Think Differently, Speak Differently, Sell More!

1 00:00:12,334 --> 00:00:15,634 Welcome to the sell the sizzle podcast. 2 00:00:16,339 --> 00:00:27,704 If you need so you can be a sizzling success. 3 00:00:28,324 --> 00:00:29,144 Let's go. 4 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:35,920 Hello, Sizzlers. 5 00:00:36,060 --> 00:00:39,359 This is Mick Holly, and I am very excited. 6 00:00:39,820 --> 00:00:46,445 I have a guest who's speaking on a topic that's very dear and interesting to my heart. 7 00:00:47,064 --> 00:00:55,620 The title of today's podcast is Think differently speak differently and sell more. 8 00:00:55,679 --> 00:01:02,195 And what we're going to be focusing on today is that thing that scares a lot of people, the 9 00:01:02,195 --> 00:01:07,974 ability to speak, the ability to address large groups, get your message over. 10 00:01:08,290 --> 00:01:10,609 And we've all had to do this at some point. 11 00:01:10,609 --> 00:01:19,015 So I'm delighted that my guest Steve Lowell is an award winning speaker having, authored 4 12 00:01:19,015 --> 00:01:26,700 best sellers, but more importantly, I think for this conversation, he's going to draw on his 13 00:01:26,700 --> 00:01:32,640 insights from giving over 3500 keynote speeches. 14 00:01:33,814 --> 00:01:36,795 And, he's been recognized for his prowess. 15 00:01:37,974 --> 00:01:45,969 He's the past president of the global global speakers foundation and the past president of 16 00:01:45,969 --> 00:01:48,870 the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. 17 00:01:49,569 --> 00:01:52,584 So He has a lot to say. 18 00:01:52,584 --> 00:01:57,224 I'm hoping he's has a lot of different things to say that will help us sell more. 19 00:01:57,224 --> 00:01:59,164 So Steve, welcome to the show. 20 00:01:59,799 --> 00:01:59,959 Hey. 21 00:01:59,959 --> 00:02:00,599 Thanks, Mick. 22 00:02:00,599 --> 00:02:01,719 It's really great to be here. 23 00:02:01,719 --> 00:02:06,359 And by the way, I wanna congratulate you on the enormity of your success and the work that 24 00:02:06,359 --> 00:02:06,920 you're doing. 25 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,275 I've I've been watching you for a while, and you're doing some really transformative stuff. 26 00:02:10,275 --> 00:02:11,634 So congratulations to you. 27 00:02:11,634 --> 00:02:13,155 That's very gracious of you, Steve. 28 00:02:13,155 --> 00:02:14,115 I appreciate that. 29 00:02:14,115 --> 00:02:21,560 So, I'm sure that, I'm sure well, actually just tell us a little bit about yourself, Steve, 30 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,375 because that little clue there past president, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, 31 00:02:26,594 --> 00:02:29,735 I'd put a stake in the ground and say perhaps you might be Canadian. 32 00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:30,889 Yep. 33 00:02:30,889 --> 00:02:32,009 That's a pretty good guess. 34 00:02:32,169 --> 00:02:34,750 Born and raised in in Ottawa, Canada. 35 00:02:35,769 --> 00:02:38,489 And, I started, everything there. 36 00:02:38,489 --> 00:02:43,564 I started entertaining at the age of Mick, and that put me in front of an audience, you know, 37 00:02:43,564 --> 00:02:44,844 for the the first time. 38 00:02:44,844 --> 00:02:48,764 And, I was I wasn't a speaker then, of course, because I didn't have a whole lot to say at six 39 00:02:48,764 --> 00:02:50,430 years but I was a guitar player. 40 00:02:50,430 --> 00:02:54,189 I was like, you know, entertainer, and I engaged the audience and speak to the audience 41 00:02:54,189 --> 00:02:54,909 and tell stories. 42 00:02:54,909 --> 00:02:56,349 And and that just sort of grew. 43 00:02:56,349 --> 00:03:00,375 And by the time I was in my early teens, I had my own band. 44 00:03:00,594 --> 00:03:02,275 And I wasn't the singer in the band. 45 00:03:02,275 --> 00:03:04,694 I was the the guitar player and the front man. 46 00:03:04,915 --> 00:03:09,200 And then, you know, over Over time, what happened was, you know, I learned that in the 47 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,919 speaking business, you're either eating steak or you're eating craft dinner and hot dogs. 48 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,020 And, you know, there's not much in between. 49 00:03:16,185 --> 00:03:20,424 And by the time I was in my late teens, early twenties, I was getting sick of craft dinner 50 00:03:20,424 --> 00:03:22,764 and hot dogs and steak was nowhere in sight. 51 00:03:22,824 --> 00:03:27,069 And, and so what I tell people, people ask me, you know, how did get into speaking. 52 00:03:27,370 --> 00:03:31,049 So one of the stories I tell him is, you know, I was I ended up in music. 53 00:03:31,049 --> 00:03:35,504 I was doing a solo thing, which is me and the guitar and singing and people would come and 54 00:03:35,504 --> 00:03:40,384 hear me sing and they'd say, you know, Steve, maybe you should just say the words. 55 00:03:40,384 --> 00:03:43,979 And so, that's why it became a I became a speaker. 56 00:03:43,979 --> 00:03:45,520 So that's one story that I tell. 57 00:03:45,580 --> 00:03:47,580 So I've been sort of doing it ever since. 58 00:03:47,580 --> 00:03:50,319 So that begs the question, Steve. 59 00:03:51,694 --> 00:03:58,495 Which didn't occur to me before you started speaking, but answer me this question because 60 00:03:58,495 --> 00:04:03,210 our audience probably have this belief system somewhere in the head. 61 00:04:04,550 --> 00:04:12,935 Are you born to entertain and speak, or can you learn it because, you know, from a very early 62 00:04:12,935 --> 00:04:16,455 age, you clearly had a gift, right, came naturally to you. 63 00:04:16,455 --> 00:04:19,670 So for those of us it it doesn't come naturally to. 64 00:04:19,670 --> 00:04:21,129 What would you say to us? 65 00:04:21,590 --> 00:04:23,270 I think the answer is yes to both. 66 00:04:23,270 --> 00:04:29,394 I think that there are people who were born, to to do it with a natural gift, then I think that 67 00:04:29,394 --> 00:04:32,774 there are people who, have to work very hard at developing. 68 00:04:33,370 --> 00:04:34,089 That gift. 69 00:04:34,089 --> 00:04:36,250 So for example, I'll go back back to music. 70 00:04:36,250 --> 00:04:39,689 I I know people who were just born to play Mick, you know. 71 00:04:39,930 --> 00:04:45,775 And I thought I was born to play music, but it turned out I had to work very, very hard, to do 72 00:04:45,775 --> 00:04:47,694 what I could see other people doing easily. 73 00:04:47,694 --> 00:04:53,319 So my gift ends up being speaking and teaching speaking is actually my real gift. 74 00:04:53,319 --> 00:05:00,134 And so in my experience, I don't know that I've met anybody who is incapable of learning how to 75 00:05:00,134 --> 00:05:01,514 be an effective speaker. 76 00:05:01,735 --> 00:05:07,330 I've met people who are unwilling to put the work in to become an effective speaker, but I I 77 00:05:07,330 --> 00:05:12,310 believe that there are some people who just have the it factor, you know, whatever it is 78 00:05:12,625 --> 00:05:15,205 and there are some people who have to work at it. 79 00:05:15,264 --> 00:05:20,180 But I believe that anybody with a story, a message, something that's important to their 80 00:05:20,339 --> 00:05:22,759 important to their soul with a mission, a message. 81 00:05:22,979 --> 00:05:27,539 I believe anybody can be taught to bring that mission or message to the world through the 82 00:05:27,539 --> 00:05:29,560 spoken word in one way or another. 83 00:05:30,644 --> 00:05:31,144 Fantastic. 84 00:05:31,845 --> 00:05:38,805 So so so tell me, let let's let's bring some some relief and some structure to this thing 85 00:05:38,805 --> 00:05:43,100 differently and speak differently, elements, if you will, Steve. 86 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:50,955 So it's it's really not that complicated, but this is what I've learned over the years. 87 00:05:51,415 --> 00:05:53,615 So first of all, I wanna start with this. 88 00:05:53,615 --> 00:05:58,080 I wanna take the whole speaking world and I wanna break it into 2 very simple categories. 89 00:05:58,379 --> 00:06:02,860 And the first category is going to be, you know, the speak for a fee where we are 90 00:06:02,860 --> 00:06:03,660 professional speakers. 91 00:06:03,660 --> 00:06:04,779 We go from one stage. 92 00:06:04,779 --> 00:06:05,485 We do our thing. 93 00:06:05,485 --> 00:06:05,964 They pay us. 94 00:06:05,964 --> 00:06:08,444 We go to the next, and that's how we make a living. 95 00:06:08,444 --> 00:06:11,425 And and I played in that world for for quite a while. 