How to get your prospects to say 'YES'

As a business owner or ‘communicator’ you’re in the business of getting results and when you start to think about business situations you come into, contexts in which you communicate and the differing outcomes that can possibly occur you’ll soon realise that your thought processing and communication is geared towards an outcome that is generated by yourself or ’shared’ with another and your key objective is to ‘get agreement.’
There are numerous ways of ‘enhancing’ your personal communication to get agreement and before I share those with you there’s one thing I have to be clear about.

In any communication transaction there is an ‘intention’ and consideration has to be given to whether or not you consider your intention in ‘persuading another’ to be self fulfilment or shared winnings. Only you will know that but you know as well as I do that relationship building is built on shared outcomes that benefit all parties concerned.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on.

Getting agreement is about getting people saying ‘yes’ and there are a number of ways to steer someone towards a ‘yes’ through language.

Know your outcome and ‘pre-frame’ your communication

Set the scene by outlining your ‘objectives’ and create an environment where you and the other person involved in the transaction are in agreement on what is to be achieved. YES number one.

‘Pace’ the listener using pacing statements

Pacing ‘current experience’ is very powerful. It is used to ‘get people in on the deal’ and engaged with you. Notice the following text and how you cannot disagree with it.

“You are reading this material, looking at the text on the page, considering how these tools might assist you….”

Subconsciously, as the reader you have ‘accepted’ or ‘YES’d’ three times by reading the above text. Agree?

Asking the right questions to get the right answers

People buy on ‘emotion’ and in the sales or relationship building process the ‘hot buttons’ of the prospect are to be identified and utilised to create the condition for the sale. By asking the following set of questions you can effectively create the right conditions by allowing the listener to highlight their situation and thought processing in relation to the context:

What is your priority? – Allows the listener to highlight their criteria

Why is that important? – Justifies their criteria

What would it mean for you if you had that? – Personalises the justification

What would the consequences be of not having that? – Creates the criteria to be avoided

How would that be a problem for you (not having that)? – Justifies the avoidance criteria

Once you have this set of information you now understand what the person wants, doesn’t want and what it means ‘globally’ (impact on the bigger picture) and ‘personally’ to the listener. Repeat back to the listener and confirm what they want or don’t want and how it impacts them to get them in agreement with you.

Use of suggestion to create ‘options’ – don’t ‘force’ communication

Suggestion statements are used to enable the listener to have an option yet the message contained within the sentence is clear. By giving people an option you don’t come across as pushy but ’suggestive’ giving the listener the option to make the right decision for themselves. Consider the following sentences:

“Commit to working with my company today” – forced

“Are you able to commit to working with my company today” – option given – “Are you able”

“Could you commit to working with my company today” – option given “Could you”

Embedded commands

As with the above sentences you can see that the message or ‘command’ contained within the text is ‘commit to working with my company today’. Let’s combine pacing statements with a command:

“We’ve discussed your situation, I’ve highlighted what we offer as a business, and how we can assist you in achieving your objectives, and as you think about what you might achieve by working with me, how our commitment to each other can move you and the business forward and by knowing now, that we have assisted companies in a similar situation to yours grow substantially by these services, I’d like to make it easy for you to be able to commit to working with my company, because commitment is what you want from a service provider like ours, isn’t it.”

Tag questions

Tag questions refer to questions ‘tagged’ onto sentences that create agreement. It’s quite interesting knowing that it is possible to create agreement using such tools like the one’s above isn’t it? And you can see that by using these patterns you can become more effective in your communication can’t you? So you will go on and use them, won’t you?

So. You’ve been introduced to some new skills, you’ve absorbed the information in the best way for you and thought many things about how and where these tools could be used. I’d like you to consider how easy it is to realise how these tools, if ‘over used’ and without ‘rapport’ and what are known as ‘calibration’ skills. I’d like to suggest that you learn further into how it is a combination of these tools that creates the conditions for successful use of these tools.

Bearing in mind a persons confidence levelsAs with all ‘things’ in life, especially honing your language skills, its about putting in practice, time and commitment. Practice saying your sentences with different voice tonality and speed and with ‘pauses’. Commit to utilising some of the patterns daily and you’ll soon see and increase in your personal performance, won’t you…..

