Posts with the tag 'Take your business to the next level'
There are many who say that public speaking is a great way for service professionals to build your business or practice. Speaking from experience, I agree. When I did the Rotary circuit here in Brevard and Indian River Counties, Florida, I would average one new client every other talk. The lifetime value of those clients and their referrals were the foundation of my practice.
And I remember those embarrassing moments when I stood on the side while my host introduced me. Back then I knew to prepare something for them to read. Even with a short intro typed in BIG font, more often than not, they’d botch it.
So when I read Lisa Sasevich’s post, I had to share it with you. Take her words of wisdom to heart and each of your talks will get off to a better start. Thank you, Lisa.
How to Ensure a Powerful Intro Before You Speak
There are two types of introductions—the one where you introduce yourself toward the beginning of your talk and the one that your host reads to introduce you to the audience before you get up on stage. Now, that second introduction may seem like a minor concern, but it’s not; it plays a huge role in establishing your credibility.
Building credibility—the impression that you are an expert with proven results who can be trusted to deliver—is the vital first goal of your presentation. If you want your audience to listen to you and eventually buy from you, they have to see you as credible.
So here is my secret formula and two important tips for creating a powerful introduction for your host. An introduction that sets you up to gain credibility and helps people feel open to you and quickly start to build the trust that is needed to invest with you.
Proven Formula for Getting a Powerful Intro Before You Speak
When you’re writing your host’s introduction, keep it short: only 30 seconds to one minute long. Hit the high points and include these elements:
A. Have the host tell the audience why they invited you. For example, your introduction might begin: “We know that you or people you know have been affected by the drastic changes in the housing market. We invited our next speaker here today because her program has been proven to work during challenging times.” This is also where they would include any personal testimonial they have to add if they, in fact, have worked with you.
B. Include accolades and a personal touch. Then they should list several of your most impressive achievements: the TV appearances, the books, awards, the years you’ve been at your craft or how many people you’ve helped. Also include something personal that sounds impressive. For instance, you have two children at home and you put your husband through graduate school while launching your business from the basement.
C. Tell the audience what they’re going to get. This is where you include your statements of the transformations that your clients get as a result of working with you. For instance, “Today, Susan’s going to teach you how you can lose 10 pounds in 30 days and cut your insulin dependence in half.” Or, “Judy’s going to show you how you can build a six-figure business working part-time from home.”
Having your host end your introduction with the transformation that the audience will get generates excitement. And then you get up there confident and welcomed because they are excited to hear what you have to say, and you’re excited to share it with them!
Bonus Tip 1: Always Bring a Copy of your Host Introduction with You
You can write a fantastic introduction, but if the busy host misplaces it the day of the event and gets up there and wings it, all your effort was in vain. Always bring an extra copy with you. Make sure it’s in large print, easy to read, and before you go on, ask the emcee if he or she has your introduction. If not, you can just hand it over. (This will seriously separate you from the speaker pack and have hosts take notice.)
Bonus Tip 2: Adjust Your Opening Remarks as Necessary
If the emcee botches your intro (it happens!), think fast, because you need to convey the credibility that was supposed to have been established during your introduction. You could do this by mentioning that your business broke the six or seven-figure mark or that you never thought when you started that you’d have more than 200 people in your mentorship program.
If, on the other hand, your emcee does a stellar job of establishing your credibility, then you have the wonderful opportunity to get up there and emphasize your vulnerability, which, along with continuing to build on your credibility, is the goal of your opening remarks.
This is powerful because when someone whom we expect to be larger than life is instead humble and real, we’re surprised and delighted and we like and trust that person even more. Also, it allows people to relate to you better and realize that if you can do it, they can too. Remember, we buy from people we feel like we know and that we like and trust to deliver. So, even this early on in your presentation, you’re setting the stage for record sales.
Sales-from-the-podium expert Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing the sales opportunities that exist in every company, and the creativity to convert them into gold! If you’re looking for simple, quick and easy ways to boost sales without spending a dime, get your FREE Sales Nuggets now at www.theinvisibleclose.com.
Tags: Become an Expert, Marketing for Professionals, Take your business to the next level, VIP with VIP
May 27th, 2010
Do you want to make more money doing what you’re already doing? Do you want to serve more people doing what you love?
Do you want to love the life you’re living?
One way to achieve all this and more is to be known as an authority in your niche. Here’s the direction I recommend you go to be well seen and well heard so you can be well known and well paid.
You need to be a VIP with VIP ~ a Very Important Professional with Valuable Intellectual Property, AKA Valuable Information Products.
“Why this path?” you may be wondering.
Because once your expertise is out of your head and in physical and digital form, you can contribute it to the world. That way it can generate leads and income.
Content may be king. The question is what content? Before we can create content that others will find valuable, we need to know who those others are who we want to attract and serve.
We may need to create and share clear, concise, and compelling messages and to know where to put them so they can be easily found by those looking for us. Before we can we write messages that leave a trail of breadcrumbs that lead to our door, we need to know who we want to talk to, who we want to attract, who we want to serve.
