Last week, I talked to a colleague who lost 110 pounds.  She’s a speaker and trainer, and wants to create a program to help people reach any goal.

I offered to spend an hour brainstorming with her, so that I could help her focus her message, define her process, and figure out how to make it unique and “not like everyone else.”

I love helping people laser-focus their message, so I was excited to talk with her yesterday morning.  I began by asking her about the steps to achieving any goal.  What she told me sounded like what everyone else who talks about goal setting talks about.  I knew we had to make it hers.  I knew we had to make it unique.  I knew we hadn’t hit on it yet.

The problem is, no one is buying what everyone else is offering. No one is buying something that doesn’t have them think, “She can solve my problem!”  No one is buying something that doesn’t immediately take them toward big results.

We began tossing around ideas. I had a thesaurus program open so that we could look for synonyms for some ideas we had. And suddenly, I found a word that ignited the message.  Revolution. I paired it with results. That’s what people want—results.

She is starting the “Results Now Revolution.”  And she’s going to be the Results Revolutionary.

This works on so many levels.  What would you rather attend—a seminar where someone is talking about how to write down and achieve your goals, or one where you are invited to join the “Results Now Revolution”?

Not only does this give her a way to make her steps and her system unique, it is the umbrella under which all of her messaging can come. She also has what one of my mentors, Suzanne Evans, calls “a movement.” She doesn’t just have a seminar, she has a “movement” that can have lots of components.

So here are some questions to ask yourself in your business:

• Is my message crystal clear, or do I confuse potential buyers by being all over the place?
• Is my message a client magnet? Is it something that is perfectly designed to solve the problems of my perfect clients?
• Do I have multiple ways of delivering this message?  Am I out speaking and talking with people?
• Am I consistent with my messaging?

These questions will help you ensure that your message brings you business!

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I was driving home from the pottery studio Saturday morning, when I noticed this guy standing on the corner. Now, I had passed numerous yard sale signs on numerous corners and ignored them all—but this guy got my attention.  I was intrigued.  So I turned the corner and went to his yard sale.

I have to wonder what went through his mind that morning. He might have been thinking, “It’s a beautiful June morning.  There will be tons and tons of yard sales.  If I want people to come to mine, I’d better be original. I’d better stand out.  I’d better have a unique approach.”  Of course, I have no idea what he was thinking, but that’s my fantasy, and he certainly made me take action.  And he did have a unique perspective on the yard sale sign thing.

Our unique perspective and point of view are what will draw people to us, make people want to do business with us, and enable us to make a difference in people’s lives.  But first, we have to know what that is, and we have to own it.

Sometimes, when I go hear a speaker give a talk on their topic, it’s what we in the speaking industry call “a book report.”  In other words, it sounds like the speaker read a few books on the topic, and is rehashing what they learned. Boring!

When a speaker really shines, they have depth of expertise in their topic, and have their own twist, their own perspective, their own point of view. They share their life experiences, the experiences of their clients, and give us a new way of thinking about the topic.

So how about you?  Are you rehashing and sharing the same information as everyone else?  Or have you developed a point of view that differentiates you and enables you to be heard above all the noise in today’s marketplace?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Am I clear about my value and my message?
• How is what I’m saying and what I’m offering different than what everyone else is doing?
• What’s my unique perspective and point of view?
• Do I share myself authentically, or am I modeling myself after how I think I ought to present myself?
• How will people who work with me benefit more than if they worked with anyone else?
• Do I give people new ways of thinking about my area of expertise? Am I stretching their thinking?
• How can I convey all of this in my marketing materials and conversations with people?

The answers to these questions will help you stand out. They’ll help you be a great speaker.  And they’ll attract clients to you like crazy.

I’d love to hear about what you do to stand out from others who do what you do–how you put your unique spin on your expertise.  Share it with us below.

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“If your efforts are sometimes greeted with indifference, don’t lose heart.  The sun puts on a wonderful show at daybreak, yet most of the people in the audience go on sleeping.”  Ada Teixeira

I used to really like this quote.  I even put it in my book, Great Quotes from Feisty Women. In the book, I tell a story about how my mom missed my first jump off the high diving board because someone walked in front of her just as I jumped.  I wrote, “What I know now, looking back on this some forty years later, is that my jump was magnificent, even if no one saw it.”