96 00:06:11,485 --> 00:06:16,899 But what I found is that for me and so many others, the real opportunities in in speaking, 97 00:06:16,899 --> 00:06:22,845 not just to monetize and to sell, but to change the world and to offer value is the other side 98 00:06:22,845 --> 00:06:27,824 of speaking, which is where you speak, and you may not collect a fee. 99 00:06:28,125 --> 00:06:32,769 In fact, you may even pay to be in front of some of those audiences But it gives you an 100 00:06:32,769 --> 00:06:38,310 opportunity to be free with your message with, you know, you're not burdened with the same 101 00:06:38,449 --> 00:06:43,814 level of you know, level of care, duty of care when you're being paid in a bit more freedom 102 00:06:43,814 --> 00:06:47,095 and you can often make an offer and you can generate business and that kind of thing. 103 00:06:47,095 --> 00:06:49,360 So I chose to play on that side of the game. 104 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:55,660 And what I found is the think differently piece took me, you know, a long time to learn, Mick, 105 00:06:55,759 --> 00:07:03,854 and and that is to think differently that my purpose in front of an audience was to sell, to 106 00:07:03,854 --> 00:07:08,500 get them to hire me, to get them to buy my program, to get them to buy my book, to get 107 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:09,639 them to sign up. 108 00:07:09,939 --> 00:07:17,095 And that mindset was a mindset that caused me enormous amount of hardship and difficulty. 109 00:07:17,555 --> 00:07:22,535 So the think differently started with putting myself in a mindset of service. 110 00:07:22,949 --> 00:07:27,449 And you did one episode in in your, you know, in in your podcast. 111 00:07:27,509 --> 00:07:30,089 And I I believe it was called closing as a service. 112 00:07:30,175 --> 00:07:36,975 And and it really drew me because the whole process in my judgment of speaking in order to 113 00:07:36,975 --> 00:07:39,459 generate business is a service. 114 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:45,040 And so I had to get myself in this mindset of service so that whenever I speak, I wanna be in 115 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:49,995 service to that audience, And if it happens to generate revenue so much the better, and there 116 00:07:49,995 --> 00:07:53,935 are techniques and and and, you know, tactics that we can use to make that happen. 117 00:07:53,959 --> 00:07:58,039 But that's the first thing is to think differently in terms of being in service to the 118 00:07:58,039 --> 00:07:58,539 audience. 119 00:07:58,839 --> 00:07:59,500 And then 120 00:08:02,615 --> 00:08:04,395 Thank you for doing your research. 121 00:08:04,535 --> 00:08:09,915 So, Sizzlers, as you're listening to Steve, on the show, think about this. 122 00:08:10,019 --> 00:08:16,180 He he's he's come on to this podcast, and he's already demonstrated one of, I'm sure, we'll 123 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:21,314 talk about one of the founding principles of being you know, impactful with your audience is 124 00:08:21,314 --> 00:08:23,735 he already tried to understand the audience. 125 00:08:23,795 --> 00:08:28,959 He's already looked at the material, absorbed the material forms of opinions and being able 126 00:08:28,959 --> 00:08:30,319 to play that back to me. 127 00:08:30,319 --> 00:08:35,459 So that was, that was very impressive demonstration of your of your craft, Steve. 128 00:08:35,519 --> 00:08:37,059 And I agree with you. 129 00:08:37,995 --> 00:08:46,440 The the reason for the episode on, on closing it as a service is to take away the fear of 130 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:51,160 trying to feel as though you gotta pressure somebody that you've gotta push somebody that 131 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:56,764 you've gotta compromise your integrity to force them to buy your product or service. 132 00:08:56,825 --> 00:08:59,085 Well, in reality, you're providing information. 133 00:08:59,625 --> 00:09:01,245 You're helping them make decisions. 134 00:09:01,304 --> 00:09:06,059 You're presenting your capability and the potential benefits, and you're allowing your 135 00:09:06,059 --> 00:09:09,340 customer, customer or prospect to make a decision. 136 00:09:09,340 --> 00:09:12,945 So it's not it's not forceful It's in service. 137 00:09:13,165 --> 00:09:19,004 And once you have that mindset of I'm helping and providing service, it disarms any sales 138 00:09:19,004 --> 00:09:19,504 conversation. 139 00:09:19,804 --> 00:09:25,379 And I guess, Steve, that thinking differently helps you relax, you know, from the podium. 140 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:34,105 It absolutely does because so If we are not in a mindset of service, then we're likely in a 141 00:09:34,105 --> 00:09:38,284 mindset of either self-service or self consciousness. 142 00:09:39,049 --> 00:09:43,529 And if we are in either of those mindsets, then we put up armors. 143 00:09:43,529 --> 00:09:45,070 We put up protection barriers. 144 00:09:45,129 --> 00:09:46,995 It guides the way we present. 145 00:09:46,995 --> 00:09:48,534 We restrict our personalities. 146 00:09:48,914 --> 00:09:53,875 We restrict everything about the way we communicate in self-service or in self 147 00:09:53,875 --> 00:09:54,375 preservation. 148 00:09:54,490 --> 00:09:59,690 But when we're in a mindset of service to the audience, we don't worry about those things. 149 00:09:59,690 --> 00:10:03,605 I don't worry about if I say too many umms and ah's or if I make the wrong gesture or if I 150 00:10:03,605 --> 00:10:05,464 forget something or say something incorrectly. 151 00:10:05,605 --> 00:10:09,845 Doesn't matter because my outcome is I need to serve this audience, you know, just like being 152 00:10:09,845 --> 00:10:11,684 here with with you and and your audience. 153 00:10:11,684 --> 00:10:12,725 I mean, I wanna serve you. 154 00:10:12,725 --> 00:10:14,039 I wanna serve your incident. 155 00:10:14,039 --> 00:10:17,559 That's why I went and did, you know, a little bit of a little bit of of research. 156 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:19,899 So that is a very important thing. 157 00:10:20,279 --> 00:10:25,375 The other part of thinking differently in the equation is this. 158 00:10:25,375 --> 00:10:31,300 It's understanding my role as a speaker and that if I'm trying to generate business answer 159 00:10:31,300 --> 00:10:32,040 of the audience. 160 00:10:32,420 --> 00:10:36,580 And most speakers have the misconception that speaking is about a transference of 161 00:10:36,580 --> 00:10:37,080 information. 162 00:10:37,565 --> 00:10:42,125 Which means if I can I thought this for a long time, Mick, if I get in front of an audience 163 00:10:42,125 --> 00:10:45,500 and if I give them enough stuff, if I teach them enough, things? 164 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:47,659 I give them great information, great value. 165 00:10:47,659 --> 00:10:48,940 They're gonna think I'm awesome. 166 00:10:48,940 --> 00:10:52,000 They're gonna love me and they're gonna wanna hire me and join my program. 167 00:10:52,205 --> 00:10:58,125 But the exact opposite was true because what I found was the more I gave them, the more they 168 00:10:58,125 --> 00:10:59,165 think they had. 169 00:10:59,165 --> 00:11:03,370 And what I learned is that when you speak in front of an audience, you're positioning 170 00:11:03,429 --> 00:11:04,950 yourself in 1 of 2 ways. 171 00:11:04,950 --> 00:11:06,330 And there are only 2. 172 00:11:06,389 --> 00:11:11,074 You're either positioning yourself as somebody they need or somebody, they don't. 173 00:11:11,454 --> 00:11:18,049 And the misconception that I had was if I teach enough, if I give them enough, if I solve their 174 00:11:18,049 --> 00:11:20,309 problems for them and give them lots of solutions. 175 00:11:20,690 --> 00:11:22,850 I'm positioning myself as somebody they need. 176 00:11:22,850 --> 00:11:24,904 And my thought was they would say, Wow. 177 00:11:24,904 --> 00:11:26,024 That guy ever smart. 178 00:11:26,024 --> 00:11:26,264 Wow. 179 00:11:26,264 --> 00:11:27,144 That guy's so good. 180 00:11:27,144 --> 00:11:30,125 I wanna work with that guy, but that's not what happened. 181 00:11:30,345 --> 00:11:32,789 What happened is they would walk away saying, Wow. 182 00:11:32,789 --> 00:11:33,829 That guy's really good. 183 00:11:33,829 --> 00:11:35,269 I got everything I need. 184 00:11:35,269 --> 00:11:39,110 I'm gonna go and try all of this great stuff that he gave me. 185 00:11:39,110 --> 00:11:43,375 And now I I just positioned to myself as somebody that I don't need. 186 00:11:43,514 --> 00:11:46,654 And I struggled with this for, not years, for decades. 187 00:11:47,034 --> 00:11:52,299 And it was my wife, Jane, who helped bring this to my attention And so what I've learned is to 188 00:11:52,299 --> 00:11:58,639 position yourself as somebody they need, and this is where the speaking differently comes in 189 00:11:58,894 --> 00:12:00,975 It's not about solving problems. 190 00:12:00,975 --> 00:12:04,254 Oftentimes, we hear sales is about solving problems. 