3 Pitching Lessons from Shark Tank
School holidays are great. I get to spend more time with the kids and the after school activities wind down. As a result I was able to sit down and enjoy Shark Tank this week. It’s fascinating to see the different styles of pitch that the business owners deliver in the hope of securing an…
Three Techniques to stand out from the competition when you speak
Whether you like it or not you are competing with many factors to get the attention of the people you want to reach and influence. From the events occurring in their lives, the simple distractions (like their phones), through to your competitors there are many distractions that will keep the attention of your audience away…
Its not business… It is Personal!
Someone like Gordon Gecko might say “Its not personal… Its business!”. But, for most of us business is personal. Before anybody will do any business with your organisation they need to like, know, and trust the person representing the business.
For a sales presentation scenario this means that the client needs to feel that the person delivering the pitch warrants trust. For the person delivering the presentation this means that the opening part of the presentation needs to be dedicated to getting the attention of the audience AND establishing a rapport with the key members of the audience.
Why making a connection matters
Before you can influence, you must connect with your audience. This has been proven in University studies. At Stanford University students were asked to pair off and discuss a class problem and come to an agreement. 55 percent of the pairings were able to come to an agreement. A second class was asked to do…