I went on to say, “I try to remember this when I put something out in the world. If I’m excited about something I’ve done, I can’t let the reactions of other people dictate how I feel about it. I have to trust my own heart, be my biggest fan, and know I gave it all I had.”

I don’t believe this any more and neither should you!

I didn’t know much about marketing and sales when I wrote this, and I wasn’t thinking about it in a business context. I was thinking of it in a personal growth context.  And it’s probably true in that context.

But in the business world, we have to be incredibly tuned in to the problems, the struggles, and the needs of the people we serve.  We have to be problem solvers.  We have to know who we can best help, and create products and services that will improve their businesses and their lives.  We have to care about the reactions of our tribe, our “peeps” if we want our businesses to thrive.

So putting something out into the world that is not embraced by the people we created it for is a miss.  We have to pay attention to that.  We need to re-think, re-design, and re-launch.  We need to make sure what we’re doing is on target.  And we have to get the word out about what we do.

You may be the best in the world at what you do, but if no one knows it, it does you no good, and does the world no good. Get out there and use public speaking to share your message, to let people know what you have to offer, and to have a bigger impact.

Make sure people see what you have to offer, and are not “sleeping through your sunrise!”

What do you think?  Share your thoughts below.  Do you think this quotation is true, or do you think my current interpretation is more on target?

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Now that I’ve begun to send out a newletter, I’m making a bit of a change to this blog.  The posts will alternate…one week, a longer post–the alternating week, a “Feisty Woman’s Power Tip.”  Here’s this week’s Power Tip.

“We are the same people we were at three, six, ten, or twenty years old. More noticeably so, perhaps at six or seven, because we were not pretending so much then.”  Agatha Christie

If how you present yourself is not congruent with who you are deep within you, you won’t come across as authentic—and people will sense it.  In today’s world, authenticity trumps perfection, and sharing who you really are enables you to create connection.

Do you find yourself spending some of your energy censoring yourself, editing yourself, or trying to fit in with someone else’s notion of who you ought to be?  It’s time to let that go!

Whether you are connecting with one person at a networking event, or connecting with an audience of hundreds when giving a speech, the more “you”, the more real, the more authentic you are, the more power that connection will have.

So embrace your true essence—and give the world the gift of the “true you.”  Your connections will be so much more powerful!

© 2011 Feisty Woman Productions

Free download of Ava’s e-book: ROCK YOUR SPEAKING: Seven Secrets to Creating and Delivering Powerful Speeches that Grow Your Business, Make You Money, and Increase Your Impact

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“I think I’m going to have to get a real job,” Angela sighed as we had coffee one afternoon last month.  “I’m not getting enough clients.  My pipeline is not even close to full, I meet people at networking events and nothing much comes of it, and I’m just not getting enough business.  I love what I do, but if I don’t have enough clients to make the income I need, then it really doesn’t matter.”

Angela is not alone.  I meet entrepreneurs every week who share her frustration. They’re investing huge amounts of time and money in marketing tactics that are not paying off.  They have limited time, limited budgets, and their marketing efforts are not bringing them enough sales. You might be one of them.

You might be struggling with getting the word out about your business, with building the “know me, like me, trust me” relationship with potential clients, with filling your programs and selling your products, with building your business without sounding “sales-y,” with having a bigger impact and making a difference in the world.

There’s a way to turn all of this around. Speaking in front of audiences made up of your perfect target market is one of the most powerful ways to grow your business. If you’re not using it as part of your marketing strategy, you’re leaving money on the table!

When you get up in front of a room of people who need your products and services, you have an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your field and as someone who can help them.  You can create demand for your services, get immediate prospects and leads, and even get sales at the event itself.

So how do you do this?  How do you create a powerful message that will bring people into your pipeline and result in more sales? Here are three tips:

1.  Know Your Perfect Audience

When I ask small business owners who their perfect target market is, they often say, “I can help everyone.”  No you can’t.  If you market to everyone, you market to no one. You have to know specifically who your perfect client is.  You need to know everything you can about them—their demographics, what’s important to them, what motivates them, what their values are, what problems and frustrations they have, what they’re focused on.

