Archive for November 2011
Speak and You Shall Receive
In repeated studies over the years people rank their fear of public speaking above the fear of dying. This can be a daunting experience but if you are in sales your business is going to involve public speaking. Let me take you one step further. If you are in business you are in sales.
Please take a few deep breaths…we can get through this together. Standing in front of a room presenting your product or service brings butterflies in the stomach for some. Like two sides of a coin, though, strengths and weaknesses are joined. Those butterflies provide valuable energy when you can teach them to fly in formation.
As a business professional you are often asked to give a sixty-second elevator pitch at networking events. Sometimes that expands to a ten-minute chamber function talk or a twenty-minute sales presentation. Ideally, you will not only share the information with confidence but include motivation and leadership at the same time. (see week 23.) As intimidating as this may all seem your audience is rooting for your success, as well. After all, they have time invested in the talk, too.
There are professionals that can help you. One of the best local resources is yourToastmasters club. There are dozens within a short drive of most people and these are supportive training environments where you move at your own pace. Membership dues are insignificant and participation is voluntary (although that is where skills are developed.) I think of it as renting an audience.
There are business coaches, life coaches, sales trainers, and even speaking coaches in your local area, as well.
For those do-it-yourselfers (experienced and not so) here is a short list of five tips to consider:
- “A winning effort begins with preparation.” ~~Joe Gibbs Prepare, prepare, prepare! Prepare an outline and practice using note cards. Write (or better type) using large font and simple words. Make it incredibly easy to read. Avoid over-preparation, though, as that leads to nervousness. See the next point for more on this.
- “A man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.” ~~John Foster Dulles Focus on one or two areas you know best. This will be easier for you to talk about which raises your confidence level and reduces stress.
- “A picture is worth a thousand words.” ~~Napoleon Bonaparte Using visual aids provides a ready roadmap to follow for both the speaker and the audience. Avoid the temptation to simply read the slides, however. This is insulting to your audience and diminishes your credibility, as well.
- “Who’s to say who’s an expert?” ~~Paul Newman The audience is here to listen to you. Remain credible and engaging and remember that you are the expert du jour.
- “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.” ~~Walt Disney Creativity goes a long way. Ask questions to engage your audience. Move around the room. If you can juggle or sing, that is a compelling ice breaker, as well.
In BNI, members have the opportunity to present ten-minute presentations to their fellow members. For some people, this is reason enough not to join. In fact, presenting is not required although it is a wonderful opportunity. Recently a CPA faced this reluctantly and was at a complete loss. She considered rescinding her membership rather than face the group—who are a very supportive audience. A fellow member recommended that she simply come up with ten questions and take twenty seconds to ask the question and forty seconds to answer it. This seemed palatable to the accountant and she prepared the questions before the day of their delivery arrived. Nervously, she stood and read from the sheet. Question One. Answer One. Question Two. Realizing that the question assumed a little knowledge she wasn’t sure the members had, she interjected a two-sentence clarification and read Answer Two. Question Three. Answer Three needed more elaboration, so she spoke directly to the audience about this area of accounting—an area she was knowledgeable and passionate on. This was easier than she expected. Glancing down at the paper she combined Question Four and Answer Four and expounded on exactly how this element faced her clients and the solutions she brought to their businesses. It was a little surprising to her when the President stood up and let her know that she had already gone over by a few minutes and recommend people get together with the CPA later to hear more.
There are many resources about public speaking. Please avail yourself of them.
Your action this week is to look for opportunities to present and practice each of the five tips above. If you are terrified, simply focus on a single sixty-second presentation and hone it to perfection. Find as many different venues to repeat it as you can. Start with the dog as your first audience, if you must, then move up to a networking environment. Enhance creativity by including a joke, poem, or catchy saying. Expand your repertoire of presentations over time. As your skill develops, seek out small speaking opportunities such as lunch-and-learns, chamber of commerce events, professional associations, and so on. Many groups are often faced with the challenge of finding qualified speakers. Make their life easier and your s richer by becoming a competent speaker.
© 2011 by Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
All the News that Fits
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ~~Mark Twain
Most people read the newspaper every day yet only a few Master Networkers read with intent. This week we examine this rich source and provide two exercises to develop your skills, as well.
Most news subscribers simply review the information to stay current with local and global events, chuckle at the comics, track their favorite sports teams, and little else. Occasionally they may review specific classified ads or check movie reviews and the like.
“The paper holds their folded faces to the floor And every day the paper boy brings more” ~~Pink Floyd
This skimming is fine although it leaves many opportunities untapped. Each page, if not each article, opens doors for others in your network. With a little training of your mind you can see these and pass them along.
Let’s consider a possible scenario.
One day you are reading the paper and notice that Adams, Baker, and Carlson have lost their lease on Shangri-La Office Park. Moving this organization will be a big task and you wonder who could handle such an endeavor. Knowing that Sonya is a certified project manager between projects you give her a call and send the article in an email.
This is just a lead, little better than a cold call. Certainly, if you have any connections to ABC or Shangri-La you would pass that along, as well. In our scenario, however, you have nothing to add.
Sonya is a professional networker, though, and scans through her LinkedIn connections to find a close friend who knows the CEO of ABC. It turns out that they went to Law School together. Sonya gets past the gatekeeper, meets the CEO, and secures the business. This is a win-win-win solution. Do you think Sonya will appreciate and remember that you started the process? As a Master Networker, I guarantee she will. One of the philosophies of a professional networker is to give without remembering and receive without forgetting.