191 00:12:04,254 --> 00:12:09,190 And I believe there is some truth to that, but from a speaking perceptive perspective, Sales 192 00:12:09,190 --> 00:12:10,970 isn't about solving the problem. 193 00:12:11,350 --> 00:12:17,370 The speaking part of sales is about revealing the problem, and it's about changing the 194 00:12:17,429 --> 00:12:19,065 audiences belief systems. 195 00:12:19,065 --> 00:12:23,884 It's about rattling their paradigms, shaking their beliefs, resetting their expectations, 196 00:12:24,264 --> 00:12:29,919 having them reconsider the nature of their condition, So the outcome that we want for that 197 00:12:29,919 --> 00:12:31,440 audience isn't this. 198 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:36,644 We don't want them to walk away thinking, what a great speaker you know, I've I've got such 199 00:12:36,644 --> 00:12:37,464 great value. 200 00:12:37,605 --> 00:12:38,964 That's not what we want. 201 00:12:38,964 --> 00:12:45,200 What we want is the audience going, I've never thought of it like that before. 202 00:12:45,659 --> 00:12:48,000 I've never heard it like that before. 203 00:12:48,059 --> 00:12:50,559 Maybe what I'm doing isn't quite right. 204 00:12:50,815 --> 00:12:51,215 Maybe I 205 00:12:51,215 --> 00:12:51,934 should tell you then. 206 00:12:51,934 --> 00:12:58,100 Let me stop you there, Steve, because you don't do absolutely fabulous nuggets that, I just 207 00:12:58,100 --> 00:12:59,480 want to, underline. 208 00:12:59,700 --> 00:13:06,674 The first thing was, look, that the the the the your your talk, your presentation, isn't just 209 00:13:06,674 --> 00:13:09,894 about transferring as much information as possible. 210 00:13:10,434 --> 00:13:21,250 And I I I see that belief manifests itself when speakers want to support their talk with these 211 00:13:21,250 --> 00:13:28,375 very, very busy PowerPoint charts with 73 different bullet points on. 212 00:13:28,514 --> 00:13:28,754 Yeah. 213 00:13:28,754 --> 00:13:32,389 And, of course, the audience can only do one of 2 things. 214 00:13:32,389 --> 00:13:35,830 They can either be listening to you or they can be reading the chart. 215 00:13:35,830 --> 00:13:38,009 So if you have an eye chart, it's very busy. 216 00:13:39,475 --> 00:13:40,514 Is not helpful. 217 00:13:40,514 --> 00:13:44,835 And the reason we put the I chart in business is because we have a belief we've gotta prove 218 00:13:44,835 --> 00:13:48,375 that we know everything, and I'm gonna tell you everything that I know. 219 00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:53,240 I thought that was fabulous, but the second thing there was, you know, don't position 220 00:13:53,299 --> 00:14:01,914 yourself as somebody they don't need, and the way to do that is not as we often believe it's 221 00:14:01,914 --> 00:14:03,035 solving a problem. 222 00:14:03,035 --> 00:14:04,174 I know you have a problem. 223 00:14:04,315 --> 00:14:05,740 Here's how to fix it. 224 00:14:06,860 --> 00:14:11,820 I've somebody once said this, and I can't remember if I I I I don't attribute it 225 00:14:11,820 --> 00:14:16,904 properly, but you know, if you know more about somebody's problem than they do themselves, 226 00:14:17,605 --> 00:14:19,045 they will be drawn to you. 227 00:14:19,045 --> 00:14:26,139 And your words, Steve, were reveal that problem, shake them up a little bit, get them 228 00:14:26,139 --> 00:14:32,225 to understand that it's got more nuances, it's got more seriousness, it has implications, as 229 00:14:32,225 --> 00:14:39,605 repercussions, and I'm sure you'll give us techniques to, to to to to do that, revealing. 230 00:14:39,825 --> 00:14:42,290 So those were 2 really killer point. 231 00:14:42,290 --> 00:14:43,429 So thanks, Steve. 232 00:14:43,570 --> 00:14:44,450 Oh, you're welcome. 233 00:14:44,450 --> 00:14:45,190 You're welcome. 234 00:14:45,410 --> 00:14:47,730 So here's the demonstration of that. 235 00:14:47,730 --> 00:14:50,230 You you asked about techniques to make that happen. 236 00:14:51,485 --> 00:14:52,764 This is the deep work. 237 00:14:52,764 --> 00:14:57,725 1 of the books I wrote was called deep thought strategy, and the whole point of it is going 238 00:14:57,725 --> 00:15:03,779 into your area of expertise, deep enough, deeper than you have before and trying to find 239 00:15:03,779 --> 00:15:06,519 a specific strategy that has this outcome. 240 00:15:06,580 --> 00:15:11,314 It needs to draw a straight line between, you know, as the speaker, I'm the speaker. 241 00:15:11,314 --> 00:15:16,674 It needs to draw a straight line between me and the audience's problem, but it needs to be a 242 00:15:16,674 --> 00:15:18,934 line that they have not considered before. 243 00:15:19,250 --> 00:15:20,709 So let me give you an example. 244 00:15:21,409 --> 00:15:23,250 I do this whenever I speak live. 245 00:15:23,490 --> 00:15:25,169 I'll ask the audience this question. 246 00:15:25,409 --> 00:15:30,625 I'll say put up your hand if you or somebody you know is in the market for a tennis 247 00:15:30,625 --> 00:15:31,125 instructor. 248 00:15:31,184 --> 00:15:34,785 So let me ask you, Mick, do you know anybody who's in the market for a tennis instructor, or 249 00:15:34,785 --> 00:15:36,725 are you in the market for a tennis instructor? 250 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:39,079 Probably not. 251 00:15:39,079 --> 00:15:39,240 Right? 252 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,700 You'd have to think about that. 253 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,740 So when I asked the audience, let's save a hundred people. 254 00:15:43,934 --> 00:15:46,815 Put up your hand if you're in if you know somebody's in the market for a tennis 255 00:15:46,815 --> 00:15:48,914 instructor, usually no hands go up. 256 00:15:49,134 --> 00:15:50,975 But then I tell the audience this. 257 00:15:50,975 --> 00:15:52,815 Let's say there's a hundred people in the audience. 258 00:15:52,815 --> 00:15:58,079 I'll say, I'm gonna bet that at least 30 of you are in the market for a tennis instructor right 259 00:15:58,079 --> 00:16:00,079 now, or you know somebody who is. 260 00:16:00,079 --> 00:16:03,004 And the audience is sort of thinking, yeah, how are you gonna prove that? 261 00:16:03,004 --> 00:16:05,024 So I tell him about this guy named Brian. 262 00:16:05,085 --> 00:16:09,085 Brian came to me about 20 years ago and he said, Steve, I'm going to all the networking 263 00:16:09,085 --> 00:16:09,485 events. 264 00:16:09,485 --> 00:16:10,605 I'm meeting all the people. 265 00:16:10,605 --> 00:16:11,804 I'm shaking all the hands. 266 00:16:11,804 --> 00:16:13,100 I'm taking all the phone calls. 267 00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:15,179 He said, I'm just not getting the business that I need. 268 00:16:15,179 --> 00:16:16,620 I said, well, Brian, what do you do? 269 00:16:16,620 --> 00:16:18,000 He said, I'm a tennis instructor. 270 00:16:18,460 --> 00:16:23,985 So we taught Brian that principle that anytime you speak either on stage or 1 on 1 or to a 271 00:16:23,985 --> 00:16:24,544 thousand people. 272 00:16:24,544 --> 00:16:25,424 It doesn't matter. 273 00:16:25,424 --> 00:16:29,269 You are positioning yourself either as somebody they need or somebody they don't. 274 00:16:29,429 --> 00:16:33,450 And so when Brian says on the tennis instructor, he's automatically positioning 275 00:16:33,509 --> 00:16:35,450 himself as somebody they don't need. 276 00:16:35,670 --> 00:16:41,095 So we taught Brian to position himself as somebody they do need by drawing a straight 277 00:16:41,095 --> 00:16:44,554 line between tennis instructor and one of their biggest problems. 278 00:16:44,830 --> 00:16:47,410 So if you ask Brian, what do you do now? 279 00:16:47,550 --> 00:16:49,070 He would say something like this. 280 00:16:49,070 --> 00:16:53,195 He'd say, well, you know how sometimes kids have so much energy. 281 00:16:53,335 --> 00:16:54,394 They get so excited. 282 00:16:54,455 --> 00:16:57,995 They're bouncing off the walls, making all kinds of noise, and the parents get so 283 00:16:58,294 --> 00:17:01,595 frustrated because they have no idea what to do with these kids. 284 00:17:01,799 --> 00:17:04,859 He'd say, well, what I do is I take kids of any age. 285 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,019 I bring them on a tennis court. 286 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,579 I absolutely exhaust them and I hand them back to their parents. 287 00:17:12,444 --> 00:17:13,984 And then I ask the audience. 288 00:17:14,125 --> 00:17:17,404 Put up your hand if you just might know somebody who just might be in the market for a 289 00:17:17,404 --> 00:17:18,285 tennis department. 290 00:17:18,285 --> 00:17:20,845 And all of a sudden, every hand in the place goes up. 291 00:17:20,845 --> 00:17:21,259 Right? 