Tag: 8 Steps To A Live Presentation Series

The quickest way to make sales and build your business is through public speaking — provided you craft your speech properly, that is.

And that’s what I’ve been showing you how to do in this series.

It’s time now for you to put these eight steps to work. To help you with that, here is a summary of all of them again. [To read the complete articles, revisit my blog.]

Step 1: The Grabber

Begin your presentation with a bold statement about the promise of your work that grabs the attention of the room and doesn’t let go.

For example, “How would you like to make five figures in sales from the stage, every time you speak?”

If you’re interested in speaking for the purpose of sales, your attention will be riveted on what I’m about to say.

Step 2: Lay Out the Game Plan

Orient the audience by briefly telling them what you’re about to do.

For example, “Over the next hour and a half, I’m going to share with you my eight-step formula for crafting presentations that will have your audience lined up in the back of the room.”

Step 3: Lay Down the Rules

In order to make sales, you have to control the room, and to do that you need to lay down the rules, the most important of which is no questions.

Step 4: Establish Your Credibility

Build your foundation for massive back-of-the-room sales by proving that you are worth your audience’s time, attention and investment.

Do this with a powerful introduction by your host (which you write), and by offering live or written case studies and/or testimonials of people who attest to the value of your work.

Weave your testimonials seamlessly throughout your talk as examples or stories.

Step 5: Transition Smoothly to Your Story

After you’ve begun to establish through case studies and testimonials that you’re worth your audience’s attention, you want to keep that attention by making a smooth transition to your story.

For instance, if I had just told the audience how my client Elaine made $96,000 in 18 days, I might say:

“I know that a lot of you may be thinking to yourself, ‘How can I do what Elaine did?’ The answer to that question eluded me for most of my life. In fact, when I first started out, I was sick, broke and had a terrible attitude.”

Then, I start telling my story.

Step 6: Tell Your Inspiring Story

When you’re speaking for the purpose of sales, your inspiring, rags-to-riches story of how you came to be where you are and know what you know, is central to your presentation.

People listen with their ears, but they hear with their emotions, so your story must come from your heart and be emotional.

Unless the audience is emotionally invested in what you’re doing, you’re not going to sell them a damn thing. But if they are emotionally involved, they’re very likely to buy.

Step 7: Transition to the Close

I don’t move into the close until I determine that the audience is ready to buy. And I test their interest and engagement throughout my speech and again right before I close.

I’ll ask, “Is this making sense?” while raising my own hand, and seeing how many audience members are raising their hands as well. This tells me how many people are with me.

Until the majority of the hands go up in response to that question, I keep transforming my talk.

But once there’s a sea of hands in that room, I transition smoothly to the close.

Step 8: The Close

Finally, start by talking about the specifics of your product or program, focusing on the results purchasers are going to get, and how easy and doable your program is.

Once you’ve sold them on the results, about 85% into your close, signal to your assistants that it’s time to pass out the order forms.

The Final Word

Listen, you don’t have to be perfect to make sales. Just do the best that you can, and be authentic.

If you are true to yourself, while following these eight steps to a tee, you will be successful.

There should be a clamor for the back of the room ~ and a very nice payday for you and your promoter ~ when you step off the stage.

Before you do a presentation, you want to find out about the background and needs of your audience, and you may choose to tailor your content or delivery somewhat.

However, don’t change who you are. You have to be you.

This is especially true when considering feedback.

Be careful and discerning about whom you accept criticism from and how deeply you consider what they say.

Some people will criticize you just for being you. Don’t listen to them. And don’t try to please everybody, because that’s not going to happen.

Being too sensitive to other people’s opinions could devastate your speaking career. I've seen people receive criticism and just wither away.

Develop a thick skin, but make sure that it still lets in helpful feedback.

How do you tell the difference? You start by considering the source.

“You’re Really Not Very Good.”
A number of years ago, Bob Proctor and I were going to be teaching at a seminar a magazine was hosting on The Science of Getting Rich. They were having trouble filling the room, so they asked us to do a pre-seminar to sell people on the full event.