You can develop your ideal client profile. I actually found a stock photo of my perfect client. I gave her a name, and described her life.  She is who I market to.  She is who I think of when I develop new products and programs.  She is who I craft my messages for. You can do the same.

When you get out and speak, you want to speak to audiences who are filled with people who fit your ideal client profile.  Otherwise, you’re wasting your time, and you won’t have the impact you want.

2.  Laser-Focus Your Message

Before you get in front of an audience, know what you want the end result to be.  What do you want the audience to think, feel, say, or do as a result of hearing you speak?

Do you want to establish yourself as an authority in your field?  Then you want to create a memorable experience and message that will do just that.

Do you want them to buy a program or package that you’ve created? Then you want to establish the need, and make them feel “the problem” in such a way that they absolutely want the solution you offer.

Do you want to create a connection with the audience that makes them want more of you and to stay connected with you?  Then you want to share personal stories, create trust and intimacy, and make sure you are authentically you on stage.

3.  Have a Kick-Ass Speech

.  You want to make sure you have a powerful speech that will get the results you want.

Invest the time and energy to get good—really good.  Read books and articles, hire a coach, take a class—do whatever it takes to get good.  It’s not rocket science, but there is a craft that needs to be learned.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Know your audience. Do research on them in advance.  Talk to the meeting planner, send a pre-program questionnaire, talk to a few potential audience members.

• Begin with an “attention grabbing” opening. Don’t start by thanking your hosts, remarking on the location, or boring people from the start.  Begin with a startling statistic, an interesting question, an intriguing fact that is relevant to their problems.  The first thirty seconds are critical.

• Have a well-structured speech. Make sure you’re clear on your message. Make sure you know what your audience’s pain is and how you can be the solution for them.  Limit your major points—don’t try to tell them everything you know about the subject.

• Tell great stories. The audience will remember them long after they’ve forgotten the “facts” you’ve shared with them.  They are a way of creating a memorable experience, and of creating connection with the audience.

• Use powerful visuals. Props, PowerPoint slides with great images and few words, flipcharts, and other methods can serve as visual anchors to make your message stick.

• Never take Q&A at the end of your speech.  Engage with the audience and take their questions a few minutes before the end of the speech.  Then end powerfully.  If you end with Q&A, the energy you’ve built up fizzles.

• Have a power close. The last minute of your speech must inspire your audience. It needs to energize them, and to fill them with a sense of what’s possible for them. It needs to be memorable.  It needs to move them to action.

So stop leaving money on the table!

• How would your business transform if you were able to speak to your perfect prospects 50 or 100 or hundreds at a time?
• How much would your business grow if you had a steady stream of people who wanted to buy your products and services because they’d heard you speak, and they know, like, and trust you?
• How much would your business benefit if people knew you as an expert in your field?

Putting together a great speech and getting out there and delivering it to audiences of your perfect target market is a sure path to business success. 

What is the first step you will take today to make that happen in your business?

© 2011 Feisty Woman Productions

You can read all of the excellent posts from March Marketing Madness here.  http://www.sanerapdc.com/category/march-marketing-madness-2/

Free download of Ava’s e-book: ROCK YOUR SPEAKING: Seven Secrets to Creating and Delivering Powerful Speeches that Grow Your Business, Make You Money, and Increase Your Impact

http://www.feistywomenrock.com/buy-download-rock-your-speaking-now.html

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“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” My eyes had glazed over.  My mind was racing, trying to find a graceful way to exit this conversation without hurting the woman’s feelings. I was so done!

I was at an event filled with women business owners, and had asked this woman to tell me a little bit about what she did and what she was passionate about.  About four long minutes into her response where she did not even stop to take a breath, all I was hearing was “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

She had not learned to laser focus her message. She had not learned to share who she was in an engaging way. She came across as tedious, boring, and desperate.  You’ve met people like her, haven’t you?