292 00:17:21,339 --> 00:17:27,420 And so what that demonstrates is that by speaking differently and drawing a straight 293 00:17:27,420 --> 00:17:33,714 line between and their problem and a line that they had not considered before, that can be 294 00:17:33,714 --> 00:17:38,960 very powerful in terms of changing an audience from I'm not interested to tell me more. 295 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:46,914 And and so if we can achieve that invisible line and reveal that to the audience, That goes 296 00:17:46,914 --> 00:17:52,515 a a long way towards positioning positioning us as somebody they need instead of somebody they 297 00:17:52,515 --> 00:17:53,015 don't. 298 00:17:53,289 --> 00:18:00,355 And I and I did I did have that moment where my my brain thought, okay, what's he gonna what's 299 00:18:00,355 --> 00:18:01,315 gonna talk about here? 300 00:18:01,315 --> 00:18:04,595 Is he gonna be talking about how to do a topspin serve or something? 301 00:18:04,595 --> 00:18:09,950 But, no, you came in to, you know, a more universal problem that the audience had 302 00:18:09,950 --> 00:18:13,309 provided, you know, they've got kids, or they know people who've got kids, they all know 303 00:18:13,309 --> 00:18:20,785 somebody, and, you turn it around where everybody would see that as being an 304 00:18:20,785 --> 00:18:26,465 opportunity for improvement in their life or their discipline in their kids or whatever it 305 00:18:26,465 --> 00:18:27,085 might be. 306 00:18:27,085 --> 00:18:28,535 Really, really nice example. 307 00:18:28,535 --> 00:18:29,410 I like that. 308 00:18:31,090 --> 00:18:34,849 So that's, you know, the the speak differently part of, of think differently speak 309 00:18:34,849 --> 00:18:35,349 differently. 310 00:18:37,490 --> 00:18:39,704 There's a lot a lot more to unpack in there. 311 00:18:39,704 --> 00:18:45,545 But the shift that I would really encourage your audience to make, and and it goes along 312 00:18:45,545 --> 00:18:46,825 with another one of your episodes. 313 00:18:46,825 --> 00:18:50,029 You did an So, spiel versus skill. 314 00:18:50,170 --> 00:18:52,730 I think Sales skill versus sales spiel. 315 00:18:52,730 --> 00:18:53,049 Yes. 316 00:18:53,049 --> 00:18:53,289 Yeah. 317 00:18:53,289 --> 00:18:54,809 Sales skill versus sales spiel. 318 00:18:54,809 --> 00:19:00,125 And And so I see it all the time, and I'm sure you do too at at events all over this world 319 00:19:00,125 --> 00:19:04,920 where entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, thought leaders, experts, they get in front of 320 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,500 an audience and they either overteach or they overspill. 321 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,884 And the the overspill part is you know, and I think you talked about this. 322 00:19:14,884 --> 00:19:19,445 It's this this mindset that my job is to separate the audience from their money with my 323 00:19:19,445 --> 00:19:20,244 product or service. 324 00:19:20,244 --> 00:19:24,450 And that's that becomes a a very much a sales pitch of a spiel. 325 00:19:24,829 --> 00:19:29,490 But if we can get into this mindset of service and if we can change the audience's perspective 326 00:19:29,549 --> 00:19:34,174 on the nature of their If we can have them, you know, rattled those beliefs, shake those 327 00:19:34,174 --> 00:19:36,835 paradigms a little bit, then we that that's skill. 328 00:19:37,294 --> 00:19:41,960 Then after that, it's just a matter of How can we sit down and talk about how we can do this 329 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:42,700 for you? 330 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:48,460 And and it's really seamless from a sales perspective if it's done well. 331 00:19:49,345 --> 00:19:50,085 That's beautiful. 332 00:19:50,144 --> 00:19:50,785 That's beautiful. 333 00:19:50,785 --> 00:19:56,785 So so let's say, you you've got somebody coming into your coaching business. 334 00:19:56,785 --> 00:20:02,269 They have to say, hey, Steve, I've got a big pitch coming up in front of my networking group 335 00:20:02,269 --> 00:20:03,569 or my board of directors. 336 00:20:04,750 --> 00:20:08,654 You know, I've got a I've got a few messages that I wanna put forward. 337 00:20:08,714 --> 00:20:12,255 I want them to get interested in in the services that I offer. 338 00:20:12,634 --> 00:20:14,474 What what's the what's the process? 339 00:20:14,474 --> 00:20:19,179 What are the what's kind of the structure that you might have, what tips could you give the 340 00:20:19,179 --> 00:20:22,539 audience so that when they're thinking about, because everybody here is going to be thinking 341 00:20:22,539 --> 00:20:24,694 about, I've got to give a presentation at some point. 342 00:20:25,174 --> 00:20:30,454 What are some of the universal truth or or steps that you would advise in order for that 343 00:20:30,454 --> 00:20:32,315 to go much better. 344 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:38,220 So there there are some universal truths that I I believe to be true, and it it's less about 345 00:20:38,839 --> 00:20:39,320 steps. 346 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,654 It's less about do this, then this, then this, then this, And it's more about outcomes. 347 00:20:44,035 --> 00:20:51,049 There are three outcomes that must be achieved, I believe, in order to take it to the next 348 00:20:51,049 --> 00:20:52,329 level and start talking business. 349 00:20:52,329 --> 00:20:54,569 And one of those outcomes is is this. 350 00:20:54,569 --> 00:20:58,089 You have you heard, I'm sure you've heard this, the old adage that people buy from those. 351 00:20:58,089 --> 00:20:59,130 They know like and trust. 352 00:20:59,130 --> 00:20:59,835 You've heard that? 353 00:20:59,994 --> 00:21:02,654 Before a universal truth in sales. 354 00:21:02,714 --> 00:21:03,214 Right? 355 00:21:03,674 --> 00:21:06,315 But I just I don't believe that it's true. 356 00:21:06,315 --> 00:21:08,075 I'd it's not that I don't believe it's true. 357 00:21:08,075 --> 00:21:09,375 I don't believe it's complete. 358 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:16,200 And here's why I know lots of people in my world who, you know, who who do what something 359 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:17,255 that I might need done. 360 00:21:17,255 --> 00:21:18,775 And I know them very well. 361 00:21:18,775 --> 00:21:19,414 I trust them. 362 00:21:19,414 --> 00:21:24,295 I would trust them with my life in my home, and I like them very much, but I would never hire 363 00:21:24,295 --> 00:21:25,575 them for different reasons. 364 00:21:25,575 --> 00:21:30,759 Perhaps they don't have the the right measure of experience, or maybe I know that they're 365 00:21:30,759 --> 00:21:33,160 just they're the quality isn't exactly what I am. 366 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,619 Like, there's myriad reasons. 367 00:21:34,875 --> 00:21:37,535 Why I wouldn't hire people I know like and trust. 368 00:21:37,755 --> 00:21:43,355 But there are 3 additional outcomes I think that underpin the know like and trust piece. 369 00:21:43,355 --> 00:21:44,420 And these are them. 370 00:21:44,500 --> 00:21:46,900 And this is what I try and encourage people to understand. 371 00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:53,725 Number 1 is your audience needs to feel most of all understood by you. 372 00:21:53,945 --> 00:21:58,184 The audience needs to go, he gets me or she gets me. 373 00:21:58,184 --> 00:22:02,184 That's why the Brian, the tennis instructor thing that works so well because people, yeah, 374 00:22:02,184 --> 00:22:03,339 I Wow. 375 00:22:03,339 --> 00:22:03,980 That's me. 376 00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:05,420 You know, so many people say that. 377 00:22:05,420 --> 00:22:07,099 So the audience needs to go, that's me. 378 00:22:07,099 --> 00:22:08,400 They need to feel understood. 379 00:22:08,619 --> 00:22:12,804 And and this sounds like it's common sense, Mick, but I've seen so many speakers who spend 380 00:22:12,804 --> 00:22:15,944 their entire time trying to get the audience to understand them. 381 00:22:16,005 --> 00:22:20,710 And and the misconception is if the audience understands me, if they know how cool I am, 382 00:22:20,710 --> 00:22:22,630 they know how good I am, they know my history. 383 00:22:22,630 --> 00:22:26,869 If they understand all of these things, then they're gonna wanna hire me, and that the exact 384 00:22:26,869 --> 00:22:27,829 opposite is true. 385 00:22:27,829 --> 00:22:30,214 The audience needs to feel you get me. 386 00:22:30,214 --> 00:22:31,255 That's number 1. 387 00:22:31,255 --> 00:22:37,150 Number 2 is the audience needs to feel safe, and that is they they can't have the feeling 388 00:22:37,150 --> 00:22:40,049 that your objective is to separate them from their money. 389 00:22:40,109 --> 00:22:43,730 Thus, the spiel versus sales skills, sales skills, steel sales skills. 390 00:22:44,214 --> 00:22:44,534 Right? 