by Rick Baker
On Aug 6, 2010
Sales Tweet #15 Ernest Seller gets no respect. When he was a boy his parents hid his lemonade stand.
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Ernest Seller is a natural born salesman. He believes sales people are born - not taught. But, we won't dwell on that now. Now, Ernest is a first-born child and we know the direction that takes us. Yes, Ernest's parents suffered long. Nothing had prepared them for a little human being of the likes of Ernest, a natural-born salesman. So, when, just after he had learned to walk and talk, Ernest set up a lemonade stand and took on the role of producer, barker, pourer, and cashier his poor parents were tested to the limit. It started with little things like neighbours claiming the lemonade had been watered down. In fairness to Ernest, that is just an allegation - it was never proven. But, when Ernest put up detour signs and had the neighbours' cars doing the drive-thru thing over their front yard...well Ernest's parents had to draw a line.
by Rick Baker
On Aug 5, 2010
‘How to Give a Damn Good Speech’…that’s the name of a book written by Philip R. Theibert.
When I find books like this, I like to create summaries so I can look at them when I am preparing a presentation. I find it helpful to look at different perspectives.
Here is a summary of some of the points made by the author
The Basics of a Good Speech
- Identify your topic and goal
- Write your opening line
- Identify a few key points
- Support your key thoughts
- Wrap it up with a summarizing conclusion
Beyond Basic – To a Damn Good Speech!
- Acknowledge your audience
- Take a moment to define your terms!
- Clarify your qualifications
- Address audience biases
- Tell them what you are going to talk about!
- Tell the audience why they should care
- Back up your points with stories
- Back up your points with facts
- Back up your points with history
- Build strong transitions
- Wrap it up
- Include a call to action
- Conclude with the beginning
A couple of thoughts..
Take a moment to define your terms! and Address audience biases: these are interesting facets. Under Take a moment to define your terms! we need to avoid industry jargon and keep our words simpler/straightforward. We can not assume others understand ‘our world’ or our train of thought. On the other hand we can excel if we are able to accurately discover and understand then Address audience biases.
We need to understand the audience…that takes preparation.
We need to do what we can to make sure the audience understands us…that takes preparation.
More on speeches and presentations in future blogs…
by Rick Baker
On Aug 5, 2010
Sales Tweet #14 Ernest Seller gets no respect. He asked his boss for a raise and his boss placed him on a filing cabinet.
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Some people think Ernest's boss is a mean guy. But, Ernest doesn't see it that way. Ernest thinks his boss isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Ernest was raised to believe people who are all muscles and look like football linebackers often are not gifted with the huge brainpower bestowed upon all those in the Seller family. So, when his boss does strange things like placing Ernest on top of filing cabinets Ernest cuts his boss some slack. The same applies when Ernest's boss gets angry...and that happens a lot when Ernest is in the room so... [more about Ernest's boss in future Sales Tweets]