After my presentation, the magazine’s editor-in-chief came up to me and asked, “Have you ever watched yourself speak before?”

“No, I never have,” I said.

“I suggest that you videotape yourself and start studying what you're saying,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you're really not very good.”

I smirked a little, and said, “Let's just see what happens with the sales.”

Sure enough, what happened was we sold the entire room. Everybody in that pre-seminar signed up for the full seminar.

When I asked Bob about the criticism, he told me to disregard it. The guy was an intellect, who’d probably never seen a sales presentation before. He reminded me that I packed the room, which is what I was there to do.

Seek the Advice of Professionals
Take advice, suggestions, and criticism from seasoned pros and people who know the business.

If you get criticism about your speaking performance from a member of your audience, ask a pro for a second opinion.

Some advice might be good, and you may want to consider changing what you’re doing. But some feedback will be full of hot air, and you need to ignore it.

Be Authentic
Once at a seminar, a member of my team told me that an attendee wasn’t happy with how quickly I was presenting the material.

I told him, “I'm not changing that for anybody. This is how I present, who I am and what I do.”

Don’t let people tell you that you need to speak faster or slower, step to the left, not gesture with your hands or whatever. Forget all of that stuff.

When you speak, just be the best that you can be, and be authentic.

Be you.

People-pleasing will not increase your sales. In fact, the opposite is true.

The more authentic you are, the more your ideal clients will respond to you, and the greater your sales are likely to be.

Even if you’ve never done any public speaking before, you can get booked right away. Many smaller, community organizations are hungry for speakers.

You may not be able to sell in the back of the room, but if you follow the advice in my last article, you can still turn a healthy profit, by getting the contact information of the attendees and selling to them later.

Where to Get Booked NOW

Believe it or not, religious groups are often looking for people to speak. My mentor Bob Proctor and I frequently used to speak at Unity Church. Other groups that often need speakers include: children and family organizations, charities, colleges and universities, art associations, and business and professional associations such as Police Officer Association, Association of Retired Businessmen, etc. Also check with community centers, learning annexes, fraternal organizations, garden clubs, and health organizations. Corporations are also a source as they sometimes have special-interest groups or vendor days, where they bring people in to speak.

Your Topic May Have Broad Appeal

When you’re considering whether an organization might be a good fit, don’t sell yourself short. Your topic may have a broader appeal than you realize.

While you probably wouldn’t want to tell a corporation’s audience that they should leave their jobs, you could talk to many other groups about the benefits of being an entrepreneur. And any of the groups above could be interested in your talk on health, finances, family concerns, relationships, etc.

How to Get Booked

Once you find a group where you want to speak, call the event coordinator, ask if they need speakers, and then pitch your talk. If you’re splitting back-of-the-room sales with the host, be sure to tout your sales stats. Your personal relationship with the event coordinator or producer is your most important asset. And with smaller groups it might be all you need to get yourself booked.

What About Video?

Some venues, namely, the larger ones, will want to see you in action. So I recommend that you have a three-to-four-minute video of yourself, showing your ability to communicate an inspired concept to an audience. Ideally, this video would be shot at a live speaking gig, but if you’re trying to secure your first opportunity, it can be shot in front of a clean whiteboard (which you can also use to help demonstrate your concept). Having this video professionally produced, of course, is ideal; however, if you really can’t afford that, at least make sure that you have good lighting (bright enough, no shadows), a steady image, and super clear audio.

Remember, if you want to look like a professional, you have to present yourself that way.

What Really Counts

On the other hand, don’t be daunted by the video, because, as I said, your personal relationship with the coordinator trumps all. If you’ve got passion and enthusiasm for your topic; if you express yourself articulately; if you can sell, you can get yourself booked. It’s not difficult to do. You just need to do the legwork, show you’ve got the right stuff, and then you can start lining up the events.

