Time and time again polls have been taken to measure the greatest fears of Americans today. Time and time again the answer confounds experts. The top fear is not the dentist chair, heights or even death. It is public speaking. What is it about speaking before more than one person which strikes fears in the hearts of the average American today? Do we fear that our tongue will fall out and we will never be able to use it again? Will we turn into a babbling idiot and start drooling on our clothes?
More importantly, if we are so afraid of speaking in public, why do so many strive to become better and more confident public speakers? The bookstores and seminars are full of ideas to help you improve your skills. Why is the attainment of this skill so attractive?
•Public speaking is important because it is your best marketing tool. We can’t think of any other marketing instrument which can match its power:
•While advertising can cost you thousands of dollars–speaking is free.
•Speaking lets you reach tens or hundreds of potential customers with your message–in a very short period of time and on a very personal level.
•People cannot throw out speeches like junk mail: if they are there and you are good, they will listen.
•People who attend a speech or seminar are generally present because of their own choosing. In other words, they are very qualified candidates.
•You have a chance to instill great confidence regarding your abilities to many people at once.
Direct mail and other automated marketing techniques can be very effective if you deliver the right message to the right person. No method of advertising can be as effective as a direct emotional pitch in person. Selling is a people business and your success is determined by your ability to develop relationships. The problem is that it would take many, many years to develop all the relationships you need one-on-one. There are just so many days in which you can have lunches with potential clients.
Public speaking enables you to make the emotional connection to more than one person at a time. Sure you must follow-up on an individual basis. But given your ability to deliver a coherent message personally to these people, the basis for your starting this relationship will be greatly enhanced. When you turn to these individual relationships, your new skill will enable you to speak one-on-one with more confidence.
Let’s say that you deliver a homebuyer’s seminar to an audience of twenty. First, we can assume that each person attended because they are interested in owning shortly or sometime in the future. Now you have qualified candidates. If five of these attendees approach you directly after the seminar to ask questions, you have started the second stage of the bonding process with a handful of people. Now you know that a certain number of people have a higher level of interest and may be more immediate prospects. How many cold calls over the telephone and follow-up meetings would it take to reach this stage while prospecting?
If you are a great public speaker you will be able to deliver a message which will attract people to you. Direct mail pieces work very hard at establishing creditability: Read me–I am good–a number one producer–just listed this property–anything to get the phone to ring. Seeing you perform and conquer in public reaches people in a way that no advertising piece can ever match.
Finally, public speaking is such a great tool because not many people do it well or effectively. Attend any marketing seminar and they will tell you to market yourself by trying to look different. People then spend thousands of dollars concocting major schemes to shoot themselves from cannons in public– look at me, I am different. In reality, it only takes something everyone has in their possession to look different–your mouth. You should do it and do it well because your competitors can’t.
Because we feel that public speaking is such an important tool, we are going to continuewith this topic in the next segment. What do you need to do to overcome your fears? What topics will help increase your business? Where can you find opportunities to speak for free? Stay tuned and get ready to have a great new tool at your disposal–YOURSELF!
