travel and
government health care and can be a serious head
ache.  But each phone call, each application form
completed, each e-mail with a question answered
is a win.  And right now, I’ll take all of the
wins I can get.

In fact, if you have a win this week and would
like to share it with me – write me an e-mail with
‘I moved the ball forward’ in the subject line.

Let’s support each other and we can all win the
game of life and business!

ps: You’ve been asking, and now it’s finally here!
Digital recordings are now available from our
teleclasses.  And the Joe Calloway teleclass on
Recession Proof Your Speaking is the first
available. For details on the MP3 or WAV, click
here.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html

Are You a Triple Threat of the Speaking Industry?

With all of the competition style reality t.v., we hear a lot about ‘the triple threat’.  That’s someone, for instance, who is an actor, a singer and a dancer all rolled into one.

Or, in the case of the Olympics, USA’s Michael Phelps might be considered the ‘triple threat’ of the swimming world.

Well I believe the speaking industry has people who are triple threats as well.

These people will grow their businesses more easily than most and will thrive. Those are people who speak well, sell well and stick well (to their lane).

Let’s see how you stack up:

Speak Well:  When you go to a speaking engagement, does it often result in more business? Would you consider yourself to be a killer keynoter?  (I’ll stick to keynotes for the purpose of this tip but feel free to improvise based on your business model).

I just returned from NSA in New York and I saw  a keynoter who I thought had the ‘speak well’ piece nailed.  Marshall Goldsmith was genuine, polished (but not too), conversational, funny and highly thought provoking with fresh material.  I gave him a 10.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your speaking skills?

If you rated them low, then you may want to put something on your ‘to do’ list that will help move your skills up a level.  There’s no better form of marketing than a great speech.

Sell Well:  I’ve often had clients tell me ‘I can’t sell my  way out of a paper bag’.  They have a mental barrier that selling isn’t their thing and it gets in the way of building a booming business.

Take someone like Jeffrey Gitomer for instance. Now, obviously, he’s a sales expert so he has a jump on all of us.

Do you think when he’s on the phone with a client, he’s thinking to himself  there’s no way this client will have the budget to bring me in’?

Heck no!  He’s confident that he’s got what they need and if they want him badly enough, they’ll find the money!

On a scale from 1 to 10, how strong are your sales skills?  Are you closing business? Many speakers think ‘oh I’ll just hire someone else to sell me’.  But who is going to train them in the techniques that result in closed business? Often, it’s the blind leading the blind.  I would guess that 70% of these relationships fail due to poor training.

My advice?  Become a sales guru yourself and if you must hire, find someone to help with administration.

Now the third strength could be any one of a number of things. But when thinking about what could make or break a speaker’s career, I truly believe (no surprise) that focusing on a ‘lane’ or sticking to an expertise is the key.

If someone speaks well and sells well but is all over the place in their focus (which would then translate to their marketing) they are sunk.

Remember that old saying… a confused buyer never buys.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how strong are you when it comes to being clear and sticking to your lane/expertise?

(For a step-by-step process for picking a lane, read Chapter 3 in The Wealthy Speaker). http://www.speakerlauncher.com/tools.html

In an industry where a large percentage of speakers struggle to have a thriving business, you must consider sharpening the ‘triple threat’ tools in order to build a long term highly profitable business.

Happy sharpening!!

PS:  To assist you with tool #1 – Speak Well, we’ve had guest expert and triple threat Joe Calloway on a recent teleclass called ‘Recession Proof Your Speaking’. http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html