Don't tell me what to do with my Social Media!

It's an absolute 'bunfight' out there in Social Media world right now.....

There seems to be a majority who understand the concept of it yet the 'contexts' that create the 'purpose' for usage seem to be the missing key to the door.

The majority know what to 'do with it' and those that are 'doing it', are not all doing it 'the same'. This is leading to conflicting messages as to 'what to do with it' and this causes uncertainty within communities who are looking to use it to develop a brand on either a business or personal level.

What first needs to be asked is 'what is twitter, LinkedIn et al?'

These amazing tools are so multifaceted that it is becoming a challenge on how best to use them to get your chosen result. We're dealing with a revolution that is in its infancy and defining the boundaries or 'contexts' in which this platform works are yet to be formed, tested and available to users.

What do I mean by the above? The functionality of the platforms, as either direct communication or one way broadcasting capability means that whatever your 'intention' for platform use (chat, advertising, one way dialogue, information sharing etc) then there is 'space' for that approach. Yes! That approach will attract a particular audience and it will be an audience that has, of its own accord, decided to be there, automated or otherwise.

Let's look at LinkedIn as an example. It's a message broadcasting tool, information sharing tool, phone book, prospect list, labour pool, supplier list and depending on how a person decides to use the tools defines the 'intention' behind tool usage. That same situation applies to businesses and how they use the tools to get what they want.

So. SM gurus, trainers and wannabes - stop telling me what I should do with my 'social media' because you may be unsure what my 'intention' is on the platforms, whether I am happy with my results and at the end of the day there is enough 'space' to do what I want with it!

Fish don't bite if there's no bait....

As a business owner, senior leader, sales person, account handler, relationship builder.....OK, 'everyone in business' - you've got to 'sell yourself' using communication.

It's unavoidable. It's necessary. It's challenging, yet it is achieveable. And guess what? The only person that can achieve your outcomes for you, is you.

I speak to a lot of relationship builders about their experience of not being able to 'go up and start conversations easily' and sales people who are so focused on getting 'what they want to say' out of their mouths in business winning scenarios that they forget to listen effectively. At the same time, Directors who are so focused on their own thoughts that they forget how they 'come across' to their peers and managers with busy work loads that in some cases, aren't as attentive as they could be to the real needs of their teams.

With many different types of employee, prospects and customers out there how important is it to have the ability to interact effectively, with all your focus on the person(s) you are interacting with, to ensure that your message is issued and received as it was intended to be. As we go about our business lives with heavy workloads, sometimes with stress and other challenging items around with us, not always do we pay attention to our own personal communication patterns and we often find blame in other things when we don't get what we want. Everyone knows that we 'get out' what we 'put in' and communication is no different!

See if you can do this as easy as is possible.

Now. If you were to think about the last meeting you were in, the last networking group you attended and ask yourself this simple question:

"When I think back to that time, if I were meeting me, shaking hands with me, looking at me, listening to what I normally talk about/like in this situation, and taking into account the outcome at the time, what words would I use to describe me?"


What words have you come up with?

Now. Think about 3 things you did well in that situation.

Then, think about 3 areas in which you can improve upon.

Question: How will you go about getting those things so you can be even better next time?

Finding the difference that makes the difference between your personal performance in communication settings will allow you to ensure that your results will change. But only if you act upon what you find out...

Changing the way you communicate and being able to analyse your performance in communication situations is a key skill. Developing yourself in this area means you become more 'attractive' to all those hungry fish out there.

So. Waders on, line cast and await your first bite....

5 x Key Questions that create the conditions to sell/refer

They're so simple so let's not mess about - here they are!

1> What is your business priority right now?

2> Why did you choose that one?

3> Is that important to you? Why in your case?

4> What would happen if you didn't have that?

5> How much of a problem would that be?


Go ahead and play with these questions and see what responses you get.

More top tips and questions in later posts.....


These 5 questions are courtesy of a CD I was given created by Alan Pease, Australian Body Language Expert

Gone in 60 Seconds - Presentation Training 16/9/9

As a trainer there's nothing better than watching people develop, that for me is the reason I do what I do and having some tools and drills that create highly experiential learning environments with the emphasis more on the 'doing' is a great place to watch people develop.

