Public speaking is scary for most people. But if you can overcome your anxiety about making presentations to large groups, you can transform your business and increase your impact exponentially. Imagine giving a presentation to a group of 100 people, and 90 of them sign up on the spot to book an appointment on your calendar!
Public speaking can distinguish you from everyone else. By becoming an exceptional public speaker, you can accomplish the following:
- Give yourself a competitive edge.
- Spend less time on marketing.
- Stand out as the go-to expert or leader.
- Make more money.
- Have a bigger impact.
How one financial advisor stopped chasing prospects
One advisor I know, Michelle, is a great example of how speaking can get you in front of significantly more people with less effort. But she had to learn some important tips about public speaking before her efforts really paid off.
Michelle is a goal-driven, dynamic advisor in her early 30s. She is a CFP® and has been an advisor for 12 years. In 2012 she set some aggressive production goals and knew she needed to “get out there more” to keep the pipeline filled. She wanted to fill it in the most leveraged way possible, so she started giving presentations.
At first, Michelle was excited about her talks. But then she became discouraged because only 20% of the room would sign up to meet with her. And worse, she spent months chasing those prospects around to try to get them to actually meet with her, and many never did. Finally, she couldn’t do it any longer. She said, “I was exhausted and couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. So after a few years of this, I decided to take a break from speaking.”
This was disappointing and frustrating for her because she now had to go back to marketing on a one-to-one basis, which slowed her growth and ate her time.
Fast-forward a few years later, to the spring of 2015. She called me one day and said, “Deirdre, I just had an out-of-body experience. I gave a presentation, and afterward, 90% of the audience lined up to get on my calendar!”
She scheduled all the prospects on the spot. No more chasing people down! Most met with her within three weeks of her talk, and many became clients. Since that day, results like that are now the norm for Michelle. She averages 85% of the room signing up to meet with her. This has allowed her to increase her revenue by 250%. Not only that, but she has increased her impact in her community and nationally within her company.
So how did Michelle go from virtually wasting her time to earning more while working less in less than three years? She learned the following 11 steps to delivering compelling presentations, which I call Crazy Good Talks, and applies them everywhere she speaks.
A common mistake: presenting technical expertise alone
When financial advisors first come to me, many ask, “Why don’t I get better results when I speak?”
Here’s what I tell them: “When you speak, you’re likely relying on your technical expertise alone to deliver your message.”
Sadly, if what you are saying isn’t more engaging than anything your audience can find on their phones, then your talk is toast.
Today’s prospect expects more. Sadly, if what you are saying isn’t more engaging than anything your audience can find on their phones, then your talk is toast. I have found that most financial and insurance professionals either wing it or deliver, word for word, a prewritten, compliance-approved script provided by their companies. If those are your strategies, I promise you, your audiences’ phones will win!
There are two problems with relying on technical expertise alone to deliver a talk:
- It’s boring.
- There is nothing that differentiates your talk from that of your competitors, who probably have access to that same technical information.
When your words and ideas are structured the right way—whether you’re speaking for one minute, one hour or one day—your presentations become assets that turn into predictable, consistent, prospect-converting machines.
The 3 objectives of every talk
Every talk you give should accomplish three important objectives:
- Connect with your audience’s hearts.
- Connect with your audience’s heads.
- Inspire action—such as taking the next step toward working with you or applying a strategy from your talk to their lives.
Take a moment to rate yourself honestly. On a scale of 1–10, what is your skill level in creating presentations that connect with your audiences’ heads and hearts and inspire action? If you answered anything less than a 10, you have work to do. But the great news is that there is a massive opportunity here for increased impact and income. You can make phenomenal progress by learning how to use the 11 steps described below to structure, deliver, package and book your presentations.
11 steps to becoming an exceptional speaker
1. Brand yourself
In today’s crowded marketplace, you must stand out from the herd. A great way to do that is to create your own signature system. This means giving a unique branded name to the process you take prospects and clients through when you meet with them. For example, the system I take financial professionals through to teach them how to gain a competitive edge, bring in business faster, and impact more lives is called the Crazy Good TalksTM Blueprint. It’s a proven, step-by-step methodology that teaches financial professionals how to structure, deliver, market, and book their own exceptional talks.
The advisor I mentioned earlier, Michelle, specializes in helping women navigate the financial land mines of going through a divorce. She named her system the Move Forward with Your LifeTM Blueprint. When you have a proprietary blueprint to offer, you can guide people step-by-step through your proven system and show them the outcomes they can get from completing each step. Whether you’re presenting to a group or meeting one on one, this is a massive differentiator because I guarantee you your competitors don’t have this!
