Speaking Tips from Les Taylor, Speaking Pro

 “No one loves what you do as much as you do. In order to be successful in business, you must identify your market (audience) and learn how to present an attractive offer.”

Les Taylor was the featured speaker at the National Speakers Association Sedona/Verde Valley Forum on March 26.

I hosted it in my office.

I knew I was in the right place at the right time, because his topic was “Speaking to Promote Your Business for the Non-Speaking Pro”

In his press release, he goes on to say : Being the face of your business is not as daunting as it might sound. Developing the speaking and presenting skills to market and sell your goods or services are not as difficult as you think.

The way he broke it down and shared from his experience what was most important really did make it easier. The following is some of what I gleaned from his expert talk.

Find Your Style

You might use one or a combination of these:

• Humor – (not joke-telling) to entertain and help impress a message
• Narrative – telling a story to entertain
• Exposition – explaining your ideas, demonstrating them
• Argument – presenting the facts to support an idea (to elicit an action)
• Motivation – appealing emotionally so listeners take a specific action

When Les told a story about testifying about a shooting from when he was in the police force in Phoenix, he had us on the edge of our seats.. Not only was it entertaining, it was memorable and drove home the point to say only what is needed.

Skills to Develop for Speaking

Les Taylor, speaker and Linda-Ann Stewart, chapter president

Connect with the audience

Make your experience the experience of the audience. Involve the audience in what you are saying as if they were conversing with you. Help them see that what you offer will make their lives better.

Use Humor

This endears you to the audience. It helps them loosen up and take you in.

Use The Pause

Pausing not only gives the speaker time to regroup and consider what is next, it also give the audience time to digest what you just said. It is effective to pause after an important point. Then repeating the statement reinforces its importance and allows the audience to more fully absorb the point. This creates impact.

Selling Skills

” If you’re a business owner, and especially a small business owner, you wear all the hats in the company. The two most important hats though are sales and marketing. Nothing happens until a sale is made and your sales will be predicated on your ability to market what you do.” – Les Taylor

• Target Market
  • Narrow it down to a specific ideal client, then narrow it down some more. These are the people for whom you uniquely understand their challenges.
  

  Les Taylor, Linda-Ann Stewart, Ed Hammond

• Planning
  • Always, always, always define the desired outcome of the talk. Show specifically what result the audience will enjoy from doing business with you.
• Develop Rapport
  • People do business with people that they know and like. The short term goal is to provide a solution for their presenting problem. The long term goal is to become essential to their ongoing success.
• Questioning Skills
  • You miss opportunities if you ask the wrong questions. Do research to find out what the target audience needs.
• Listening Skills
  • Listen for the needs, whether they are stated or simply felt. Then you can show how you can satisfy those needs.
• Presentation Skills
  • Again, listen, listen, listen. Find out what the needs are, don’t just talk up your business. Also, it is very important to distinguish yourself from the competition. Then present a very specific solution to an identified need.
• Gaining Commitment
  • Be sure to ask for action on the part of the audience. Focus on them and ask for your desired specific action. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Want More?

You can get more with Les at LesTaylor.net. Yes, that humor was inevitable.

The Sedona/VerdeValley chapter of the National Speakers Association – Arizona meets monthly in Phoenix.

Linda-Ann Stewart from Cottonwood attends faithfully, so ask her why it is valuable to her!

Check out her blog about this meeting, too.

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