Soft skills development training
Today I trained with a group of people in Leeds who came from as far as Bristol, Ripponden and the North East and as local as Bradford and Greetland. All the delegates are business owners who had identified that an improvement in their soft skills, specifically when it comes to presenting your business message at networking events, would improve their opportunity in building business relationships and those who experienced what the day has to offer left with a mixture of confidence and control and 'language tools in their back pockets' that beef up your business message and the 'style' in which you deliver.

Providing conditions for fast paced learners
State management to attain 'presenter state' and techniques to enable you to do just that form a reasonable portion of the course with opportunities to continually evaluate your performance and build your skills. Of course, some progress quicker than others so providing exercises that are challenging, yet scalable, for those moving forwards quicker than others, is key. In addition, some people shift in state and behaviour when they feel challenged and being able to coach and identify continuous improvement and 'journey travelled' means that no matter what, everyone is continually improving. Overall, the day was a success.

With everything, there is something to learn or enhance and today was no exception. Learning points for me centred around some admin that I'd overlooked, and overunning a short while. Timing is critical in these situations with people who have travelling commitments wanting more time to get on the road to wherever they are going, you have to consider their position and sometimes be flexible enough to cut out bits or add/spend time with those who require a bit more attention, without diluting potency or value.

A successful day
Under quite challenging circumstances whereby it was pretty clear that delegates were at times outside of their comfort zones I'd like to say 'fair play' to everyone who attended. You got stuck in, made mistakes, coached, watched and learned, took on the drills and as a result, some delegates said that, "The day was a massive success for them" and surely, when it comes to choosing a training that's one of the things you expect isn't it?

The big question is, "Did they improve?"


" Excellent mentoring, great delivery with impact, an invaluable training experience!"
James Malone, Calder Valley Security

"Really enjoyed the challenging course and believe that business will increase as a result"
Tom Lawrence, Area Leader 4Networking and TLC Office Supplies

"Challenging! Thanks Nick, it's coming together!"
Rob Arthur, Rob Arthur Photography

"Nicks style is to encourage and develop the person. I found the course challenging and feel I have developed as a person"
John Elcock, Bradfor GRID

"I genuinely thought todays course was excellent. I can feel a huge difference in myself and I'm very excited about going out and doing my job!"
Amy Driver, Bradford GRID

"Very professional, instills confidence, quite commanding in style which is interesting and works"
Tamsen Garrie, Network Director, 4Networking

"I got the expansion I needed and particularly liked the way the course was able to be tailored to individual needs"
Denise MaCallum, Prime Investigations


If you or anyone you know in business is wondering if a course, like this one, is for you as it progresses you towards your objectives, then why not contact Binary Vision to discuss your requirements? Then you can start to experience how fast tracking your soft skills with us is not just training, but its also a damn good day out.

Get the most out of your networking

Business networking is one topic that is at the forefront of most business owners minds right now. Why? When it's done well it yields results and when it's not, it doesn't and with business owners out there who are looking to maximise that return on their networking investment, then doing it to the best of your ability is high on the agenda.

A full range available

There are many different groups out there to choose from ranging from pure referral based set-ups where you accrue a surrogate sales team to work on your behalf, through to informal 'social gatherings' where your ticket to success relies on the words that leave your mouth and the 'style' in which YOU deliver them. Throughout this spectrum of opprtunity there is a format that will suit you and your business, no doubt about it, yet before you go and start networking there are a few fundamentals to take into account.

Activity management

Like many other business development activities, networking IS business development and IS measureable. As a business owner or representative of a business you have made an investment in time and money to be there at the event so to measure your success in your chosen environment should be on your agenda post event, shouldn't it?

Why are you there?

Firstly - manage your expectations in relation to networking. Business networking is not a forum for a person to go and directly sell their wares. Most would agree it is a platform for business owners and decision makers to communicate with eachother, build relationships, get to know, like and trust one another before 'possibly' making an appropriate recommendation where available to your business. Rightly so, you are there to raise the profile of your business, make people aware of who you are, what you do, the value you provide and , if appropriate to do so, request who you might be interested in speaking with so making 'commtiment' to the 'who and how many' question should be a consideration. For those who are part of a group already, it could be your responsibility to communicate the benefits of the group or outline some of the success achieved by the group to maintain the level of interest amongst visitors.