Let’s say that you just got a speaking gig in a wonderful venue, but then the host tells you that you absolutely can’t sell anything from the stage.

What?! What are you going to do now? You definitely don’t want to cancel the gig, because you can still turn that event into a very profitable situation. How? By collecting as many leads as you can and selling to them later. In fact, in some venues, selling to the attendees later on could be even more profitable than your on-site, back-of-the-room sales would have been. So lead collection is not something to dismiss. You just have to do it in a way that’s acceptable to your promoter, and do it well.

Give Something of Value Away

Don’t ask for business cards. Don’t do the fishbowl thing. Don’t do a raffle. Those are tired techniques, and they don’t work anymore. Instead, give away a CD or an ebook or something else that your audience would appreciate. That’s much more effective than the old techniques, because everyone can get something, not just one winner. Plus, people will appreciate the gift, and likely not resist when you follow up later.

I was once told that I could sell as much as I wanted, but I couldn’t do a hard close from the stage in the 800-person room. So I had a bunch of purple bracelets made up that read “Just Believe,” and I invited the audience to visit our product table, where we would give them a bracelet and collect their contact details in order to send them some free information. At the table we added hundreds of people to our database, sold 92 copies of our Just Believe program and did about $300,000 in coaching — all without a hard close.

Walk Them Through, Show Them the Steps

A client of mine, who wasn’t even allowed to have a table in the back of the room, handed out a card for attendees to fill out in order to get a bonus. While it was a lot of work following up, he generated a lot of leads — and a lot of business from those leads.

This might feel awkward, but if you’re going to hand out a card, walk them through filling it out. While you’re on stage, pull out a pen, and write your name and contact information on the card, while asking them to do the same.

What you’re doing is creating a mild, uncomfortable situation. People pretty much do what they’re told to do, so they’re not going to just sit there like a schmuck. They’re going to fill out the card too. Then what are they going to do with the card? They’re going to give it to you. This kind of stuff really works. You just have to be calm and confident when you do it. If you have that confidence in yourself, you can walk in to any situation and turn a profit. So even if they say you can’t sell, just smile, because you’ve got the know-how to make a mint.

When it comes to topics in the speaking industry, you’re going to find “hard” or “soft.”

A “soft” topic is theoretical. It speaks in broad terms, as opposed to giving a person a strategy or system for change. “Personal growth,” “mindset,” and “influence” are examples of soft topics.

A “hard” topic is designed to effect change and get results. It would normally include a specific system or process for applying information in people’s lives. “7 Steps to Seven-Figure Sales” is a hard topic.

It’s Hard to Make Money with Soft Topics

Soft topics are appropriate in your coaching and teaching, or for keynotes, and they will sell some books as well, but if you’re trying to make money in back-of-the-room sales, they’re not a lucrative way to go.

The soft topic may be ground-breaking and fascinating, but if people aren’t shown how to apply the material, there’s no compelling reason to buy.

In addition, it’s difficult to even get speaking engagements, because promoters know that soft topics don’t sell. And since they’re typically receiving half of your sales, they’d be reluctant to book you.

A hard topic is another story. Promoters will book you, and people will shell out money for your products or programs, because they’re clearly designed to help people change their lives or businesses in specific ways.

Put a Hard Shell Around It

Thankfully, you can put a hard shell around almost any soft topic by articulating the specific system or strategy that allows purchasers to apply what they learn.

For instance, Ali Brown’s and my program,“7 Mindset and Manifesting Secrets of Multimillionaire Entrepreneurs,” is a hard shell around the soft topic of “mindset.”

Other examples include:

Soft: Finding Love After Divorce
Hard: 7 Never-Fail Steps to the Perfect First Date

Soft: The Science of Persuasion
Hard: 4 Pillars of Influence to Motivate the Most Skeptical Buyer

When you’re creating your hard shell, you want to use words such as:

Blueprint
Strategic plan
Step-by-step
Process
System

But creating a hard shell is not just about the words you use. You want to think hard as well, which may require a mindset shift of your own.

