by Bill Webb, MIRM
Brought to you by the Builder Relations Committee of the Sales and Marketing Council of the Northeast Florida Builders Association and Lennar
Q: How can public speaking benefit my career as a salesperson?
A: First off, let me confess that I love public speaking. It is the icing on my professional cake. It’s not the real work I do for my clients; it’s grown-up dress-up. When I get it right on the platform, the positive feedback is immediate and intoxicating. Best of all, I know in my heart it’s my opportunity to influence people’s business lives for the good - trusting they’ll use their career success to create personal and family success. That’s all that counts, and it’s all good.
But then, that’s just me. Let’s talk about you.
The link between public speaking and career success as a salesperson is direct, as I see it. Making a sales presentation IS public speaking, isn’t it? Let’s see. In selling homes, the onus is on you to know your subject, organize your thoughts, present them to someone you may not know very well, observe their reaction, react yourself, guide them to the conclusion that’s best for them and celebrate your victory. Those are exactly the same elements involved in making a platform presentation. It’s just that in selling homes, your audience is pretty small; just one or two persons.
So what is it about expanding the audience to one or two hundred persons that creates a problem? Darned if I know, but I’ll tell you right now, it does.
Maybe it’s a sense of vulnerability or fear of embarrassment that raises the ante.
It is certainly true you can damage yourself if you blow it in front of a group. If the fear of that overwhelms you, you’re toast. But, I’m trying to convince you right here that you’re already adept at public speaking because you are a salesperson. All you’ve got to do is get comfortable with a larger audience.
As for me, I give myself permission to fail. I don’t want to. I work hard not to. But in the end, I just surrender to whatever is going to happen. It’s the surrendering that seems to make it work out. It’s a principle I discovered from speaking that I teach to salespersons selling homes. Know your stuff. Prepare yourself. Then, let it happen.
We’ve kind of come full circle haven’t we? Selling homes IS public speaking.
Q: How do you overcome anxiety about public speaking?
A: Get ready for this . . . you don’t. Anxiety ahead of time comes with the territory, and it’s a good thing. If you’re not up for what is about to happen, your chances of failure increase a lot - maybe not because your voice quivers and your hands shake, but because you’re boring.
I think nerves are a sign of respect for your audience. They fuel your presentation and create the wonderful release that comes from getting it right.
You should have seen Bob Schultz, MIRM, and I backstage at last year’s Sales Management Summit program at the IBS in Las Vegas. You think Bob knows his stuff and can command a stage? I do. But before we went on, we were pacing around back there like a couple of expectant fathers. It was genuinely funny.
Q: How do you keep an audience engaged?
A: Make sure it’s about them and not about you. Speak with them, not to them. Make eye contact with individuals, randomly around the room, one by one, and when you find a connection, hold it for a moment.
Take a clue from Hillary Clinton’s pre-speech ritual of pointing at individuals and recognizing them with a special smile, wink or nod. She knows everyone in the audience wants to feel a special bond with her because it makes them feel important. It’s a good principle to follow - making sure it’s about them and not about you.
Q: What educational opportunities are available to enhance your public speaking?
A: Well, I suppose you would always do well to take one of the courses offered by one of the long-time providers you’d find in the (gasp) Yellow Pages or on Google. The Institute of Residential Marketing offers a superb Train the Trainer course that I heartily recommend. But, the best teacher of all is experience. Just do it. You’ll be great!