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I’d like to share a few techniques that I’ve learned over the years, a few simple things that might help you to become more palatable with people. Who am I speaking to? The sales person, the corporate leader, the parent, the teacher, the young professional, the teen. Don’t let me tell you who you are, check this out and see how it helps you with the people you interact with on a daily basis.
My wife Nicole was in corporate sales for a number of years. She said one of her mentors told her, “Nicole, you stand too close to me when you’re talking. I feel like you’re just too much in my personal space.” After that point, it became one of Nicole’s pet peeves when people are talking to her and they get in HER personal space. It is the little things that we do that can make our presentation or “sales pitch” more accepted.
Be very aware of your conversation.
When interacting with others, stop and ask yourself, “Am I beating around the bush or am I giving the bottom line up front?” Sometimes it takes too long to get to the bottom line. Show others you value them and their time by not wasting it and get to the point quickly.
Get to the point as quickly as possible.
Avoid long or excessive content and recognize that most people prefer the fastest path to enlightenment. Often less is more and preachers can be the worst offenders. I can attest to this and often find it a challenge myself.
Engage the person with their questions or comments.
Communication is a two-way street. Be willing to listen to their feedback or else it feels too much like a sales pitch instead of a relationship. People don’t like to be “talked at” they want to be talked to. They want engagement.
Watch the person you are interacting with and make sure that you “still have them”.
So often people will start speaking and ignore their audience as if they (the speaker) are more important than the audience. If you lose your audience, you might as well stop talking. When I speak, I am glued to the audience, I watch closely and I can tell when they are starting to drift or glaze over and it’s time to throw in some humor or ask a thought-provoking question to stir them up.
Whether you are an executive, re-entering the workforce after many years, or just trying to influence one or more individuals, give these suggestions a try. These tips will increase the chances that you will win over your audience, which means they will be more likely to want to hear what you have to say in the future.
A wise man once told me that the shorter the sermon the bigger the audience!!!