How to Think “Hard”

If you’re in the habit of thinking in broad, theoretical terms, start focusing on how other people can apply what you’re teaching.

What is the plan or process or system in what you teach? How can other people get results from it? And what are those results likely to be?

Once you start creating your products and speech topics with the results of your clients at the forefront, it won’t be long before you start seeing better results as well.

You’ll get more speaking gigs, you’ll sell more products and programs, your promoters will be happy, and your clients will finally experience the change that they’ve been seeking in their lives.

A few weeks ago I told you that your order form should include a written guarantee on the product that you’re selling in the back of the room.

Here’s why: The number of people who will actually return a product is very small, while the confidence that your guarantee provides can increase sales dramatically.

A guarantee lowers the level of risk in people’s minds, thus calming their fears, and helping them to get off the fence.

Longer Is Better

This may surprise you, but the longer the guarantee on your product, the fewer returns you’re likely to get.

That’s right, you’ll get fewer returns on a 12-month guarantee than you would on a guarantee that’s good for 30 days. Why? With a longer guarantee, people won’t feel the urgency to act, and so they’re less likely to do so.

Urgency to buy works in your favor. But urgency on the buyer to decide if they love and want to keep what they bought ~ that works against you.

So when you structure your guarantees, think like a quarterback, and go long.

Different Guarantees for Different Situations

When it comes to guarantees, one size does not fit all. You want the right guarantee for your situation, and in some cases, that’s no guarantee at all.

Coaching. I do NOT offer a guarantee for coaching, because, in order to get results, you have to do what I show you how to do. I can give you great information, the best information in the world, but there’s absolutely nothing that I can do to make you apply it.

Seminars. Currently, I offer a first-day guarantee on seminars. By the end of the first day, I should be able to show attendees enough value for them to want to stay for the length of our seminar.

Therefore, if they’re not absolutely convinced by the end of the first day that the seminar is everything we said it would be, we refund their entrance fee, plus reimburse them for up to $500 in travel expenses. The expenses need to be documented, of course.

Good Guarantees = Good Business

You're in business for life. You want to establish credibility. And you want people out there saying great things about you. Anything that you can do to make the experience with you and your company a fantastic one is better for you.

Show your clients that you and your company are top notch. Do it to the best of your ability.

Now, there will be some people you can't satisfy, no matter what you do. Don’t get overly upset about them.

Turn your attention to the other 99%, who will appreciate your efforts. They will be more likely to purchase because of your guarantee, and then, in all likelihood, never use it.

You’re in the home stretch of your presentation ~ the close. You’ve talked about the features of your program, told the audience the results they’re going to get, and the staff has just passed out the order forms.

Now, it’s time to answer an important question for the audience: Is the price right?

“Right” is not synonymous with “cheap.”

Find the Sweet Spot

“Right” is that sweet spot, the price point at which the product or program sells the best and brings you the most returns.

To find that sweet spot for your product, I encourage you to aim high initially, and then experiment. Raise and lower the price, until you find that magical, maximum price point that sells great.

If you want to speak at bigger conferences, you definitely want to aim high in your pricing. Promoters, who typically get 50% of your sales, just won’t make enough money if your packages are priced low, say at $49 or $149.

To make it worth their while, promoters are looking for packages that cost $800, $1,000, $2,000, or $5,000.

Of course, if you’re just starting out, smaller organizations will be happy to have you speak with your lower price points. And you can still make a very good income, while you gain experience and work up to those higher figures.

Discount or Value-Add?

During your presentation, you want to offer an incentive for your audience to buy now. One approach is to offer them a substantial discount if they purchase that day. Another is to add extra value through bonuses, creating a special package just for them if they purchase at your talk.

I have done it both ways, and, frankly, I don’t like discounting.

There are times, however, when it might be the right choice ~ for instance, if you’re talking to an audience with a strong poverty mindset.

