Picture this…you
are at a networking meeting or at a business exhibition and someone stands to
speak as is expected…and what they are in fact doing is a mini ‘showcase’ and a
‘pitch’ so that they hope to encourage you to enquire as to using their
services.
For the purposes
of illustration, they are a business that does Presentation Skills and they
will tell you that they help business owners get their message across in a
sophisticated and effective manner…
BUT when they in
fact stand you as a member of the audience see that the ‘slides’ are ‘text
heavy’ as they have so many points that they wish to put across.
You see that they
suggest that they can help a business in manufacturing but show nothing to
align the slide content to the object or target business.
You see the
presenter is himself referring to the slides for almost every point to be made
thus conveying the impression of either considerable nerves or poor knowledge.
Would you be ‘sold’
enough to ask this person for help in your business presentation arena?
You’re right!
Probably not!!
Now there might be
extenuating circumstances such as a last minute standby person, but basically
you expect that the ‘Presentation Skills’ message is not only preached but
acted upon. You expect them to ‘walk the walk’ and demonstrate in all areas
that they practice what they preach.
And the same is
true for all of us. We look with different eyes and without being scathing or
rude we judge and asses and form opinions.
We are asking
ourselves “Are they good enough to impress me?” “Can they sizzle me and excite
me that they might be the key that I am looking for to make more sales?” “Are
they going to show me a technique or something that I know will be better than
I am currently using?”
When we don’t see
it, we switch off.
Thus my question
is “Are there moments when we are out that maybe we aren’t ‘walking our walk’?”
For the
illustration above, you would need to be impressive. Knowing your content, having
an interesting and different style of presenting and probably using better
tools in a more stimulating and engaging manner.
If you are selling
print then have some print work of all
types that shows off what you can do.
If you build
websites demonstrate that your own
site is exciting and different
to look at but is winning you business.
If you are a coach
demonstrate that you practice what you preach and if you are saying that you
can make other people business better show
evidence that yours is better?
The truth is there
are a lot of ‘pretenders’ out there and you as a buyer are tuned into that …and
your BS radar is pretty high! Expect everyone to have the same ‘guard’ before
they buy or enquire from you and absolutely go out of your way to demonstrate
what you do.
Show don’t tell.
Simple but hugely
effective, and so rarely the case! Be the one that stands out for being
congruent….and in doing so have an awesome week.
Yours with love
Ben x
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