Leadership Training on Public Speaking and Business Growth
Public speaking in front of a live group was something we almost forgot about in 2020. Webinars and zoom calls dominated. Many business communication events will stay virtual now that the change has been made.
However, since the human being is gregarious (from the Greek word Grex, meaning to herd), live presentations will still be popular. In areas where lockdowns have finished and social distancing has eased, live public presentation have come roaring back to life.
In this article, I’d like to explore the benefits to business owners of speaking live in front of groups of 5 – 50. The four benefits that I’ll focus on are;
1. Confidence
2. Out positioning the competition
3. Followers, fans and advocates
4. Money making
Let’s dive in and see what leadership training on public speaking can do for you…
Leadership Training on Public Speaking to Help You Growth Your Business
Confidence is a “chicken and egg thing”. Do you work on confidence so you can ‘confidently’ speak in public, or do you speak in public to develop confidence? Personally, I spoke in public to develop confidence. I was literally weeing myself in the first five or six presentations I ever did ????.
By the way, you can also work on confidence using techniques life visualisation, positive self-talk (affirmation) and positive association.
I cover more on this in my courses.
My advice is to prepare thoroughly, and then get out there! Get those first 5 or 6 presentations under your belt. Then you can say you’re ready. Think of the first 5 or 6 as part of your preparation … like a ‘shakedown trip’ in preparation for an around Australia camping trip. In other words, your preparation includes crafting your presentation, practicing your presentation in private, then 5-6 live presentations.
Public speaking allows you to out position your competition. In other words, you can position yourself as an expert in your field.
How?
Simply by standing and delivering. Taking your place at the front of the room and speaking passionately and informatively about the problems and opportunities that people are facing when they need your product or service. Public speaking shows this off.
Your competition may well be just as expert as you are. BUT how do people know that? Many high-quality businesses remain the best-kept secret in town. When you speak in public you not only promote yourself and your business, but you position it in a very strong way too.
The great news is that you don’t have to sell your product or service in your presentation. In fact, that could be a real turn off for your audience. Instead, just talk informatively about the problem and opportunities that people face. Tell stories from your experience. Provide tips and advice such as ‘must do’s’ and things to avoid.
Speaking in public develops followers, fans and advocates. It is much easier for an audience member to relate to and warm to you in a public presentation. There are no other tabs open when people are listening to a live presentation. You have 100% attention and 100% control over the content. It is a marketing dream! If you strike a chord with your audience members, they will talk about you, refer you, find and follow you online and even buy from you. The best thing you can do it to build an email list from attendees at your talks and stay in touch with them.
It is very easy to become forgotten after your presentation if you have zero contact with the audience members. However, the opposite is also true. You can build strong, lasting and beneficial relationships with members of your audience after your talk by staying in touch. Even if it was the very first time they laid eyes on you!
Don’t waste the opportunity, build a list and communicate with it. I cover this important aspect in my leadership training on public speaking.
Finally, speaking in public can make you money. I’m not talking about selling from the stage (though I have done a lot of that over the years). I’m talking about a subtle and respectful call to action. This is where the audience member can indicate if they have an interest in talking to you further, or if they know someone to refer you to. In other words, you are generating leads. As a lead generator, public speaking can be very good.
I cover this in my leadership training on public speaking course.
Here’s an example…
Say you present for 30 minutes to a group of 20 people. If 5 of those express an interest in talking to you further and 3 of them convert into sales, that’s pretty good.
But, wait, there’s more…
Normally there will be a few people who offer a referral to you. If 1 of those converts, you now have a total of 4 sales. All this from a 30-minute presentation. When was the last time you spent 30 minutes getting a promotion out the door that leads to 8 leads and 4 sales? Public speaking is an awesome lead generator!
Why would people express an interest in talking with you or referring you to someone else?
Two reasons…
Firstly, via your talk, you positioned yourself as the expert who could bring them benefit. Secondly, you asked them to indicate their interest and refer you. I teach you how to do this call to action in my course on public speaking. It’s a cinch once you know how (I teach this in my course too)
If you develop a compelling 30-minute presentation and secure a speaking spot each month, you can grow yourself and your business through speaking.
Good luck.
For my help, ask about my leadership training on public speaking.
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