Your action this week is to begin developing these skills. Pick up today’s paper and read it to find opportunities for two people in your network. They are there. You will probably find more. Accept the challenge to find two and share them with the professional you have in mind. If you found two per day, Monday through Friday, after a year you will have helped more than five hundred people in your network.
The second action is to go back through today’s paper and find leads for you, too. Look through your network to see who can help turn these leads into referral opportunities.
These skills will enhance your networking ability for the rest of your life. Start small and start today.
Special offer: If you are Triangle BNI member the local Triangle Business Journal has partnered to make a special offer. With local readership of more than 30,000 professionals with an average household income of $265,000; 51% owners and partners in their businesses; and 74% are decision-makers in upper or middle management. Please contact Elizabeth Horning ehorning@bizjournals.com and mention Triangle BNI.
© 2011 by Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
Ask. The World Turns
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” ~~Robert Frost
The most effective method to grow your business is by word of mouth marketing—specifically, by referral. When surveying business owners about this all claim to use this. Once probed further, though, we generally find that they have abandoned the process as unsuccessful. See if the typical experience lines up with yours. They usually ask a few key people and keep the request vague (“open” is their term.) “I am looking for anyone that needs my services.” That might be a new transmission, their deck rebuilt, to sell their house, a new bank account, etc. After receiving a few polite promises to “keep that in mind” with no tangible results, they stop asking.
Who do you know that is looking for a new bank account?
That is not an easy sort, is it? For those of you that truly want to help, here is the process. You need to stop whatever you are otherwise thinking about, mentally scroll through everyone you know, consider whether or not they are looking for a bank account…wait a second…I have no idea who’s looking for a bank account. Let’s think about the last conversation with a specific person (trust me, few referral partners ever get this far) and replay that conversation in memory. “We spoke about the football team, their golf game, their new car, their trip to Florida next month, their job, their in-laws…No; I don’t think they need a bank account.” Seriously, how many of the 250 people you know on a first-name basis do you want to perform this exercise on? Can you expect your business partner—who isn’t even in your business—to do more than that?
If your referral partner even considers one this fully they are hard-pressed to consider many more. The person asked gives up quickly and unless the person asking is totally oblivious, they stop asking for more, as well.
This is all very counterintuitive, since we do not take the time to examine what we are asking people to do. Please stay with me here. It is important.
Who do you know who needs a bank account? How would you possibly know that? Heck, you might even need a new bank account and not even realize it.
I grew up in upstate New York and snow was a common driving environment. In fact, one of my earliest driving pleasures was taking the VW bug out to the department store parking lots on Sundays to “do doughnuts,” which is sending the little rear-engine vehicle into an intentional spin, like my own personal tilt-a-whirl. It was great fun.
As winter drivers we learned to regain control in a skid by turning the wheel into it. I boldfaced that since snow season is upon us and a reminder is always a good thing. Although that is the more effective driving technique it is totally counterintuitive.
The same is true in asking for referrals. I fully realize that anyone walking into your bank branch office that wants to open an account you can help. It doesn’t matter if they are married, single, young, old, Christian, Muslim, straight, gay. I guess the only qualification is that they need to be breathing.
Asking for living people keeps it open (my term is “vague”) and sends your referral partners into the “We’ll call you” corner.
How can you be more specific? Who needs to open an account? Too vague. Why do they need a new bank account? Knowing that, it is far easier to recognize them.
Consider what your bank has to offer new account holders. Who would find that appealing?
Answering a few of these questions up front will be more useful. Mark Sheer, author of the book Referrals, recommends a simple two step statement and question that is very effective. In fact, he recommends that you never change a word.
Here it is: “I’m expanding my business. Who do you know who…?”
Let’s try that for our banker.
“I’m expanding my business. Who do you know who has a child in college locally?” In order to be more helpful, I would name a few local schools, as well.
“I’m expanding my business. Who do you know who is a Real Estate Attorney?”
“I’m expanding my business. Who do you know who manages a church or community fund?”
Let’s take one of these and expand the mental process for your referral partner as an example. “Do you know anyone with kids at UNC or Duke? Do you know anyone with students at NC State or Meredith?”
Now, with this little bit of focus the person can run through their mind and pull out anyone with college-aged kids, sorting from the 250 they know down to 75 that qualify. Some may be in school, some may be out, and some may not be going to college at all. Along the way they will find they know people in the alumni associations, university professors, and season ticket holders who can also be good entry points into the college student market.
When you asked for anybody you got nobody. When you asked for a specific population you find a number of candidates.
I took a look at Wikipedia and found that there are more than 5,000 universities in the United Sates, an average of 115 per state, with 14 million students (4.75% of the US population.) Our banker wants to add 40 new accounts per month. Would it trouble her in any way if every new account was an NC State student? The answer is clearly no. Is it possible to find 40 new accounts per month from that population? The answer is clearly yes. Commit to that population, market heavily, and make it easy for new student account holders to bring their friends in as referrals. Could you run a contest among fraternities and sororities and offer playoff tickets to the winner and a pizza party to second place finishers? My guess is that your client that runs a pizza shop would probably donate the prize, as well.
By focusing on NC State students you may be conceding attorneys and church secretaries, but that is just temporary. Once the student program is running itself then you can turn your attention to another group, such as that.
Your action item this week is to internalize these concepts and select a single specific market. If you need help in this area return to week 3 Picture the Perfect Customer (https://bniguy.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/picture-the-perfect-customer/) and week 31 Elementary My Dear Watson (https://bniguy.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/elementary/.) Write three specific “who do you know?” questions and send those, via email, to every client you have. If you belong to a networking group bring these three specific questions to the group and use them as the basis for your weekly presentation. Commit to stay with these three questions until you master them.
© 2011 by Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
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