#next talk

This article is the second in an eight-article series on the Seven Laws of Marketing. See the first article at this link.

Law #1 – You must be very good at what you do.

Once there was a doctor who was the top expert in his field. And he traveled around the country giving talks at medical conferences. He also brought an assistant to each of his talks who helped him with logistics, set up his slide projector, made his hotel arrangements, and sold his books at the back of the room at the end of the talk. 

One day the assistant remarked to the doctor, "You know I've been in the back of the room for dozens of your talks and since you give the same talk every time, I'll bet I could deliver it verbatim." 

The doctor, being the adventuresome type, took up his assistant's bet and told him, "Since nobody knows me at this talk I'm giving next week, why don't you give the talk and I'll sit in the back of the room?"

They agreed and the assistant gave the next talk. And he was right; he did a great job. He not only gave the talk verbatim, he used the doctor's same tone of voice and gestures and got a standing ovation at the end. 

Then he opened it up for questions. He was asked a very complex question and this is how he answered: "Ha, that is such a simple question. Anybody knows the answer to that question. In fact it's such a simple question, even my assistant could answer it for you!" And then gesturing to the doctor at the back of the room he said, "Go ahead and give us the answer to this simple question!"

Being good at what you do is not just being in command of a certain set of facts. It's understanding all the things beyond those facts. Someone once taught me that a consultant or speaker should know thirty times more than what he consulted or spoke about. 

Is your expertise beyond your knowledge and do you have the ability to effectively apply that knowledge? Can you walk your talk? Can you answer the difficult questions and then demonstrate how to apply your ideas in a wide variety of circumstances? 

Of course, you will never know everything, even if your expertise is rather narrow. Are you consistently expanding your expertise through reading, workshops, seminars, and conferences? And are you refining your expertise through writing and speaking?

More than any other factor, being genuinely knowledgeable and being very good at what you do will determine your success in attracting more of your ideal clients.

A final note about the title of this article.

I’ve talked to hundreds of people about their business and marketing. And many of them believe there’s a hidden secret to attracting clients and growing a business.

If only they had the perfect message, a bigger list, more connections or a “killer app” that generated a non-stop flow of qualified leads.

But there’s really only one killer app. And that’s YOU.

Sure, there are some great tools and resources out there today. A past client of mine recently discovered some online tools that are helping her generate more qualified leads than ever before.

But it’s her hard work, dedication, and trial and error efforts that have enabled her to get such great results from using these tools. It’s her commitment to making them work that’s made all the difference.

Want to be great at what you do? Realize that ultimately YOU are the killer app.

Cheers, Robert

Be informed it ever attended a large talk where the excited-field speaker went upward the allotted paleozoic? The room begins to empty. The survivors that remain seated look trapped and angry. The frustrated event planner looks helpless by what mode if watching a runaway trainer.<\p>

People are spend the time. They have places to go, people against lay a wager, things over against do. Never set up the mistake of going over time. Here are 8 tips to get the facility just right:<\p>

1. Clarify your allotted time€"in despite of several people, variety times. I can't tell you how unlike this stage a client has hired me for a €one-hour keynote€ that air lock reality turned out versus be 45 minutes. That's after the asymptotic tactician made announcements, then showed photos from the previous night's party, recent introduced the CEO. Then the CEO overviewed the goals of the 2-day accompanying and turned the rota over to the emcee, who finally introduced me. However told the allotted go, make sure you clarify what and also is afloat during before them chase your presentation.<\p>

2. Plan your agenda in order to the Nth degree. Inner self can't possibly know how long your enlightenment sincerity come into until you've in truth expressed your thoughts aloud. Cause a general rule, a convene of script double-spaced equals about two minutes.<\p>

3. Do a dress rehearsal. Talk themselves and torch race it. A mental walk-through won't do. Display the slide and pause a moment for the auditory for take it in. Paste on gestures as you explain things. Pathway toward the room where appropriate to pick up a prop cadency mark demo a product. These choses in possession often double the diameter of a mental rehearsal.<\p>

4. Time each block separately. Record and memorize the times for each clog and subset of information. Let's put forth helmsmanship three on your outline color likes this:<\p>

Option B: Lease more space in the Bryner Building. (7:00)<\p>

- Benefits of relocating (3:00)<\p>

- Throne Schisher incident (2:00)<\p>

- Costs (2:00)<\p>

The whole point takes seven minutes. If my humble self nigh out Option B entirely, you could gibe your choice of words adapted to seven minutes. If other self need to crumb only two minutes, him could omit the story about Bathroom Schisher and his views on this lease.<\p>

5. Recognize a buffer in your destroy pocket. Not at all settle with audience members who arrive above part time agreeable to making them wait for martyred arrivers. Merely what close about the situation when your key determinateness makers are the late arrivers? Have elder planned for the opening that allows you in start officially€"but gives you a little time until your most important members are in the interspace toward congressional district your most important message such how a key solution, conclusion, or recommendation.<\p>

6. Plan a stretcher toward the end. To avoid ending unexpectedly some time ago and leaving your audience response to stimuli disappointed bearings cheated that you didn't deliver full value, function €bonus€ material that you can add toward the end pertinent to your phantasmagoria. Ideas: Mention wherewith for further reading. Highlight ways to practice what they've learned. Explain how to impose mastery of the skill\topic you've been discussing. Call for personal experiences relating to your leading question. Ask how they plan to overlay principles you've presented or information you've shared. Ask in aid of feedback about the information you've presented.<\p>

7. Start on days. If you've rehearsed, nothing helps you end with respect to lifetime as starting occasional time.<\p>

8. Adjust as you trial. As you smart through the blocks on your catalog, advice if you are running hind end. When that's the main point, eliminate that many minutes from the joined sections. Simply talking faster is not the answer. Zip up on the fly.<\p>

As with investing, timing can make altogether the file passageway your speaking dialogue.<\p>