I’ve been a professional keynote speaker for the best part of 10 years, and every time I get up to speak, I’m often selling something. It’s not always obvious and in fact, I would never even consider myself a salesperson – but each time I deliver a presentation, I’m convincing my audience to buy into my idea; to DO something or change their thinking in some way.
It may sound counterintuitive, but if you’re only delivering a speech just to sell, or to pitch their latest product or service, you probably won’t get many sales. Why? Because our audience are more intelligent than that! Buying decisions and processes have changed so much over the years, and no one wants to be sold to.
Selling to an audience you don’t know
One of the biggest challenges that you have as a public speaker is you’re delivering a message to an audience that you don’t really know, and who often don’t know you. So here are some strategies to help you convince a cold audience that what you have to say is worth listening to.
Relating it back to your audience
The cardinal rule of sales is to always make it about your buyer (your audience). If they can’t relate to what you say and it’s not relevant to them, why should they even pay attention?
If your audience is giving of their time to come and hear you speak, they also deserve some of your time researching about them and their needs.
This will allow you to deliver a topic that’s relevant to where they’re at, with things that they’re struggling with right now and they’ll be ready to hear your message.
Offer them something they value
To really convince your audience to take action, you have to give something away. Your audience has to come away from your speech with something of value. This might be:
- Invaluable advice that they can apply to their life or business
- A story that touches them on a deep emotional level
- Deep motivation to compel them to take action or do something that they may not have considered before
Cultivate trust
If you want to convince your audience to do something or buy something, they need to trust you. They’ll want to know something about you; what makes you tick, what mistakes you’ve learned from. This means showing a bit of vulnerability. They don’t want to hear you brag about your success; they want to see the journey that’s got you to where you are today – including your struggles.
This leads me nicely onto my next and final point…
Be yourself
It’s great when you hear a public speaker bring their unique personality to their presentation. It’s all too easy to want to give a polished well-rehearsed performance when we step up on stage, but don’t let this stop you from showing emotion and humility. This will allow your audience to buy into YOU so that they hear and take action on your message.
Whatever it is that you want to sell to your audience, take a step back first and consider the more subtle ways that you can earn trust and convince an audience. Only then will you get them to start listening.
Book in a 15-minute FREE consultation so I can help turn your message into something an audience will listen to.