391 00:22:44,534 --> 00:22:46,855 And so the audience needs to feel safe with you. 392 00:22:46,855 --> 00:22:51,494 That's why the mindset shift mindset into service is so mission critical because the 393 00:22:51,494 --> 00:22:53,274 audience is going to feel that mindset. 394 00:22:53,490 --> 00:22:54,450 You know, you know this. 395 00:22:54,450 --> 00:23:00,289 The you cannot not be, you know, a distribute or display what your mindset is. 396 00:23:00,289 --> 00:23:05,445 So when you that mindset into service, then the audience is gonna feel safer with you. 397 00:23:05,505 --> 00:23:09,825 And then the third thing that must happen is they must feel confident that you can actually 398 00:23:09,825 --> 00:23:10,559 help them. 399 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:15,920 And so when we speak, one of the other biggest mistakes I see people make is they talk a lot 400 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,384 about what they can do and what they have done. 401 00:23:18,464 --> 00:23:19,445 Here are my testimonials. 402 00:23:19,744 --> 00:23:21,265 Here's what here's my case study. 403 00:23:21,265 --> 00:23:22,065 Here's my story. 404 00:23:22,065 --> 00:23:23,664 Here's what we did with this client. 405 00:23:23,664 --> 00:23:24,865 Here's what we did with that client. 406 00:23:24,865 --> 00:23:26,404 And none of that is bad. 407 00:23:26,569 --> 00:23:31,630 But what it's missing is a demonstration of what I can do. 408 00:23:31,690 --> 00:23:36,414 And so when I watch a speaker and they demonstrate the outcome they provide. 409 00:23:36,414 --> 00:23:39,055 That's what Brian, the tennis instructor story does. 410 00:23:39,055 --> 00:23:42,819 In 30 seconds, I get the whole room from I'm not interested to tell me more. 411 00:23:42,819 --> 00:23:43,460 Just like that. 412 00:23:43,460 --> 00:23:47,399 It's a demonstration of these principles and how they work. 413 00:23:47,460 --> 00:23:50,839 So if we can and as that gives the audience confidence, oh, wow. 414 00:23:50,980 --> 00:23:52,759 Maybe he could do that for me. 415 00:23:52,884 --> 00:23:53,365 You know? 416 00:23:53,365 --> 00:23:57,144 And so those three outcomes, the audience was to feel understood. 417 00:23:57,285 --> 00:24:00,904 They wanna feel safe, and they wanna feel confident in you. 418 00:24:01,365 --> 00:24:05,730 Now I wonder if I if I get to know it, maybe I should get to know this person and see if I 419 00:24:05,730 --> 00:24:08,369 like them and then determine whether or not I trust them. 420 00:24:08,369 --> 00:24:14,054 So no like and trust, buy it self in my judgment is not the formula for sales unless 421 00:24:14,595 --> 00:24:18,294 the understood, safe, and confident is in there first. 422 00:24:18,755 --> 00:24:23,640 So let me again, you you you said something quite profound there. 423 00:24:23,860 --> 00:24:27,779 You you know, you you mentioned the word in in each of those three categories. 424 00:24:27,779 --> 00:24:34,025 You just do you know, you want people to feel understood to feel safe, right? 425 00:24:34,085 --> 00:24:40,829 You're talking about that, emotional connection, and I think it was a mayor Angelo 426 00:24:40,829 --> 00:24:48,264 who said, you know, an audience, an audience, will never remember what you said, but they 427 00:24:48,264 --> 00:24:51,384 will remember how you made them feel. 428 00:24:51,384 --> 00:24:56,059 So being able to relate to them so that they feel that you understand them. 429 00:24:56,059 --> 00:25:03,154 And it comes back to your point about revealing the complexity nuances around a particular 430 00:25:03,352 --> 00:25:03,535 Mick. 431 00:25:03,535 --> 00:25:05,454 So they go, you you you you got it. 432 00:25:05,454 --> 00:25:06,434 You've been there. 433 00:25:06,494 --> 00:25:08,835 I I know you understand where I am. 434 00:25:08,980 --> 00:25:17,240 They become a lot more attentive, and that emotional attachment, gives you resonance 435 00:25:17,299 --> 00:25:18,099 without audience. 436 00:25:18,099 --> 00:25:21,234 I think said that really, really, really well there. 437 00:25:21,615 --> 00:25:21,934 Okay. 438 00:25:21,934 --> 00:25:22,095 I 439 00:25:22,095 --> 00:25:31,000 think I think implicitly, you were perhaps saying that storytelling is a an important 440 00:25:31,059 --> 00:25:34,019 element Mick would I be right in thinking that? 441 00:25:34,019 --> 00:25:34,519 Okay. 442 00:25:34,815 --> 00:25:36,335 So I I'm glad you brought that up. 443 00:25:36,335 --> 00:25:38,494 So we'll talk about storytelling for a second. 444 00:25:38,494 --> 00:25:42,654 So every speaker coach in the world says, you know, you need to tell stories, and there's a 445 00:25:42,654 --> 00:25:44,859 whole concept about storytelling and selling. 446 00:25:44,859 --> 00:25:46,299 And and it and it's all true. 447 00:25:46,460 --> 00:25:47,660 You know, it's all true. 448 00:25:47,660 --> 00:25:52,400 But there I think stories is another very misunderstood concept from a speaking 449 00:25:52,404 --> 00:25:55,525 perspective, especially in in the world of sales. 450 00:25:55,525 --> 00:25:58,164 So I'll break down stories into these 2 categories. 451 00:25:58,164 --> 00:25:58,484 Okay. 452 00:25:58,484 --> 00:26:01,224 Benefits for the audience and benefits for the speaker. 453 00:26:01,579 --> 00:26:03,659 Now benefits for the audience are going to be. 454 00:26:03,659 --> 00:26:05,200 We want the audience to be entertained. 455 00:26:05,419 --> 00:26:06,940 We want the audience to be informed. 456 00:26:06,940 --> 00:26:08,559 We want the audience to be inspired. 457 00:26:08,619 --> 00:26:09,500 And all of that is true. 458 00:26:09,500 --> 00:26:11,039 And all of that must happen. 459 00:26:11,325 --> 00:26:17,404 But I've seen so many speaker coaches and speakers focus on those pieces and not the 460 00:26:17,404 --> 00:26:18,224 other pieces. 461 00:26:18,284 --> 00:26:22,820 And the other pieces, this is the part is so important for sales, I believe. 462 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,799 And the story needs to do 1 or more of these 3 things. 463 00:26:26,799 --> 00:26:31,525 Number 1, the story needs to reveal and and something about your personality. 464 00:26:32,225 --> 00:26:35,505 This goes to, you know, does this speaker understand me? 465 00:26:35,505 --> 00:26:37,184 Do I feel like I'd like this speaker? 466 00:26:37,184 --> 00:26:39,190 Do I feel safe with this speaker. 467 00:26:39,250 --> 00:26:43,809 So I have stories that have nothing to do with my content, but I tell them the stories because 468 00:26:43,809 --> 00:26:45,750 they reveal something about my personality. 469 00:26:46,049 --> 00:26:50,134 I want them to know that I'm fun loving and that I'm quirky and that I do silly things and 470 00:26:50,134 --> 00:26:50,855 say silly things. 471 00:26:50,855 --> 00:26:53,335 And so I've got those kinds of stories that make them laugh. 472 00:26:53,335 --> 00:26:54,794 That is to reveal personality. 473 00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:00,960 Number 2 is I want the story to, as I said earlier, reveal what I can do needs to 474 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,799 demonstrate what I can do. 475 00:27:02,799 --> 00:27:04,975 So the audience within the story. 476 00:27:05,035 --> 00:27:09,535 It's not me telling them or it's not just me telling them what I can do. 477 00:27:09,595 --> 00:27:12,859 The story needs to demonstrate what I can do. 478 00:27:12,859 --> 00:27:16,240 And not everybody's got that story, you know, ready to go. 479 00:27:16,299 --> 00:27:19,019 So my Brian, the tennis instructor demonstrates it. 480 00:27:19,019 --> 00:27:19,500 There it is. 481 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:21,304 There's the come right in front of your eyes. 482 00:27:21,304 --> 00:27:22,765 And I've got several of those. 483 00:27:22,825 --> 00:27:29,339 And then the third thing that really helps the story is if it can validate your results And 484 00:27:29,339 --> 00:27:35,259 that is using testimonials and case studies, but using them in a very specific way that 485 00:27:35,259 --> 00:27:41,744 doesn't just underpin the out the the, the process that you use, but validates the results 486 00:27:41,804 --> 00:27:48,559 that can be provided And so if the stories do those things as well as entertain and inspire 487 00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:51,535 and, you know, and educate, if you can get that package in there. 488 00:27:51,535 --> 00:27:52,974 Now you've got a winning story. 489 00:27:52,974 --> 00:27:54,595 Otherwise, it's just a narrative. 490 00:27:54,974 --> 00:27:55,535 Yes, Steve. 491 00:27:55,535 --> 00:28:02,159 If you could, can you give me an example of you know, validating a result. 492 00:28:03,259 --> 00:28:08,794 So usually when I do that kind of thing, when I'm after that as an outcome, I won't use it in 493 00:28:08,794 --> 00:28:10,075 the form of a story. 