So start by building a strong foundation. Here are a few questions I suggest you answer.
Who are our ideal clients? Think of 3 categories:
- ones we love to work with (our passion) and who love to work with us (their passion)
- ones we’re expert at helping (our expertise)
- ones with whom we make the most money (income)
What problem(s) do they have that you solve for them or help them solve?
How do you do that?
What results do they get when they work with us and how do they benefit from those results?
What makes us, what we do and how we do it unique so people would be crazy to work with anyone else?
In the coming weeks I’ll be blogging more about what you can do to be a VIP with VIP. I’ll be offering tips, tools, techniques, and strategies you can use. I’ll be creating Success Activities you can do quickly and easily. And I’ll be offering programs to help you get unstuck, overcome Marketing Resistance Syndrome, and take the next steps that help you take yourself, your business, and your life where you want to go.
And remember, if it’s got to get done, let me help you make it fun!
Fun is a prerequisite to excellence.
Play is the behavior of enlightenment.
P.S. If you want to be known as an authority in your niche, join Mari-Lynn Harris and myself every Wednesday 2-3 pm est on BlitzTime. It’s the coolest place to meet like-minded people. We gather on the phone to network, build relationships, and learn how to do what it takes to become well seen and well heard so you can be well paid. Click on this link. You’ll land on our event’s page. You’re in the place to register for one or more calls for ”How to Be an Authority in YOUR Niche.” Your first 2 calls are free! Try it. You’ll like it!
Tags: Become an Expert, BlitzTime, Develop Your Audience, Effective Communicating, Independent Service Professionals, Information Marketing, Marketing for Professionals, Marketing Resistance Syndrome, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level, VIP with VIP
April 28th, 2010
Hello all you ISPs (Independent Service Professionals) ~ I’m curious… what’s keeping you up at night? What’s got you stuck? What do you wish you knew or knew how to do? If you could wave a magic wand, if you knew you would succeed, what would you do next?
I have a hunch… if you’re like me and other ISPs I know… we know where we’d like to be, like to go, and we even know our next few steps… and yet sometimes because we can’t see clearly through the fog or the bend in the road beyond those next known steps and we can’t guarantee they’re the right steps or we’ll do them right enough, we freeze and spin our wheels. Does this sound familiar?
I’ve decided I can only see so far down the road ~ like how far headlights illuminate at night isn’t the whole road yet I drive on. Just like I drive with faith that the road continues and the next part will be lite up when I need it, the next steps will be revealed when I need to know.
Like that scene in Indiana Jones when the big ball is rolling after Indiana, he’s standing at the edge of a cliff, he’s told to step out and he does… the chasm was an illusion. He stood on solid ground and kept walking.
What if it’s that easy?
Tags: Become an Expert, Independent Service Professionals, Marketing Resistance Syndrome, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level
April 23rd, 2010
When we solo-preneurs start our business, we’re often responsible for every single function in our business. We do the marketing, sales, administrative tasks. We answer the phone and emails, we take care of the financial and legal matters. AND we create, deliver the programs, products and services we sell. In other words, it doesn’t matter how we set up and structure our organization. Our name appears in every slot on the organization chart.
If you want to stay small, if you like doing all those things, if you never plan to sell your practice or business, if you don’t want to go on vacation often or have a life and a business, you can continue to do it all as long as you’d like.
If you want to take your business to the next level, if you want to serve more people and make more money doing what you love, if you want to share your expertise with others and leave a legacy, if you want to take vacations, and might someday want to sell your business, you need to start working your way out of jobs. Whether you hire employees and delegate to them or outsource, you need to get others to do what you don’t like, don’t know, or don’t have time for if you want to spend your time serving your ideal clients.
And if you do want to sell your business, eventually you’ll need to have someone else doing everything required to run your company… or nearly everything. You could sell if you were the only one doing something that’s mission-critical. It’ll mean you stay on for a while to train someone in the new organization to do what you’re the expert at doing so the company can run without you.
Here’s a BIG tip about how to get from where you are to wherever you want to take your businses: Start documenting what you’re doing.
If you know you’re going to do something over and over again, write down the steps. Next time you do that job, follow your own steps to see if you need to make them clearer. Continue doing this until someone else can follow your instructions and get the job done right.
In other words, create your operations manual. Start today. The sooner you have a job documented, the sooner you can hire someone to do it for you.
Yes, you could hire someone to figure it out and document their way. They’ll probably cost more than the person who would be able to simply follow directions.
I know I’m making this sound quite simple. For example, I know you don’t have to train a bookkeeper to keep your books. You might need to give them special instructions about the categories of expenses you track or specifically how you want something done. So why not write down those types of details.
That way, you know the job will be done the way you want, you can go on vacation, and someday you might decide to sell your business and move on.
So make your business and your life more enjoyable and more profitable. Work yourself out of this job, then that one… until your name doesn’t appear anywhere on your org chart. Then your are free to stay and do what you love or move on to something new.
Either way you win!
Tags: Business development, Strategies for Success, Take your business to the next level
March 26th, 2010
