Tag: know your audience

Dear David,

I’ve been in the coaching industry for about 5 years now, and I’m ready (and willing) to finally up-level both my ideal client and my price points. I feel I’m ready to work with a much more advanced business owner as I myself have become incredibly advanced.

Here’s my problem. I have a list full of beginners. How do I start to build a new list of my up-leveled client? Any down and dirty suggestions?

Thanks!

My first suggestion to you would be to create a new avatar.

Don’t get me wrong; you can still market your new programs to your list. There’s actually a very good chance that there are some ideal clients hiding in there just waiting for you to start speaking directly to them.

However, in order for you to identify new opportunities to get in front of this new audience (outside of your list), you must first get very clear in regards to what this new client wants, what they are struggling with, and how they think.

The fastest way to build a new client list is to physically speak in front of them. This means you must know what their priorities are and then locate where large groups of your new avatar gather.

For example, if your new client is a 6-figure business owner who really wants to build their business on-line, you’d be smart to look at upcoming conferences and seminars teaching that topic, and see if you can get a speaking spot.

This positions you very well and allows you to speak directly to your new market.

PS: The Neagle Code: Directions for Life is a weekly no-cost program that is open to everyone! Each week, I'll select and personally respond to one question received via the above “The Neagle Code” page that I feel in my heart will help the most people. (You may choose to remain anonymous if you wish, with our full support.) It is my deep, heartfelt intention that ~ in answering your questions ~ I may provide you with the Universal Truths that in committed application, will set you free. Simply submit YOUR burning question at: www.DavidNeagle.com/ask-david to participate.

When I’m doing a 90-minute presentation, I don’t actually move into the close until I determine that the audience is ready to buy my program or service. (The close is the last part of your talk, where you present the benefits, features, and cost of what you’re selling that day.)

How in the world do I determine that the audience is ready to buy?

I test, which I’ll explain in a moment, and I also observe.

For instance, people in the audience taking notes is a very good sign. It means they’re really interested in what I’m saying.

Conversely, if people are sitting in the audience with their arms crossed, and there’s not a whole lot of response going on, I haven’t gotten through to them yet. So I actually need to change what I’m doing or I won’t get many sales.

Test Their Readiness to Buy
I actually test the audience’s interest and engagement throughout my speech.

Several times, I’ll ask, “Is this making sense?” while raising my own hand. Then I see how many people in the audience 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 going and transforming my talk.

This requires me to do a little thinking on my feet. I may bring in other stories or testimonials or whatever I think is necessary to show the audience why they need the information I have. I do that until most of the audience is raising their hands.

Then I know they’re ready for a “test close.”

I’ll ask, “How many of you think that this would benefit you? How many of you would really like to double your income in the next 30 to 60 days?” I raise my hand, and look at theirs.

If their hands aren’t up, they haven’t bought what I’m selling yet, and I’m not moving into the close until they do.

Now, obviously, if I’m on someone else’s stage, at a certain point, I have to close. I can’t be booted off the stage without closing. But, also, I can’t force or oversell the close.

The truth is, you don’t actually sell during the close. You sell prior to it. Think about it, if you haven’t sold them on the value of your program when you’re showing them in detail how it has transformed your and other people’s lives, you’re unlikely to sell them on it later.

However, once you have sold them on the value of what you’re offering, once there’s a sea of hands in that room, you can safely move into the close. You can be confident that there will be a clamor for the back of the room ~ and a very nice payday for you and your promoter ~ when you’re done.

PS: The Neagle Code: Directions for Life is a weekly no-cost
program that is open to everyone! Each week, I'll select and personally respond to one question received via the above “The Neagle Code” page that I feel in my heart will help the most people. (You may choose to remain anonymous if you wish, with our full support.) It is my deep, heartfelt intention that ~ in answering your questions ~ I may provide you with the Universal Truths that in committed application, will set you free. Simply submit YOUR burning question at: www.DavidNeagle.com/ask-david to participate.

If the devil’s in the details, Step 5 of my formula for a live presentation that sells is a classic example. It may seem like a small point, but ignoring it could cost you thousands in sales.

Step 5: A Smooth Transition
After you’ve established with testimonials and case studies 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 then say:

“I know that a lot of you may be thinking to yourself, ‘How can I do what Elaine did? How can I make a lot of money in a short period of time?’

“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.

If your transition is absent or disjointed, the audience may get confused. Then their minds may start wandering to what they’re going to have for dinner, and you could lose them for good.

If your transition is smooth, however, you keep all of their attention riveted on you as you move into your story.

Step 6: Your Inspiring Story
Every one of us has a story of how we came to be where we are. If you’re speaking for the purpose of sales, that inspiring, rags-to-riches story is central to your presentation.

Your story may literally be rags to riches. Perhaps you grew up in poverty or were homeless for a period of time. Maybe you lived next door to a drug dealer like I did. Or, maybe for decades, you couldn’t get a date to save your life.

You went through a difficult time, and then figured out how to get out of it, and today you have the riches to show for it. You have a thriving business or a great partner or whatever is relevant for what you’re teaching and selling that day.

People Hear with Their Emotions
Whatever your story, it must come from your heart and be emotional. If you tell your story honestly and dig deep inside, you’ll start to feel the emotions you were going through at the time.

Let yourself express those emotions on the stage. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I pound the podium.