494 00:28:10,075 --> 00:28:15,434 What I will do is I'll bring somebody on to the platform with me and I'll do a hot seat. 495 00:28:15,434 --> 00:28:16,894 I'll do a laser coaching. 496 00:28:17,089 --> 00:28:20,869 And we'll get a a change in result right there in front of the audience. 497 00:28:20,930 --> 00:28:24,769 Now in my business is conducive to that because I teach, you know, speakers. 498 00:28:24,769 --> 00:28:29,954 And so I'll bring somebody up who, you know, has a fear of speaking or who has, you know, 499 00:28:29,954 --> 00:28:32,214 hasn't been able to achieve a specific outcome. 500 00:28:32,355 --> 00:28:36,450 I'll bring them on the on the stage And the audience loves these, you know, because it the 501 00:28:36,769 --> 00:28:40,630 anything can and will go wrong, right, which the audience just loves. 502 00:28:40,690 --> 00:28:42,609 And, of course, there's there's so much intrigue. 503 00:28:42,609 --> 00:28:44,855 Again, it's just, energy is really high. 504 00:28:44,855 --> 00:28:50,234 And and so we we bring these people up on the stage and and we, you know, I'm really good at, 505 00:28:51,210 --> 00:28:54,369 Mick a transformation happen right there in front of the audience. 506 00:28:54,509 --> 00:28:57,605 And so the audience can see, I mean, they can see it. 507 00:28:57,684 --> 00:28:59,144 And sometimes it's storytelling. 508 00:28:59,204 --> 00:29:00,644 Somebody will come up and tell the story. 509 00:29:00,644 --> 00:29:04,484 We'll shift the way they tell the story, and there's like an entirely different outcome in 510 00:29:04,484 --> 00:29:05,125 the story. 511 00:29:05,125 --> 00:29:12,369 So Not everybody can do this, but if if in your business, whatever it is, if there is a way for 512 00:29:12,369 --> 00:29:17,174 you to review and validate the result right away, right there, demonstrate and validate 513 00:29:17,174 --> 00:29:18,535 sometimes go hand in hand. 514 00:29:18,535 --> 00:29:23,255 And if you can do that right there, right in front of the audience, then it makes a big, big 515 00:29:23,255 --> 00:29:25,250 deal, huge impact Right? 516 00:29:25,549 --> 00:29:30,130 And sometimes we'll have speakers actually make sales right there from the stage. 517 00:29:30,349 --> 00:29:31,809 And there, there you go. 518 00:29:31,815 --> 00:29:35,014 Come up here for 5 minutes and you just made a $100 or whatever it is. 519 00:29:35,014 --> 00:29:37,754 There's a result in in seconds or in minutes. 520 00:29:37,815 --> 00:29:38,134 You know? 521 00:29:38,134 --> 00:29:38,634 Right. 522 00:29:38,855 --> 00:29:39,355 Yeah. 523 00:29:39,430 --> 00:29:39,670 Yeah. 524 00:29:39,670 --> 00:29:40,230 I love that. 525 00:29:40,230 --> 00:29:44,490 To be able to do that, you know, in the moment is is is a is a skill. 526 00:29:44,549 --> 00:29:53,275 Obviously, skill is built through repetition and, Let's talk a little bit about, what would 527 00:29:53,275 --> 00:29:56,255 your advice be in terms of preparation? 528 00:29:57,710 --> 00:29:57,950 Right. 529 00:29:57,950 --> 00:30:04,829 I I, you know, I I I was I was, talking in one of my podcasts, you know, if you think about 530 00:30:04,829 --> 00:30:08,105 professional sports players. 531 00:30:08,164 --> 00:30:10,744 They spend 90% of their time in preparation. 532 00:30:11,044 --> 00:30:12,024 They're running plays. 533 00:30:12,325 --> 00:30:13,549 They practice all week. 534 00:30:13,869 --> 00:30:18,430 It take the NFL, for example, they practice all week, and maybe they're only on the field for, 535 00:30:18,430 --> 00:30:20,529 like, 5 minutes for their particular play. 536 00:30:20,590 --> 00:30:25,065 So it's it's it's 90% preparation and 10% execution. 537 00:30:25,365 --> 00:30:28,565 Whereas a lot of us are in 90% execution mode. 538 00:30:28,565 --> 00:30:29,944 We don't do any preparation. 539 00:30:30,244 --> 00:30:35,309 So I would always advocate you know, preparing, as much as you can. 540 00:30:35,450 --> 00:30:40,349 What advice would you have for preparing, you know, for a for a talk for an address? 541 00:30:40,524 --> 00:30:41,005 Yeah. 542 00:30:41,005 --> 00:30:41,325 Yeah. 543 00:30:41,325 --> 00:30:44,944 So I like that question because preparation is also often misunderstood. 544 00:30:45,244 --> 00:30:52,259 So, a lot of people that I've spoken with over the years, they They look at preparation, from 545 00:30:52,259 --> 00:30:53,619 a memorization standpoint. 546 00:30:53,619 --> 00:30:56,259 I wanna memorize my speech so that I can recite it. 547 00:30:56,259 --> 00:30:57,700 And I'm not saying that's a mistake. 548 00:30:57,700 --> 00:30:59,664 Some of my my my clients do that. 549 00:31:00,785 --> 00:31:06,565 But here's the concept under that underpins my whole process of preparation, and that is this. 550 00:31:06,759 --> 00:31:10,940 You need to go through your content until your content comes through you. 551 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,080 So I'll repeat that, then I'll explain it. 552 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,944 You need to go through your content until your content comes through you. 553 00:31:16,944 --> 00:31:22,164 Now what that means is it's not just about memorizing and reciting a speech. 554 00:31:22,849 --> 00:31:26,789 You know, I don't think that's the best way for most people to to prepare. 555 00:31:27,329 --> 00:31:32,535 I believe that there are certain phrases, certain words, certain pieces of of a talk that 556 00:31:32,535 --> 00:31:37,035 must be memorized because, tactically, they need to be executed perfectly for specific 557 00:31:37,174 --> 00:31:37,674 reasons. 558 00:31:37,815 --> 00:31:41,500 For example, your very first words and your very last words. 559 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:47,019 These are words that must be executed exactly right for all kinds of of reasons. 560 00:31:47,615 --> 00:31:48,894 But there are other phrases. 561 00:31:48,894 --> 00:31:54,494 There are other techniques, you know, inside the talk that tactically need to have a certain 562 00:31:54,494 --> 00:31:58,250 impact And so they should be rehearsed and practiced and done the same way every single 563 00:31:58,250 --> 00:31:58,750 time. 564 00:31:59,130 --> 00:32:06,325 But knowing, you know, knowing your content so well that it just comes through you is the best 565 00:32:06,384 --> 00:32:07,684 form of preparation. 566 00:32:07,825 --> 00:32:12,089 And that means you can't just, you know, You can't do speaking. 567 00:32:12,089 --> 00:32:13,549 You have to be a speaker. 568 00:32:13,769 --> 00:32:14,269 Right? 569 00:32:14,490 --> 00:32:18,555 You have to live what you do as opposed to just do what you do. 570 00:32:18,555 --> 00:32:20,075 It has to be more than what you do. 571 00:32:20,075 --> 00:32:22,015 It has to become part of who you are. 572 00:32:22,154 --> 00:32:27,809 And, and most people are unwilling to dedicate that measure of commitment to their speaking 573 00:32:27,809 --> 00:32:30,369 powers as they are to, you know, other parts of their life. 574 00:32:30,369 --> 00:32:31,329 And and that's fine. 575 00:32:31,329 --> 00:32:37,384 It's just that they will never achieve what they want to achieve through speaking unless 576 00:32:37,384 --> 00:32:39,884 they become that person. 577 00:32:40,265 --> 00:32:44,664 And and that means doing things like Mick, you know, I'm I'm on a podcast with you. 578 00:32:44,664 --> 00:32:50,140 This is my third one today, because first of all, I love to do it, and I love to serve, and 579 00:32:50,140 --> 00:32:54,299 I love to Holly, but this is part of me preparing because I get to review my content. 580 00:32:54,299 --> 00:32:58,045 I bring it up You know, the questions are asked differently every time, so it comes out 581 00:32:58,045 --> 00:32:59,244 differently every time. 582 00:32:59,244 --> 00:33:02,944 And this is great preparation for me, not for a particular talk. 583 00:33:03,140 --> 00:33:07,700 But for me to keep honing my craft for keeping it, like, you know, my getting my content to 584 00:33:07,700 --> 00:33:10,684 keep coming through me so that I can get better at it. 585 00:33:10,684 --> 00:33:16,205 And that's the way I believe a professional prepares just like in any other area of 586 00:33:16,205 --> 00:33:17,265 professional endeavor. 587 00:33:18,019 --> 00:33:18,339 Yeah. 588 00:33:18,339 --> 00:33:19,299 I'll I'll I love that. 589 00:33:19,299 --> 00:33:21,619 You you, you know, you can't just do speaking. 590 00:33:21,619 --> 00:33:22,759 You must be a speaker. 591 00:33:22,819 --> 00:33:23,319 Right? 592 00:33:24,875 --> 00:33:32,474 You know, I I I set myself a goal of, trying to swim the English channel next year 2025, twenty 593 00:33:32,474 --> 00:33:37,039 one miles across frigid water, Tide Tides and jellyfish. 594 00:33:39,740 --> 00:33:41,339 It is, and I was in the pool. 595 00:33:41,339 --> 00:33:44,240 I've been in the pool every day now for 12 months in preparation. 596 00:33:44,765 --> 00:33:47,825 But but, you know, I watch I watch videos on YouTube. 