What do you want to achieve?

Having personal and business objectives in mind is crucial. To go networking without an objective is potentially hazardous. Why? Because if you 'prefer' this environment to develop your business (as opposed to telemarketing for example) yet don't commit to speaking with new people then you are not developing your business as efficiently as you could. Committing to speaking with new people, committing to speaking to exisiting contacts about success stories since you last met and committing to step outside of your comfort zone to do these things can be a part of your plan. In addition to telling others about you, you must also make time to allow others to return to you information about them, their business and offer, if appropriate, how you can help them. Having an objective to help someone will move you quicker towards communicating with many.

Offering a helping hand!

Some people say that better networkers are those that give and there are often people who you come across who are only more than happy to assist you and your business. THIS IS QUITE NORMAL and not to be misconstrued as someone being over keen or intrusive. You can tell those types a mile off! Rooms of people hold valuable skills, contacts and experience and for those who find people with skills sets that are slightly unique, there may be opportunities for you to experience that offering before having the opportunity to recommend to your valuable contacts. Go in a giving mood - you never know what might occur. Would you want to be amongst givers of takers?

Building rapport with the people in the room

Your ability to learn or advance your personal rapport building skills is paramount to the success of your networking. With so many people 'unaware' of how to build rapport with people easily, maintaining conversations and communicating 'on their level' is a pre-requisite to advancing a relatiionship in your desired direction so the skills are their to be learned. Rapport happens naturally for most people and the next time you are out there networking, take a look around the room and as you listen to the conversations taking place, also take note of body positions. You may notice many mirroring and matching of behavioural patterns as you do that.

Your 60 second message

Whether off the cuff or planned to the hilt, your business message is to be clear and concise. Your ability to communicate in a confident manner whilst illustrating your offering is the prime skill to be honed in this environment. Couple that with a style that is natural and appealing to the listener(s) and you have a combination of ingredients to get you known in the right areas.

Presentations

The best opportunity in business networking awaits you at the 10 minute 4site/spotlight/insight part of the meeting. For those who choose to get involved and do it, this is the main event. It's not very often that you get an opportunity to showcase your business for 10 minutes with no interruption, everyone listening, just you and your peers hearing about what it is you do, how you do it and how you help people in business to get their results. This moment in time is not a direct sales pitch with no room for identification of offers, pricing structures or persuasion to use. It is your opportunity to give more information than you might in 40-60 seconds whilst going round the table over breakfast. A chance to let people get to know you and the business better, see your style, your personality and your skills and knowledge. What an opportunity, take it with both hands when the time is right for you to do that.

Post event tools!

Some of the more 'with it' networking businesses have harnessed the power of the internet and in particular social networking as part of their offering with great success. Those businesses have managed to allow their members to continue their relationship building online, in between meetings. This opportunity allows you and your business multiple ways of promoting yourself, your knowledge, offers, thoughts and anything else you consider of value to a listening community. In addition, the opportunity to contribute to other business owners thoughts, dilemmas and challenges via the contribution to 'threads' is an indirect way of promoting you and your knowledge to that community. If your business knowledge enables you to provide interesting and relevant articles that will benefit community members then this is yet another way for you to showcase yourself.

Investing time, not effort

When you look at all the various ways you can promote your business, owners and representatives are advised not to be fooled into thinking that liaising on linkedin, tinkering on twitter or any other social media for that matter is 'messing about on the net'. By adopting a time managed approach, say 20 minutes a day, to such activity, can and does build and cement further relationships. As the old saying goes, you have to 'in it to win it' and as communication methodologies advance, the advice is to get on board and commit to making it work in which ever way is best for you to do that.

Can you evolve with it?

So. It does pay to invest time, thought and effort into networking. It also pays to move with the times and step outside of your comfort zone to adopt the latest ways of working to get your business. Business is evolving and so is the way it is being done. You have to prepare yourself to choose to evolve with it.

Brrrrrrr - Cold Calling

In this era of business development where 'business networking' appears, for most, to be the 'preferred' medium for creating business relationships it seems that the 'good ol' telephone' has been pushed even further to the back of the desk, gathering dust, hiding away......

