On two separate occasions last week, I saw presenters in different industries struggle with a common problem: how do you get people to listen to what is essentially an explanatory presentation? Begin with the Outcome For example, in one case , the first presenter (Ted) was explaining a process change to colleagues and senior management …
This year’s Time 100 list has just been published, which raises an interesting question: how vividly can you capture who you are or what you do when you are presenting, networking, or meeting someone for the first time? Many of their Icons, Leaders, Titans, Pioneers, and Artists are given mildly engaging descriptions, e.g., Apple CEO …
Why do sales stall out after a seemingly successful meeting and demo or presentation? Everything appeared on target for a win: you got the appointment; the right people were in the room; budget was available; they liked you; the need was clear. And, then—nothing. Could it be because you failed to establish the answers to …
What was once the imaginative art of poets is now an essential communication skill for anyone who needs to influence, sell, or persuade others.
If you could follow a group of outstanding salespeople and presenters over a long period of time, you would discover practices common to them all. These would likely range from small behaviors, like how they greet someone ,to broader skills, like how they link features to value in presentations. But, what would their “herding cats” …
I invite you to watch my interview with Mitch Jackson. Mitch is an amazing human being: an award winning lawyer, a humanitarian, an all-around great guy, and a lover of language, which is how we first connected. His blogs are thoughtful and helpful and I am honored that he asked to interview me on the …
You have been invited to participate on a panel. What a great opportunity to showcase your firm, promote your services, and enhance your professional visibility. But how do you become memorable without hogging the limelight? Use Pow Language Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post, is a master at this. When she is being interviewed or …
Salesperson or “Racehorse in sales?” Training pro or a “dopamine injection” for you? How would you like to be described? Who would you want to read about? When it comes to getting new business or new jobs, referrals and introductions are the way to go. What someone says about you, or what you say about …
Interested in learning more about the “fallacy of composition?” I didn’t think so, but I bet you will when you see the subject presented this way: “The Super Bowl on Sunday presented a useful illustration of an economic term called the “fallacy of composition.” If you were at the University of Phoenix Stadium and stood …
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have no doubt seen stories, read articles or gotten tweets about news anchor Brian Williams and how he lied, “misremembered,” about being shot at in a helicopter while reporting from Iraq. You have to wonder what the guy was thinking to do something so foolish and …
I am not sure you would put Steve Jobs and Katie Couric in the same sentence, but an interesting similarity between them popped up in the last few days that is instructive for presenting and selling new ideas. Steve Jobs In 1983, Jobs was pursuing John Sculley, Pepsi’s wonder boy senior executive, to leave and …