Sales Laundry

Archive for the ‘Public Speaking’ Category

Tonight I was at an elementary school talent show watching children do their absolute best to entertain us with singing, gymnastics, karate, piano, jump rope and much much more.

Six singers performed, one with a truly beautiful voice, but she is not the one anyone is going to remember.

Everyone will remember contestant number 7.

Contestant number 7 was a six year old little girl in the first grade with black bouncy pigtails.

She walked out from behind the curtain to center stage standing close to the front edge under a single spotlight in an otherwise dark auditorium.

It took a while for her music to start so she just stood very still, holding her microphone against her chest, waiting and staring out into the black.  In the silence you could hear her nervous shaky breathing until finally her music began.

Within five notes it was obvious this six year old did not have a singer’s voice.

Within fifteen notes no one in the room cared.

What she might of lacked in natural ability she more than made up for in her self-confidence and heart, putting everything she had into her performance.  She belted out her song like it was the final encore of a two hour sold out stadium concert.  It was a huge, powerful sound coming out of such a small person.

When she finished, the audience roared with emotion punctuated by whistles and shouts that did not end until the emcee called for calm.

In a room of a few hundred people, this very nervous little girl, lacking both natural talent and professional training sang on pure heart and confidence, doing her absolute best with the talent she had been given.  She gave us every ounce of energy and emotion her little body could muster and everyone forgot about that whole not singing so good part, and she was rewarded like she was a star.

There will be times when you have to take the stage against people that have more talent, training and skill than you possess.  There will be times when you are at a competitive disadvantage for one reason or another.  There will be times when your friends or co-workers will tell you that you have no chance and that you should not even bother showing up.

Sometimes they will be right, but almost always, finding the courage to do your absolute best regardless of the odds will be a more rewarding experience than not having taken the journey at all.

When you reach one of those circumstances that you think you cannot win, summon the confidence to at least be the one who will be remembered.

“Eighty percent of success is just showing up.”

Woody Allen

Image courtesy of Corbis

Every sales representative needs to have the ability to wade into an unknown situation with some confidence when all the facts and details are not available to take advantage of opportunities that develop out of no where.

 In short everyone in sales should have some skill at winging it.

 Let me clarify that by “winging it” I am not talking about creatively lying on the fly or just flat out making things up.  That would destroy your credibility and sooner or later, your career.

 I am, however, talking about two important factors that in my humble opinion give you the best opportunity to wing it when you have to.

1. Knowledge.  You can’t wing what you don’t know.  You need to develop a complete understanding of your products features, capabilities, AND be able to apply those to real life problems your prospects face.  I as a customer could care less that your product is 20% faster this year unless you can explain to me how my business is going to be appreciably better with your new whiz bang super speedy device.
2. The ability to Speak on Your Feet.  You have got to be comfortable being able to communicate with any one any where at any time.  If you are fearful, or caught up in the mechanics of how to speak, you will not have enough brain power left to figure out what to say.  If you acquire the ability to speak confidently then you will not have to focus on how to’s of speaking but instead focus on what you are going to say.

 Research I have read suggests that the fear of public speaking, or Glossophobia, is the number one global fear.

 Some try hypnosis, some try beta blockers though I have no idea why, some try self help books.  My recommendation would be to just practice speaking.  Join Toastmasters in your area or a community group that will force you to speak.

 While some of these methods may work very well, I have a hard time believing that you will get better at speaking without, you know, actually speaking!  Even if it is only to yourself in the mirror.

 But I digress.  The ability to recognize an opportunity for your product or offering and just wade in throwing caution to the wind and “wing-it” will serve you well in a sales career and from my experience, serve you well in almost every other aspect of your life when it is time to speak up.