But why is this? Especially in SME/Micro business territory where the thought of 'telemarketing' or 'cold calling' is somewhat 'frowned upon'.

A couple of thoughts

Firstly, some business owners assume that making telephone calls is purely 'selling' and that is the first mistake. Yes, you must have a purpose when commiting to this activity, an objective for the call, have prepared for outcomes that might occur, but what realistically are you looking to achieve on that first call? Do you really think your are going to make a sale?

So the question is, if you're not their to make a sale, what could you be there for? What is your objective?

Could it be notifying businesses that you exist?
Informing people and businesses of your product or service?
Helping other people by explaining who you are and how you help businesses like theirs?
Profile raising?
To ask to meet the person involved? (notice we've not sold anything yet)

Not so cold now?

Think about business networking. You go to an event, talk to people who may or may not form part of your target audience and you may get 1 or 2 people who you agree to meet up with you outside of the networking group parameters. You may have been lucky enough to speak to 8-10 people that morning in 2 hours and from that gained 2 meetings. Those meetings are probably to 'network further' rather than 'sell' right?

Don't get me wrong, I think networking is a huge part of any businesses revenue development activity but let's get one thing straight. Networking does not put you in IMMEDIATE contact with your target audience. There is a reliance on your networking peers to 'talk about you' and prompt a referral of some description which may come a little way down the line. Your message, due to 'chinese whispers syndrome' could become a little diluted and the nature of this approach, being reactive, means that you never really are 'in control' of your activity.

Straight to the heart of your chosen audience

Telecommunicating takes you straight to the heart of your audience and bypasses any reliance on another person to create a need for you. It is the most proactive way of getting your message across to businesses and as the message comes directly from you that means that your message should be clear as a bell, not second hand, not 'diluted'. In addition, how many calls could you make in 2 hours? 10, 15, 20, 30?

When you think about it, telecommunicating is direct awareness raising of your business to your chosen market and with that in mind, how can you not choose to look at picking up the phone and making calls? At the very least, you know that your business name is being heard in the right neck of the woods.

So what's stopping you?

Do you network or socialise?

There is no doubt that business networking is a great tool for the development of face2face relationships for your business. The opportunity to communicate your message to a number of people who are there to also meet with like minded business people, only comes in this 'format'.

Be proactive

As a business networker, you'll access groups old and new with traditional and 'different' forms of structure yet no matter which group it is, there is that 'point' where you can be proactive and begin the process of making new contacts or move towards 'people you know' to strengthen existing relationships.

Finding that all important balance between being proactive and searching for new contacts versus strengthening relationships is a fine line and both carry equal weighting. However, if you are the type of person who only gravitates towards people you already know then there is an argument to support the fact that you could be deemed as 'socialising' not 'networking'.

Is socialising networking?

Before you start with the notion that socialising IS networking, which I agree whole heartedly, the important point that is to be stressed here is to find that balance between continually developing existing and creating new relationships.

For those who choose to adopt that balance, they will be the ones who 'grow' proactively, whilst others who choose to wait for referrals only (based on the strength of their relationships) will grow, but aren't 'in control' of their growth as they are 'reactive' to other people supplying information/leads to them.

Building NEW relationships and cementing existing ones

There is no 'right or wrong' way to network. It is about speaking to people, it is about building relationships and it defintely IS about building NEW relationships.

Next time you're at an event, commit to communicating with people you have not met before. You never know who you're going to meet, what they do and who they know and what that relationship 'might' bring.

Continually learning

I've just got back from delivering a 'Key Networking Skills' course with co-trainer Russ McGrath. What an afternoon.

I've known Russ for a while now and it was around 3 months ago that we agreed to do some work together and looking at our skills, there is a really decent match of qualities and experience that added together creates the fuel for the content and delivery of the course.


Evaluation

Like most situations, it's good to evaluate your performance. Over a beer in the gardens of the venue we were using we sat and discussed the positives and areas for improvement along with an overview of the delegate feedback sheets. This is where it started to become interesting.

Our initial thoughts of improvements centred around delivery style, timings of 'modules' and the realisation that with more bodies next time round we may have to lengthen the duration of the course slightly to accomodate more requirements for clarification and feedback. Upon reading the feedback forms, where we had asked explicitly for honesty, the feedback given was very positive and made us both realise something of much value.