597 00:33:48,445 --> 00:33:50,684 And look, I watched a video. 598 00:33:50,684 --> 00:33:52,130 It said these are the 5 things. 599 00:33:52,130 --> 00:33:54,450 Most people get wrong when they're swimming, and I'm looking at it. 600 00:33:54,450 --> 00:33:55,890 So I'm doing those 5 things. 601 00:33:55,890 --> 00:33:56,769 Doing all of them. 602 00:33:56,769 --> 00:33:57,809 But but here's the thing. 603 00:33:57,809 --> 00:33:59,669 You can't learn to swim on YouTube. 604 00:34:00,615 --> 00:34:00,775 Right? 605 00:34:00,775 --> 00:34:07,115 Because you've gotta you've gotta be in the pool every day swimming, and it's repetition 606 00:34:07,494 --> 00:34:08,715 that builds skill. 607 00:34:09,190 --> 00:34:15,130 And so your point, right, any opportunity, as you've said, for you to practice, practice 608 00:34:15,190 --> 00:34:20,485 talking to yourself in the mirror, practice video recording yourself, you know, practice 609 00:34:20,545 --> 00:34:25,184 talking to friends or colleagues in your business so that you've had so many reps that 610 00:34:25,184 --> 00:34:29,329 you now you can do I think this would probably go back to your music day, Steve. 611 00:34:29,469 --> 00:34:35,304 Once your once your content is coming through you, you can riff You don't have to be rote. 612 00:34:35,684 --> 00:34:36,644 You can be Riff. 613 00:34:36,644 --> 00:34:36,804 Okay. 614 00:34:36,804 --> 00:34:37,304 Yep. 615 00:34:37,525 --> 00:34:38,644 Riff rather than rote. 616 00:34:38,644 --> 00:34:39,284 How about that? 617 00:34:39,284 --> 00:34:39,764 We'll put that 618 00:34:39,764 --> 00:34:40,525 in the show notes. 619 00:34:40,724 --> 00:34:41,364 Love that. 620 00:34:41,364 --> 00:34:41,684 Okay. 621 00:34:41,684 --> 00:34:45,760 I'm gonna gonna leave that one with you to coin that one because that's yours, but I I might 622 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,099 just use it if that's okay with you. 623 00:34:48,319 --> 00:34:49,219 I love that. 624 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:49,780 Absolutely. 625 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:55,534 We Look, this is this is this is the beauty of, you know, scissors listening to these podcasts 626 00:34:55,534 --> 00:34:59,260 is when you connect with other people, thought leaders, They have different perspectives. 627 00:34:59,559 --> 00:35:01,159 And, you know, Steve and I came together. 628 00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:02,619 We've not met each other before. 629 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:07,525 And in that moment of conversation, you know, we create ideas. 630 00:35:07,585 --> 00:35:12,785 I mean, that's simple thing, but that's the beauty of interaction and talking to people and 631 00:35:12,785 --> 00:35:19,480 and and you know, trying to serve, which was one of Steve's main, points about being a great 632 00:35:19,539 --> 00:35:20,679 being a great speaker. 633 00:35:21,934 --> 00:35:25,295 So so, Steve, how do you how do you help people? 634 00:35:25,295 --> 00:35:25,534 Right? 635 00:35:25,534 --> 00:35:29,155 You've given us some fabulous, advice here. 636 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:36,280 How how do you how do you help people, improve their skills, improve their business and 637 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:37,260 selling capabilities? 638 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,704 I'm curious because, Yeah. 639 00:35:39,704 --> 00:35:43,644 You you you're unique and have a an amazing track record. 640 00:35:43,864 --> 00:35:47,885 How does one steal or buy some of your expertise? 641 00:35:49,510 --> 00:35:52,630 So, there's 2 tracks to the answer to that question. 642 00:35:52,630 --> 00:35:57,184 And one of them is the functional track about our programs and and how those things were I'll 643 00:35:57,184 --> 00:35:58,545 I'll give you a brief summary on that. 644 00:35:58,545 --> 00:36:02,644 And then the other one is what is the process of learning to reach the outcome? 645 00:36:02,784 --> 00:36:07,329 So the programs are are they can find out about us at my website, steve Lowell.com. 646 00:36:07,869 --> 00:36:13,445 So we have everything from self, self directed online learning programs to group programs, to 647 00:36:13,445 --> 00:36:15,864 one on one mentorship, and everything in between. 648 00:36:16,164 --> 00:36:18,664 So, you know, that's something people can explore. 649 00:36:18,885 --> 00:36:25,049 But in terms of the process, every client is different because the outcomes are are 650 00:36:25,049 --> 00:36:25,549 different. 651 00:36:25,769 --> 00:36:28,914 So some people wanna, you know, if coaches who to fill the program. 652 00:36:28,914 --> 00:36:31,414 We've got thought leaders who wanna sell an idea. 653 00:36:31,795 --> 00:36:35,815 We've got a adventurers who wanna do crazy things like swim in the English channel. 654 00:36:36,059 --> 00:36:38,219 And they they've got stories to tell. 655 00:36:38,219 --> 00:36:43,180 We've got survivors who have survived, you know, horrific things, and they have lessons to 656 00:36:43,180 --> 00:36:43,680 share. 657 00:36:43,739 --> 00:36:46,465 So you know, there's only specific outcomes. 658 00:36:46,525 --> 00:36:51,005 So my process is we start with the outcome, the desired outcome, and we work backwards from 659 00:36:51,005 --> 00:36:51,244 there. 660 00:36:51,244 --> 00:36:55,449 And that informs the content and the structure and the style and all those things. 661 00:36:55,449 --> 00:37:01,789 So first, we craft the message to achieve that desired outcome, and then we craft the delivery 662 00:37:02,275 --> 00:37:04,534 to elevate the impact of the message. 663 00:37:04,594 --> 00:37:10,140 And that delivery is going to include things like, platform skills, stage mechanics, even as 664 00:37:10,140 --> 00:37:15,579 simple as eye contact and voice projection and body language and, you know, where to stand 665 00:37:15,579 --> 00:37:19,394 when you're telling this story and when to bring your voice up, when to bring your voice 666 00:37:19,394 --> 00:37:25,715 down, all of those things combine to create the language in which the message will be 667 00:37:25,715 --> 00:37:26,215 delivered. 668 00:37:26,679 --> 00:37:28,360 So it it's different. 669 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,059 The journey is different for everybody. 670 00:37:30,119 --> 00:37:34,764 Some people come in with already being professional speakers and have this package 671 00:37:34,764 --> 00:37:37,184 that they want, and they're just missing these little pieces. 672 00:37:37,244 --> 00:37:40,045 Others come in and say, you know, I've got this big story. 673 00:37:40,045 --> 00:37:44,090 For example, I've got a client in the US here who just broke a world record for mountain 674 00:37:44,090 --> 00:37:44,590 climbing. 675 00:37:44,650 --> 00:37:48,590 She became the first woman to ever climb something called the 7 second summit. 676 00:37:48,785 --> 00:37:51,525 It's the 7 highest summits on all seven continents. 677 00:37:52,065 --> 00:37:55,585 And she's the first woman to do it, Guinness Book of World Records. 678 00:37:55,585 --> 00:37:56,785 She's on all the TV shows. 679 00:37:56,785 --> 00:37:59,680 People are wanting her to speak but she's never spoken ever. 680 00:37:59,980 --> 00:38:05,260 So, you know, our job is to craft that message and and get her on a platform so she can be a 681 00:38:05,260 --> 00:38:07,760 speaker and not just a mountain climber who speaks. 682 00:38:08,014 --> 00:38:08,414 Right? 683 00:38:08,414 --> 00:38:10,174 So it all depends on the outcome. 684 00:38:10,174 --> 00:38:10,494 Yeah. 685 00:38:10,494 --> 00:38:15,154 Backward engineer everything to achieve that that expected outcome. 686 00:38:15,454 --> 00:38:17,159 And, we go from there. 687 00:38:18,039 --> 00:38:18,539 Fabulous. 688 00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:19,260 Fabulous. 689 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,920 So is there anything that I didn't ask you? 690 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:24,380 I should have asked you, Steve. 691 00:38:25,974 --> 00:38:27,255 You asked such good question. 692 00:38:27,255 --> 00:38:29,014 You're an excellent host, by the way. 693 00:38:29,255 --> 00:38:30,614 No, you've asked great questions. 694 00:38:30,614 --> 00:38:34,920 This the only I guess the other thing is, I'd like to offer your audience a gift if that's 695 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:35,420 okay. 696 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:36,119 Oh, please. 697 00:38:36,119 --> 00:38:37,019 We love gifts. 698 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:37,880 Oh, cool. 699 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:38,360 Okay. 700 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,954 So my first book, I wrote in 2010, I think. 