To keep your audience engaged, structure your content so the energy shifts every 7-10 minutes.
2. Choose the right topic
It’s critical that you choose a topic that will attract your ideal audience, give them real value and make them want to work with you. Many financial and insurance professionals ask me, “What should I speak about? What topics are hot right now?” That’s not the right question. Instead, ask, “What topics would attract and benefit my ideal clients?” Answering this question requires knowing your ideal client well. Creating an ideal client profile is a great first step to learning more about your ideal client and what topics might attract them.
3. Structure your content to keep them engaged
The average attention span of an adult is extremely short. To keep your audience engaged, you must structure your content so the energy shifts every 7 to 10 minutes. You must create an experience for the audience; you cannot just go into “lecture mode.” The way to do this is to strategically weave stories, analogies, questions and activities through each point in your talk.
4. Connect with your audiences’ emotions
Studies show that people buy first on emotions and then back that decision up with logic. To give an exceptional talk, you must know how to use stories and benefit-driven words to touch your audiences’ hearts and souls, not just their heads. You want to make sure your stories follow a format so you make concise points and don’t ramble. In addition, avoid making your stories all about you. You must know how to translate your personal experiences into stories that are about your audience, or the story becomes TMI (too much information) and irrelevant to your listeners.
In addition to telling stories, you also want to infuse benefit-driven language into your talks, choose words that demonstrate expected outcomes from taking action on your advice. Weave these benefits throughout each point so your audience is leaning forward in their seats, excited to hear what’s coming next and ready to take action.
5. Sell your services without sounding scared, slimy or slick
One of the biggest fears many financial professionals have is sounding salesy. I get it. It’s awkward going from being an educator at the beginning of the talk to being a “salesperson” at the end. But if you want to grow your practice through speaking you must do it. But simply asking people to check a box to meet with you often doesn’t work. Let’s face it: most people do not want another appointment on the books. If your goal is to set appointments from your talks, you must know how to package your appointment so it’s irresistible to your audience and know where and how to mention your offer so you don’t sound salesy.
For example: When was the last time you woke up thinking, “I hope someone offers me an appointment today!” Never, right? In this overscheduled world, the last thing anyone, including your prospects, wants is another to-do on their schedule. But, they may love to schedule a Charitable Gifting or Go to College Without Going Broke Strategy Session! The key is to name your “appointment” something your ideal clients want and then to tell them the benefits they get from taking you up on your offer.
To convert on the spot, name your ‘appointment’ something your ideal clients want.
6. Convert on the spot by making an irresistible offer
This step is critical! Don’t just let people check a box telling them you’ll follow up with them. If you do that, when you go to follow up you will lose 70% of the room. Plus when you schedule appointments with audience members to meet with you before they leave the room, you and your staff won’t have to spend countless hours, days and weeks chasing them down, trying to set appointments. Remember Michelle? By using this strategy, she more than doubled her income in three years.
7. Immediately captivate and keep their attention
When you begin your presentation, don’t use the typical opening of “Thank you for having me; my name is…” Instead, open with a bang so you grab your audience right away. Remember your goal is to get their attention away from their phones or thinking about what’s for dinner. If you do that, people are likely to stay engaged during your entire talk and your conversion rate will be higher.
Never close with Q & A!
8. Close with impact
I usually get puzzled looks when I present this concept live because it flies in the face of conventional wisdom: Never end your talk with Q&A! It will either derail your entire talk or leave it feeling flat. Your audience should leave your talk motivated, inspired and on a high. To achieve that, you want your inspiring, powerful words to be the last thing your audience hears—not an answer to someone else’s off-topic, very personal question. The Q&A is the riskiest part of your talk because it gives your audience control. You will want to learn how to manage it so you stay in control every time.
9. Avoid presentation killers
The top two killers are “death by PowerPoint” (need I say more on this one?) and a poorly placed or managed question-and-answer (Q&A) session. Make it a goal to avoid them both.
10. Dazzle them with dynamic delivery
You’ve written great content; now it’s show time! To get superb results when you speak, deliver your talk in a way that engages your audience. A few tips; be conversational sounding, don’t stand behind a podium, and make sure your voice has plenty of inflection.
11. Get booked to speak
All my clients complain about how hard it is to “get butts in seats.” You’ve likely had the same complaint. I’ll give you the same advice I give my private clients: Get yourself booked at hosted events. These are events that are delivered to a preformed group where the host of the event plans it, pays for it, and gets people to show up. Many of my clients have benefitted greatly from speaking at these types of events and better yet, some have even been paid to do it. When you become a great speaker, you can too!