And somehow, she was the second woman in a row I’d encountered that evening who did exactly the same thing!

Whether you’re a business owner or you’re employed, it’s important to get really good at self promotion.  When I tell my audiences this, they often ask, “Self promotion, Ava, isn’t that kind of sleazy?”  Not at all.  It’s only sleazy if you do it in a way that’s obnoxious.

Effective self promotion is an art and a skill.  It’s turning the spotlight on yourself in a way that’s authentic and comes from a place of helpfulness and being of service.  It’s a way of connecting and of sharing who you are and what value you can bring to the relationship.

Often, when I ask women what they’ve accomplished or what they’re excited about in their business, they are at a loss for words.  They’ve been taught not to “brag.”

Whether it’s at a networking event, a presentation, an interview, or a speech, it’s important to sell yourself.  It’s important to be able to articulate who you are and the value you offer. And it’s important to do it in a way that’s engaging and leaves your audience wanting more.

So how do you do that? How do you find a way to talk about your business and your accomplishments in a way that differentiates you, instills confidence, and begins the process of building the “know, like, and trust factor?”

Here are four tips:

1. Know your audience.  Whether it’s a presentation or a networking event, it’s critical to know your audience.  Know the demographics, their interests, their challenges, why they’re there. Target your message to your audience.  Make it relevant to them.

2. Laser-focus your message. What do you want people to know, think, say, or do as a result of this encounter with you?  If you’re not clear about that, you’ll tend to ramble, go on and on, and try to tell them everything you know. Be focused. Be on target. Be brief.

3. Don’t be a robot. We’ve all been taught to have a “30 second elevator speech.”  We’ve written it down, memorized it, practiced it in front of the mirror, and could say it in our sleep—even after two sleeping pills. There’s only one problem. It sounds like our well-rehearsed elevator speech. It’s not authentic. It doesn’t connect.  Think connection.  Think “real.”  Think sharing who you are.

We’ve all seen presenters that are over-rehearsed. We can’t “feel” them. They don’t connect to the audience.  Being prepared is great. “Performing” rather than connecting—not so much.

4. Be focused on them, and on what you can give. People will think you’re a brilliant conversationalist if you’re a good listener.  Ask questions.  Be fully present and really listen when they answer. Focus on how you can be of service.

For speeches and presentations, be audience focused.  Concentrate on giving great information and great value. Give them tools they can implement immediately.  It’s not about you.  It’s about how you can serve them.

In today’s world, it’s all about relationships. Whether you’re at a networking event, a business meeting, or delivering a presentation, it’s about the connection between you and the other person, or you and the audience.

So get skilled.  Get good.  Then go out and build relationships!

Have you met someone like her?  What did you do in that situation?

Do you have some good tips to share about building connection with an audience of 1 or 100? Please share them with us below!

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“Girls Don’t Brag”

When I was a little girl, I was taught not to brag. Oh, not just by my mother. It was the “secret code” under the surface of girl culture.  One did not brag. And if one of our little girlfriends did brag, you can bet that someone would ask, “Who does she think she is?”

In boy culture, bragging was okay. Competition was encouraged. Being the biggest, or the fastest, or the toughest earned you bragging rights. But not for girls. We learned cooperation. We learned support. We learned equal and fair and “play nice.”

Feisty Women Promote Themselves

Fast forward to today.  Women often are quiet about their successes, don’t know how to effectively share their “wins,” and don’t get the visibility they deserve.  They lose promotions, lose potential business deals, and aren’t heard above the noise.

So, as feisty women, we have to learn how to brag. We have to become okay with it. Not in an obnoxious, smug, walking billboard kind of way, but in a way that enables us to talk about ourselves and our accomplishments and get people’s attention—in a good way.

So how do we do that?

Six Tips for Effective Bragging

1) Change your mindset. You have to believe that it’s okay to talk about yourself. You have to give yourself permission to share your successes. You have to silence the voice in the back of your head that will say, “Who do you think you are?”  You have to revel in your own brilliance and accomplishment.  It’s not egotistical—it’s self affirming! It’s a way of honoring who you are and what you’ve done! READ MORE

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