Striving for improvement

As a trainer or provider of any service, there will always be times when YOU know where you can improve yet the receiver of the content is unaware of any downsides in your personal performance and would not realise your noted personal improvement area.

Bearing this in mind, do you strive for your own personal 'level' of performance, or, that of the level required by your audience?


The choice to improve

Perfection is not reachable. Nor is it always essential. Yet continuous self-appraisal and accepting external feedback provide you with the substance to have a 'choice' to improve, or not as the case may be!

Have some purpose!

Whether you're employed, self employed, studying or any other activity for that matter, one of the 'big' questions is "Do you know why you are doing what you are doing?" Understanding your purpose is one of the key conditions to achieving outcomes. Why? Because it identifies the words that describe the feelings associated with the task and when a task has feeling it gets done better than if it doesn't.


Why are you there?

I'm running a training course with an associate this week and in the design of the course material we have decided to make delegates aware that any situation is measureable and quantifiable (to an extent) and actions like business networking are no different. As a business owner, you'll network, I'm sure, and as you attend events, formal or informal, how many of you 'know why you are there?" A silly question it may seem at first but when you think about it, do you have an objective at all? Do you know what could be measured in that environment, what objectives you could have created pre-event and how to track if you attained them or not? Just going with the notion of 'getting more business' is a little limiting. Partly for the fact that it won't happen.


You could set some 'goals'

If you do already set big and small goals then I'm positive that you are reaping the rewards of your thought processing and I wish you continued success! If you don't, you may want to think about why you are in attendance, what you could achieve in that environment, how you could set yourself goals in all areas that quantify the stepping stones to be taken towards the attainment of that objective and how you can start by documenting your plan for your next event!

3,4,6 or more....

With all that in mind, your focus will be towards achieving your objectives (whatever you set) that in turn will create the volume of contact you require to continuosly build new relationships. Without that in mind you might continue to walk away with the 3 or 4 or 6 cards that you always do....

Changing people in 10 minutes

This morning I travelled to Hull to a breakfast meeting where I did a presentation on NLP and a demonstration with two people who experienced a change in their thought processing and how by playing with memory framework, it's possible to 'set the feeling' differently for a context or circumstance that is traditionally challenging.

A fascinating topic

It's great having such a fascinating topic, like NLP, to discuss and 'make it real' for people who have not experienced NLP previously but upon having that experience, become interested in what could be achieveable.The possibilities are endless.

Upon the volunteers coming forward, both male, I explained the process we were to go through. It was agreed that they would both at some point close their eyes to remember an event that they would choose and upon listening to my questions, they would answer accordingly. Not needing to know about the 'content' of the chosen situation or a requirement of the subject to 'poor your heart out' (that's the beauty of the techniques) they each selected a challenging context and answered questions about their memory of it. I then gave them further instruction to make some changes to how the memory is structured and after issuing further instructions based on their answers their verbal description of how they 'felt' shifted from 'nervous to 'calmer' in one instant and the other too had a positive shift. Both agreed that they 'preferred' the way they thought post changes.

Your future 'vision'

In understanding that the memory framework is changeable, it is valuable if you're into personal development, to know that in the creation of your future 'vision' you can also tie 'preferred' feelings to situations that may occur. For example, public speaking and cold calling or a tough meeting where the right behaviour and qualities would enahance your chance of success - as these events all happen in the future, you can 'create' a behavioural strategy for that situation and have the qualities you want to have at that time. As NLP has, according to some, become synonymous with 'therapy' and it is not often seen as a tool that enhances performance of existing qualities and skill levels.

Increased personal performance!

If you were to think about how your own performance rates right now, where and what is it you could improve and knowing now how you are able to go about tackling those tough parts of your job with pre-chosen behaviours, then and only then do you realise what might be possible and what realising your potential might really be like?

Public speaking tips - Your physiology

The dreaded public speaking, the number 'fear' for most people, even more feared than death itself!

First impressions

First impressions in business count, no doubt about it and your 'ability' to put across your business message relies on a couple of important elements working together to churn out a decent pitch or piece of communication. Those 'elements' being the right words, your frame of mind whilst doing it and your physiology.