If you are going to discount, 20% with some added value is probably the best place to be. I never would go beyond 30% in any case. Even with bargain shoppers, a 50% or 60% discount sets up a subconscious contradiction that says the product must not be very good.

So if you discount too much ~ or set your initial prices too low ~ you could actually lose sales you would have gotten if you’d raised your own bar a little higher.

Rather than discounting, I strongly prefer to add extra value to what I’m selling. That way the price seems like a bargain because they’re getting so much more than what they’re paying for.

For instance, I might add a book, a special report, a 15-minute consultation or another program: “If you purchase The Science of Getting Rich here today, I’ll give you a copy of Just Believe, which is a $195 value.” The audience will really appreciate that.

What About Cafeteria Pricing?

Cafeteria-style pricing is where you’ve got six, seven, eight, or nine products for sale at your table in the back of the room. The audience gets to pick and choose among a $97 program, a $12 book, a $597 program, etc.

Some people, including my mentor, do well with cafeteria pricing, but I don’t recommend it.

You’ll actually make more money if you bundle all of those same products into one or two packages. You could have one with a higher price point of $1,400 or $1,500, and another with a lower price point of say, $700 or $800.

The Bottom Line

Whichever approach you use, don’t forget that the audience is looking for a result, and if you’ve followed my steps to the tee, they’re going to be willing to pay for it.

Ask yourself: what is the value of the transformation I’m offering? What will it save them in time and money? What impact will it have on their lives?

Once you have a genuine handle on that, set your price accordingly.

If you want to have a prosperous close, you have to control the sales environment. Again, the close is the portion of your presentation that is specifically devoted to selling your product or service.

One of the quickest ways to lose control is to pass out your order form too early.

Picture it. What do you do when someone hands you a printed form? You start reading or scanning it.

So, if you hand out your form before you’ve had a chance to sell the audience on the specifics of your program, you’re going to lose them to their own thoughts and reaction to your prices.

You want them to feel excited and inspired by the results they’re going to get from your program before its price even enters the equation.

That’s why I say sell them on the results first, and then about 85% into your close, signal to your assistants that it’s time to pass out the forms.

Under no circumstances should the audience have the order form in hand before you even start your speech. That is sales suicide. The audience would just shut down, thinking you only want to sell to them, and wouldn’t listen to you at all.

Low Barrier to Entry

On your order form, don’t make it difficult for a person to buy your product or service.

You want your form to be clear, easy to read, and with a low barrier to entry, which means simple and manageable payment plans, a written service guarantee, and all of your contact details.

It's also a nice touch to have a photograph of yourself printed on the form for personalization.

If you have an ezine or a newsletter, you can also include a paragraph that, as part of their purchase, they’re getting a free subscription. Just make sure to use a professional ezine service, so that it’s easy for them to opt out later, if they choose.

Get What You Need as Well

Before the buyers leave your table, read over their form and be certain that you’ve collected everything you need to process their order ~ credit card number, name, address, phone number, and email address ~ and be sure that you can read it.

There’s nothing worse than getting home and finding incomplete credit card numbers, missing phone numbers, and illegible email addresses!

Just take a minute to read it over before you thank them for the order. You’ll both be glad you did.

They Want What You Have

You have to remember that your audience actually wants the information that you have ~ and they’re willing to pay for it. All they’re really looking for are these five things:

Are you credible?
Have you done this in the past?
Do you have good results?
Is it a good product?
And is the price right?

By this point in your presentation, you’ve covered four out of five. Unfortunately, the fifth is often a swing and a miss. That’s why I’m going to show you the best ~ and proven ~ pricing strategies next time.

If you’ve applied Steps 1-6 of my formula for a live presentation that sells, you’re rounding the bases and getting ready to slide into home.

You’re now ready for “the close” ~ the portion of your talk that is specifically devoted to selling the product or service that will be available in the back of the room after your presentation.

Many speakers get to this point and choke.

They’ve done a great job sharing their story and weaving it into their teaching (Step 6), but then when it’s time to transition to the close, they get awkward and lose momentum.