701 00:38:42,114 --> 00:38:44,454 And it's called from stage fright to spotlight. 702 00:38:44,515 --> 00:38:50,409 And it's 99 speakers' secrets to breaking the rules and mastering the stage. 703 00:38:50,409 --> 00:38:53,530 And, and so it's a it's a great sort of bathroom reader. 704 00:38:53,530 --> 00:38:56,429 You know, it's got 99 things wherever you open a page. 705 00:38:56,489 --> 00:38:57,369 There's one of them. 706 00:38:57,369 --> 00:38:58,355 So it's kinda cool. 707 00:38:58,434 --> 00:39:00,994 But, I like to offer that as a PDF download. 708 00:39:00,994 --> 00:39:07,059 It's a number one best selling, book on on Amazon, and they can access that at steve 709 00:39:07,119 --> 00:39:15,744 Lowell, that's l o w e l l, steve Lowell.comforward/free dash book steve 710 00:39:15,744 --> 00:39:21,284 Lowell.comforward/freedashbook, and they can have that as, as my gift. 711 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:23,640 Oh, well, that's very, very good. 712 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,019 I'm gonna get one of those. 713 00:39:25,559 --> 00:39:26,059 Absolutely. 714 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,119 99 ways for me to improve. 715 00:39:28,119 --> 00:39:30,780 I know I know I probably need all 99. 716 00:39:31,335 --> 00:39:31,815 Oh, I don't 717 00:39:31,815 --> 00:39:32,715 know who knows. 718 00:39:33,014 --> 00:39:37,034 Steve, I ask my guests, the same two questions. 719 00:39:38,269 --> 00:39:43,309 For a little bit of fun and a little bit of information, and the and and the two questions 720 00:39:43,309 --> 00:39:51,215 are, you know, what was your first sale Now you might translate that to how did you get your 721 00:39:51,215 --> 00:39:54,494 first gig, however you want to interpret it. 722 00:39:54,494 --> 00:40:02,440 And the second question was what's the most creative way you used to get a client. 723 00:40:02,660 --> 00:40:04,599 So let's start with the first one. 724 00:40:04,755 --> 00:40:09,175 You know, your your first sales experience, what would that be? 725 00:40:09,635 --> 00:40:14,360 My first sales experience, I would say if it let me just think about that. 726 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:20,619 I was the person who booked the band when I was, you know, doing doing the band. 727 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:27,384 And so if I I think back to the very first gig I got for the band, I begged. 728 00:40:27,525 --> 00:40:28,904 I I begged for it. 729 00:40:29,505 --> 00:40:30,660 Mick was a venue. 730 00:40:30,660 --> 00:40:33,700 I don't remember what the venue was, and I absolutely begged for it. 731 00:40:33,700 --> 00:40:34,579 Please give us a chance. 732 00:40:34,579 --> 00:40:35,700 Please give us a chance. 733 00:40:35,700 --> 00:40:38,820 And I guess I just begged so hard that he had to give us a chance. 734 00:40:38,820 --> 00:40:40,375 So So we went and played. 735 00:40:40,375 --> 00:40:42,375 We were awful, but we got the gig. 736 00:40:42,375 --> 00:40:43,894 So I begged for that one. 737 00:40:43,894 --> 00:40:50,110 And then, the strangest one, I was working for a company called the Dale Carnegie Training 738 00:40:50,110 --> 00:40:53,250 company way way Mick, when I first started speaking. 739 00:40:53,614 --> 00:40:59,535 And there was a client in town I wanted to get on his and he was the CEO of a company, and his 740 00:40:59,535 --> 00:41:00,835 name was Ron Sparks. 741 00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:04,119 And and I spoke to Ron on the phone. 742 00:41:04,119 --> 00:41:08,280 I did my little sales pitch, and then, of course, he wouldn't return my calls after that. 743 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:09,704 He wouldn't answer my calls. 744 00:41:09,704 --> 00:41:14,505 There was no email back then, and it got to the point where and when I called, the lady on the 745 00:41:14,505 --> 00:41:16,125 phone recognized my voice. 746 00:41:16,505 --> 00:41:18,425 And so she's he was never in. 747 00:41:18,425 --> 00:41:20,469 And that he I couldn't reach him. 748 00:41:20,469 --> 00:41:21,349 So I thought, okay. 749 00:41:21,349 --> 00:41:22,969 Well, I'm not getting this sale. 750 00:41:23,030 --> 00:41:24,410 So let's get creative. 751 00:41:24,630 --> 00:41:27,110 So I I took a cloth, like, a a, you know, cloth. 752 00:41:27,110 --> 00:41:28,324 I put it over the phone. 753 00:41:28,405 --> 00:41:30,105 And I disguise my voice. 754 00:41:30,484 --> 00:41:34,324 And instead of calling and saying could I speak to Mick Sparks, please? 755 00:41:34,324 --> 00:41:35,844 And his name was Ron Sparks. 756 00:41:35,844 --> 00:41:39,030 I called and I put on this Southern accent, and I said, yeah. 757 00:41:39,030 --> 00:41:40,809 Can I speak to Ronnie, please? 758 00:41:41,110 --> 00:41:43,829 And the the lady says, Ron sparse. 759 00:41:43,829 --> 00:41:44,070 Yeah. 760 00:41:44,070 --> 00:41:44,390 Yeah. 761 00:41:44,390 --> 00:41:44,890 Ronnie. 762 00:41:45,275 --> 00:41:47,514 And she says, can I tell him who's calling? 763 00:41:47,514 --> 00:41:51,215 And I said, yeah, tell him Jesus Christ himself is on the phone. 764 00:41:53,275 --> 00:41:54,974 So, Ron, she laughed. 765 00:41:55,099 --> 00:41:56,220 One moment, please, lord. 766 00:41:56,220 --> 00:41:56,780 You know? 767 00:41:56,780 --> 00:41:58,140 So and then Ron comes on. 768 00:41:58,140 --> 00:41:59,019 He picks up the phone. 769 00:41:59,019 --> 00:42:00,559 He goes, Holly, Luka, lord. 770 00:42:00,780 --> 00:42:03,275 And then I wait, Hello, Mick Sparks. 771 00:42:03,275 --> 00:42:05,535 This is Steve Lowell calling from the Dale Cartney E Company. 772 00:42:06,555 --> 00:42:08,795 Of course, his enthusiasm Mick dropped. 773 00:42:08,795 --> 00:42:08,914 No. 774 00:42:08,914 --> 00:42:10,155 I didn't I didn't make this. 775 00:42:10,155 --> 00:42:15,150 I did get the appointment didn't make the sale, but that was a but I got the appointment, which 776 00:42:15,150 --> 00:42:16,589 was the the big win for me. 777 00:42:16,589 --> 00:42:16,989 Alright. 778 00:42:16,989 --> 00:42:19,710 So so sizzlers, 2 gems there from Steve. 779 00:42:19,710 --> 00:42:21,625 The first one Right. 780 00:42:21,625 --> 00:42:26,905 Passion and passion, right, begged for the, you know, because he believed he believed in his 781 00:42:26,905 --> 00:42:30,389 band believed in his performance and and used that. 782 00:42:30,389 --> 00:42:35,429 And the and the and the second one was just just being persistent and and creative, a 783 00:42:35,429 --> 00:42:36,730 lovely story, Steve. 784 00:42:36,789 --> 00:42:39,529 I love the way you package those 2 up so nicely. 785 00:42:41,094 --> 00:42:45,195 I gave him a little bit of integrity in the absence, pure absentee integrity. 786 00:42:45,335 --> 00:42:45,735 Alright. 787 00:42:45,735 --> 00:42:47,735 Well, thank you for your gracious offer. 788 00:42:47,735 --> 00:42:55,840 If you go to stevelowldot com forward slash free dash book, and, you'll get 99 ways to 789 00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:56,340 improve. 790 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:01,164 And, all of the show notes will be on the website at selversizzle.net. 791 00:43:02,824 --> 00:43:07,960 Steve, it's been an absolute delight, speaking to you and hearing from you. 792 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:09,579 Thank you for joining us today. 793 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:11,079 Well, it's my pleasure, Mick. 794 00:43:11,079 --> 00:43:14,519 And like I say, you're a you're a great host, and congratulations again on the work that 795 00:43:14,519 --> 00:43:15,159 you're doing. 796 00:43:15,159 --> 00:43:17,344 And, hopefully, we'll be able to do this again. 797 00:43:17,585 --> 00:43:18,085 Cheers. 798 00:43:20,065 --> 00:43:23,204 And, sadly, we've come to the end of another great show. 799 00:43:24,829 --> 00:43:30,769 Please, could you go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review if you enjoyed this show? 800 00:43:31,550 --> 00:43:41,394 Secondly, If you go to sell the sizzle.net, I've got some fancy artificial intelligence 801 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:49,734 that will interrogate all of my episodes and give you any of the answers that you need on 802 00:43:49,734 --> 00:43:50,135 sales. 803 00:43:50,135 --> 00:43:51,574 So you have to go to the website. 804 00:43:51,574 --> 00:43:55,974 You can do it on your phone or on your computer, sell the sizzle.net, and you can see 805 00:43:55,974 --> 00:43:57,755 just see a search bar at the top. 806 00:43:57,820 --> 00:44:04,300 So if you type something in there like cold call or objection handling, it'll pull out all 807 00:44:04,300 --> 00:44:08,464 the chapters in the episodes that talk about that specific subject. 808 00:44:09,324 --> 00:44:10,464 Have fun with that. 809 00:44:10,525 --> 00:44:14,304 Let me know how you get on, and we'll see you next week.