As a networker, its very interesting watching and listening to people pitch their business. Some are confident in communicating verbally, but not physically. Others are not in the right frame of mind to do it as well as they could and most are looking for solutions to enhance their performance in that 40-60 seconds (or more if they stray into 1 minute plus land!). Finally, the seasoned 'pro' who continually reels off the same message they developed 10 years ago without any feeling/emotion attached to it now as they've 'exhausted it' and everyone just knows what they're going to say. In fact, they don't need to be there!

So the question is, how do you improve your presentation by making personal physiological adjustments.

Improvement made through physiological adjustments

Your mind and body are a linked system. You may notice that the way you stand, sit and hold yourself can be described by you in one word, whatever position you are in. As you are reading this text, pay attention to how you are now and what word describes how you feel as you read this. What word would you use to describe how you are now?

If you find that you are challenged by presenting, you may want to give the following exercise a go.

Make some changes

Find a mirror. Stand in front of it. Define, using one word, how you feel now.

Now. Make changes in the following areas:

Width of stance. (Adjust until to your preferred stance is achieved - recommended shoulder width)
Feet position (adjust the position to toes straight forwards)
Positioning of head (chin up and down - adjust to your requirement)
Positioning of shoulders (back and forwards - adjust)
Hand position (situate your hands infront of your waistline - adjust)
Facial features (adjust your features to suit how you want to be portrayed)

As you make the adjustments, ask yourself "How do I feel now?" Make further minor adjustments until you get the response you are looking for. When you get a 'response' that suits the context, then that may be YOUR required physiology to operate to optimum in that context.

Looking forward to seeing you present next time round!

60 second presentation formula for business networking

What do you want to do?

The 60 second presentation for some is a daunting task. For others, not so daunting but a lack of structure means that even the most confident of speakers can veer off down the track and refrain from giving a message that hits the proverbial 'nail on the head'.Make no mistake. This 'communication' IS a sales pitch for you and your business. That snapshot in time (or longer for those who stray into 1 minute plus land) is critical to allow those in the room to make a number of 'decisions'.

Bananarama

Firstly - was that performance any good? "It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it and that's what gets results." I never thought that an 80's pop band would have such resonance in business but that quote is SO true. How you 'deliver' the message is a crucial part of this communication. With only 7% (ish) of your overall communication being the words, how important is it to pay attention to what you are doing whilst you are saying your stuff!Holding onto the back of the chair, hands behind your back like a copper or looking down just doesn't do you any favours. Instead, stand up straight, chin up, feet shoulder width apart and hands held around the midriff does the trick!

FAB

No. Not the 80's lolly but Features, Advantages and Benefits. What you do, the difference between you and another business in your field and the benefit/value/headache you remove as a result of your product or service is paramount to the success of the 'content' delivered.To think that saying who you are, who you work for and where you are based is enough to leave the audience thinking "OK, I want to do business with the person saying this" is a bit lackluster. People are intersted in 'gain, value and emotion'. So, highlight these factorsd in your pitch!

Our customers say that, "............"

If you are looking for an outlet to let others know how great your product or service is because you feel that it is unruly to make those claims yourself, use a "quotation" language pattern.It might even be deemed by others to be a bit OTT for YOU to come out and say , "Our service is the best" or "We offer great service" so take away that challenge and utilise this quotation language pattern to illustrate that it was one of your customers who said it.Some of our customers say "we offer a great service" - same message, directed now from your customer, not you.

Finally, Analogue Marking - Eh?
That's right, analogue marking! This is a tool to highlight the juicy parts of your presentation ie. the value you add, the important words that are of interest to your audience that resonate with them once you use a marker. When it comes to the benefits, use a 'gesture' such as a hand movement ornod or otherwise to mark out that word. The effect is like putting the word in italics and it highlights it to your audience. You can also mark by using your voice tone. Have a go!

They're all looking at you........so look back!

Finally. Address your audience. Look at them, maintain eye contact and if you can't do that, just concentrate on looking above everyones hairline.At least it will look, from their perspective, that you are looking right at 'em!So go on - Practice, Practice, Practice and start to deliver that message in the way you want to and 'hit the nail on the head' every time.