They seem to have forgotten that the purpose of their presentation is not to teach, but to sell.

Structure Your Teaching to Sell

To help avoid that problem make sure that the teaching portion of your talk is tightly related to the program you’re offering in the back of the room.

For instance, you’re teaching them two or three of your seven steps for doubling their income in 60 days, or one of the five ways to have the relationship they’ve always wanted.

Your teaching, then, is selling. It entices the audience, shows them what’s possible in their lives and businesses, and leaves them wanting more.

That way, the close becomes a natural extension of your teaching, and your program the answer to their desire.

Step 7: A Smooth Transition

When your teaching and close share the same goal of selling, transitioning from one to the other is easy. Just say something like this:

“For years we’ve been perfecting this information, doing everything that we possibly can to make it simple for you to implement it into your life right away. And we’re really excited to be able to offer that solution to you today.”

That’s all there is to it.

Step 8: The Close: Make It Doable

Now, just start talking about the specifics of your program, focusing on the results they’re going to get, what they’re going to learn, and how it will impact their lives.

Convey the strong impression that you have laid it all out for them as much as possible.

Without being deceptive, emphasize how easy and doable your program is.

Don’t overwhelm or confuse them with extraneous detail they don’t need in order to make the decision to buy.

For instance, if you’ve got a program on relationships, the people in your program are going to have to do internal work to get to the point where they’re having great relationships.

But, during the close, don’t talk about all of that internal work. They know they’re going to have to do some work, so you don’t have to highlight that fact.

If you make your program sound complicated or difficult, your audience will tune out and you will lose sales.

For the 15 or 20 minutes of the close, focus on how they’re going to benefit, and how easily your program will guide them to those results.

By the way, you’re delivering this information before you pass out your order form. I’ll pick it up here next time.

I told you before that you have to know your audience. A similar principle applies when you’re presenting at multi-speaker events. You need to know the other speakers as well.

When I’m speaking at a conference, I always ask for a list of the speakers, and also who’s on right before and after me.

If I don’t know those two presenters, in particular, I do research to find out these things:

What do they speak about? What are they selling in the back of the room? What are their price points? Are they going to contradict my work? Now, you could do your research and still not know exactly what the person before you is going to say ~ or there could be a last-minute change in the line-up.

That’s why it’s absolutely essential that you be in the room to hear at least the speaker who’s going on right before you.

Be in the Room
You need to know what the audience just heard and adjust your speech, if necessary.

Don’t change what you’re teaching, but if you’re going to tell the audience something contradictory to what they just heard, you want to acknowledge that to the audience, so they don’t sit there, confused and uncomfortable.

That can be as simple as saying, “The previous speaker has a different perspective on this, but in my twenty years of working with clients, I have found that…”

Or you might be following someone with an emotional story, and you want to be sensitive and skillful, particularly in your opening remarks.

For instance, a couple of years ago, I was speaking at a conference in Cancun, Mexico, that, due to airline problems, had to make last-minute changes in the line-up. One day, I ended up speaking after Dick and Rick Hoyt, the father and son team, who have competed as a unit in 1,000 marathons and Ironman competitions, Dick pushing his disabled son in specially designed wheelchairs.

When they finished speaking, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, and no presenter would want to follow them. Getting up there and telling the audience that you’ve got the greatest thing since sliced bread just would not work.

I had to figure out how to transition from their story to mine and still look good.

Because I was in the room, listening to them, and reading the audience, I was able to come up with that thoughtful transition, and we ended up getting great sales that day. If I hadn’t been there to hear their story, I could have seemed insensitive or irrelevant, and our results would not have been nearly as good.

Be Prepared
The Boy Scout motto applies here. Because no matter what you set up prior to going into a speaking engagement, you can be sure they’re going to change something once you get there.

If you’re not prepared, that change could mean the death of what you’re doing.

On the other hand, a little preparation goes a long way toward ensuring that you come out looking like a star with a bucketload of sales to show for it.