Archive for the ‘making connection’ Category

Why Dress Up To Speak Authentically?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

If you’d rather listen, here’s the audio version. Just turn up your speakers and click the PLAY arrow to hear it, or click the DOWNLOAD link below the bar to save it.


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no-jeansYou may think that what you say to your listeners is what counts when you’re speaking. But that’s only part of the story. Nonverbal communication accounts for a whopping 93% of the message you convey. And your appearance plays a big part in that.

So you need to look good for your listeners. Your clothing, hair, makeup (or not), and accessories influence your audience in ways that might surprise you. This isn’t just old school “Dress for Success” stuff. This is real and it affects your financial bottom line in your business.

I know – in these times, people want the truth. There’s a big emphasis on authenticity, on being real, and being “one of the people.” In an attempt to be down-to-earth, some business people make no attempt to dress up when they speak. If this is you, you’re missing the boat. And quite possibly losing business!

Research shows that people assign higher credibility and higher trustworthiness to people they consider to be appropriately dressed. When you’re dressed better, you are nonverbally elevating your leadership status and authority level for your listener. In plain English, they think you know what you’re doing and that you must have something worth buying!

Where This Counts

Your appearance is marketing for you wherever you speak about your business. It’s not just restricted to formal presentations. You want to look good in these settings, too:

  • networking events
  • client interactions
  • meetings with colleagues
  • videos (even your 1-minute Flip Cam shots!)
  • classes and events you attend

More Benefits For You

Taking real care with your appearance has some other benefits, too. Here are four more reasons to look your best when you’re speaking in your business:

  1. It raises your confidence level. When you look your best you feel more sure of yourself.
  2. It helps you relax and eliminates a potential source of anxiety – feeling self-conscious about your appearance.
  3. It improves your body language (another part of nonverbal communication). When you’re more relaxed and confident you move differently. And your listener notices. Your posture is more open and engaging. You appear more certain about your topic or product.
  4. It builds rapport with your audience. On a subconscious level they feel more respected because you’ve taken the time and care to want to make a good impression.

Bonus Tip

Believe it or not, dressing up for work on the phone makes a big difference in how you come across –because it affects your confidence and your posture in positive ways. So get out of your sweats and get cute for your next teleseminar!

Come back and tell us how this made a difference for you. And if I can help you with building your speaking confidence, contact me and we’ll discuss options for moving you forward.

Posted in Blog, confidence, making connection, presentations, speaking as marketing | No Comments »

When Speaking Trumps Copywriting

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

If you’d rather listen, here’s the audio version. Just turn up your speakers and click the PLAY arrow to hear it, or click the DOWNLOAD link below the bar to save it.


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speaking

When I suggest that speaking is necessary to your business success, one argument I hear is this: “I don’t need to speak. People can read all about what I do on my website or brochure.“

Why You Need More Than Good Copy

Right now, people are super-selective about who they do business with. For one thing, they have more choices than ever before. And through the internet, they have easy access to a gazillion options for just about anything.

And in our current economy, folks are guarding their resources more closely. They’re not taking as many risks with their spending. They want to be sure before they do business with you. They want to feel confident that you’re the right one.

So it’s the know, like and trust factor, right? People want to feel that trusting bond with you to feel secure about their investment in you. You can establish that so much more quickly with speaking than you can with writing.

Scientifically Speaking…

When people hear you talk, they feel more familiar with you. Did you know the brain responds to the human voice in one-fifth of a second? Just hearing your voice connects your client or customer to you much faster than any copy they can read.

Learning research shows that people retain twice as much from listening as from reading. After two weeks, they remember 10% of what they read and 20% of what they heard. The best result is combining the two. They retain 50% of what they hear AND read.

For YOUR Business

Applying that research to what you do translates into combining speaking with written material:

  • speaking engagements with handouts
  • live networking with brochures to hand people
  • delivering online audio products with transcripts
  • using audio and video on your website, along with your web copy.

Your clients and prospective customers click with you more as a person when you speak – not just a business entity. If you add the visual of video or a live appearance, there’s an even deeper dimension of starting a relationship with them.

They’re much more likely to connect with you at the heart when they hear your voice, than they are when they’re reading copy. If you are using different venues of speaking in your business, you have a much better chance of really connecting with people, and creating a business relationship.

When you’re ready to add speaking to your business tools, contact me to help you quickly eliminate your fears about it. It really can be a painless, fun experience!

Posted in Blog, making connection, speaking as marketing | 2 Comments »

Dust Off Your Enthusiasm

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

If you’d rather listen, here’s the audio version. Just turn up your speakers and click the PLAY arrow to hear it, or click the DOWNLOAD link below the bar to save it.


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Do you cringe when you hear an infomercial guy yelling with rollercoaster inflections in his voice? I know I do. He’s trying so hard to sound enthusiastic, but he just sounds annoying. All that hype-y up and down in his voice comes across as totally phony, doesn’t it?

Enthusiasm Is Not Cool

That 3 AM salesman is contributing to the bad rap given to expressing enthusiasm. Plus, it’s not really cool to sound excited about things. In fact, there’s a current trend in everyday talking (especially for younger women) to speak in a fast kind of monotone.

Regardless of your age or gender, if you’re speaking to clients without enthusiasm, you’re working against yourself in your business. And I know you don’t want to do that. If you don’t sound excited about what you’re doing, how do you expect them to get excited?

You Don’t Have To Fake It

Expressing your excitement about what you’re teaching or offering needs to be genuine. People want to listen to real people speaking in an authentic way. That honesty helps create the relationship essential to doing business with someone. So don’t fake it. That won’t help you either.

You want to activate your own energy and passion when you’re speaking. The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek “en theos” meaning “the god within.” So it’s your highest self, your spirit that generates your own deep enthusiasm about what you do. It’s always there in you – not something you need to manufacture or bring in from an outside source. It just hides from you sometimes.

So Fire It Up

enthusiasm

I know – some days it’s easier than others to ignite your zeal (don’t you love that word?) for what you do. Here are some tips to help with that:

  • Take the time to write down why you’re passionate about what you do and what your vision is for your business. Pull this out and read it to refresh your memory.
  • Keep track of your wins in a journal so you can use them as fuel. Include testimonials, sales you’ve made, new subscribers, new clients – you get the idea. Again, keep this wins journal handy to look at when you want a boost.
  • If nobody’s around, read these things out loud to your imaginary buddy, saying, “listen to this!”
  • Jump up and down. Punch the air. Get your body into the act!
  • Think of something else that gets you really excited and raise your overall level of spirits.
  • Give yourself an old-school pep talk like you’re your own athletic coach.
  • When you’re on the phone, stand up and move around.

People really love enthusiasm, whether it’s trendy or not. It just feels good to be around somebody who’s excited and happy, doesn’t it? And people listen much more deeply to an enthusiastic speaker. They retain more of what they’ve heard because they felt good while they were hearing it. This is a great rapport builder, and raises the know-like-and-trust factor in your listener. So speaking with energy and excitement is a great marketing tool.

Dust off your own enthusiasm when you’re speaking in any business situation. And if you want some outside assitance, I’m here to help you with that. Just contact me.

What are thoughts? What tips do you have? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted in Blog, making connection, one-on-one, presentations | No Comments »