Because I coach people in public speaking, I often hear the lame excuse: “but I’m not a speaker.”
Are you sure? Because I’ve never met any professional who didn’t need to speak in their role. Mastery of the spoken word is a crucial tool in every business. Think about all the places you talk about work: Networking, engaging, connecting, and building relationships are key to your success. Imagine your broker asking you to speak to the community, or share your story to the new real estate recruits. Whatever the situation, a serious professional always treats an opportunity to speak as an opportunity to grow their business.
But maybe the interpersonal ‘talking’ doesn’t bother you as much as ‘speaking’ does. I’ve met people who are so afraid of public speaking they’ve organized their professional lives so they can do as little of it as possible. This always backfires.
What happens is that, sooner or later, a situation arises when they can’t avoid speaking.
Imagine you’re a recognized expert on a certain subject, and you’ve been asked for an interview in a trade publication. You loathe public speaking Because you haven’t built up any public speaking skills, you’re going to treat an interview like a conversation. It isn’t.
Conversations are spontaneous exchanges. Interviews are more similar to presentations. Like presentations, nothing can sink an interview faster than lack of preparation. The Interviewers will likely give you just enough prompting to talk about your subject, so you need to be able to speak with authority and conviction. If you aren’t prepared, you’ll sound awkward. Because interviews can be seen and read by so many people, doing them well is crucial no matter how infrequently they come up.
It isn’t just interviews that call for public speaking skills. One of the most popular forms of media today is the podcast. Already popular and growing daily, it seems everybody and their dog has a podcast these days. Like interviews, podcasts are often listened to by large audiences. Unlike interviews, their overall structure can be much looser. While some podcasts are quite structured, others have a more conversational style much like talk radio. How do you prepare when you don’t know what to expect? Have three key messages ready. If you’re asked a question you don’t immediately know how to respond to, do your best to loop around to one of your key messages. You’ll notice career politicians do this a lot when asked ‘curveball’ questions.
You have opportunities to speak and share every day and if you are not prepared and confident you will lose opportunities everyday. If you know you attract clients through word of mouth, the mouth should know how to share your message loud and clear.
Using the spoken word is key in your business. Make sure your key opens doors instead of locking them.