That’s actually very powerful because emotions resonate with the audience. They’ll feel them too and make a real connection with you.

That’s why speaking is such an effective way to make sales. People listen with their ears, but they hear with their emotions..

In fact, unless they’re emotionally invested in what you’re doing, you’re not going to sell them a damn thing.

They’ll just sit there, rationalizing away their genuine need for your program.

But if you get them emotionally involved, they’re much more likely to buy.

In fact, they’re very likely to buy. As I’ve said, 30% of the people in my audiences buy what I’m selling.

And if you transition smoothly to your powerfully told story, the same could be true for you.

If you’ve followed Steps 1 and 2 in this series, your speaking audience is hanging on your every word, just waiting for what comes next.

What comes next isn’t sexy, but it’s one of the most crucial steps of all.

You have to lay down the rules.

If you don’t, it’s very likely that you’ll lose control of the room.

Since no one really likes rules, refer to them as guidelines. Try saying something like this:

“Here are the guidelines that I have found work best for my 90-minute talk. If we could all follow these things, everything is going to go great. Otherwise, it’s going to take me three hours to get the information out.”

And then you give them your rules, the most important of which is: no questions.

Don’t Take Questions
That’s right. If you’re speaking for the purposes of sales, do NOT allow questions. (This does not apply when you’re teaching a live seminar, teleseminar, or when you’re coaching. Questions are appropriate then.)

When you allow your audience to ask questions, the agenda shifts from yours to that of the person asking the question. You probably, then, won’t have time to complete your presentation, and you’ll most certainly lose sales.

Here are a couple of the other pitfalls of allowing questions:

You don’t know who’s in that room. If somebody has asked you to come in to speak, even if you know the demographics or sociographics of the individuals in the room, you don’t know precisely who is sitting in those seats. And you don’t know what questions they’re going to have.

You could get a real ass in the audience, somebody who would take pleasure in discrediting you and making you look foolish. Then you’ve got a big problem on your hands.

Unhappy customer/unhappy person. You can’t please everyone, so no matter how great your product or service is, there could be someone in the room who wasn’t happy with it, and they may want everyone to know. Or perhaps you say something that triggers someone in the audience. If they don’t take responsibility for their own emotions, they may take out their anger on you.

Unless you’re an experienced speaker, it’s very difficult to come back from situations like those and walk out of that room looking better than when you walked in. The negative impact on your sales can be dramatic.

How to Phrase It
Now, members of your audience will have questions, so you want to be sensitive with your phrasing. Try something like this:

“I want to make sure that you get your questions answered. However, I only have a very short time up here to tell you how you could double your income in the next 90 days. So I’m going to ask that you hold your questions for now. After my talk, I’ll be around in the back of the room, so if you want to ask me questions at that time, please feel free to do so.”

Your audience now understands the reason for the rule, you have their tacit agreement to hold their questions and, most important, you have control of the room.

You can now start to build your foundation for massive back-of-the-room sales. I’ll pick that up next time.

As I said last time, before you do a presentation for the purpose of sales, you have to find out about the audience: their background, their needs and so on.

You want to use that information for your benefit and theirs. While still being true to yourself, you might tailor your content or delivery somewhat. In any case, you want to know how they’re likely to receive your message.

As my story below shows, ignorance is definitely not bliss. Not knowing your audience can be a fatal mistake.

My Blunder
A decade ago a network-marketing company brought me in to speak the first night of an event, and then twice more during the weekend. I was familiar with the company, but not with the particular group of people who made up the audience of 1,200.

If you’ve heard me speak, you know that I may use profanity to get a point across or snap people out of their mental hypnosis.

Also, it’s part of my story about being sucked into the dam. When that happened, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Shit!” So when I told the audience that story the first night, it seemed perfectly natural to convey what I’d said.

I came back to speak the next day, thinking that the talk had gone well and we were going to make a ton of sales. Instead, as I was about to get onstage, the promoter told me that I had offended almost everybody in the audience.

“You have to be kidding me,” I said. “I’ve been telling that story for years. What do you mean?”

“You swore on the stage,” he said.

“Yes, but that’s part of my story.”

“These are all hard-core Christians,” he said. “They came up to me in droves after you left, telling me how offended they were.”

After our conversation, I did my second presentation. And while I was able to salvage the situation somewhat, we did not get the sales that weekend that we should—or could—have.

I believe in taking responsibility for every situation in our lives, so when I looked at this one squarely, I realized the problem was I hadn’t done my research. Because I knew the group, I assumed that I knew everything I needed to know about the audience.

Had I known that this particular promoter had developed a following of Christians who would be offended by swearing, I probably would have toned down my language. Then, instead of offending them, I could have drawn them in with the absolute miracle of my survival.

After all, they and I were devout when it came to Spirit, so they could have felt a real connection to me.

I could have built upon that connection to effect transformation for them and make a lot of sales for me.

Instead, I lost a powerful opportunity by my failure to ask the promoter these four simple questions:

1. What is the background of the audience?

2. What are their main challenges or concerns?

3. What do you hope or expect the audience to learn from me? Why have you invited me to speak?

4. What is your background?

With the answers to those questions, I would have the information I needed to create a powerful and profitable experience for everyone.

Learn from my mistake. Do your research and get to know your audience. It’s not very difficult, and you’ll be so glad you did.