That subject has already received too much attention.
That doesn’t interest corporate.
Your writing is too light and airy.
Your message is not what businesses want.
Today, I was speaking with a speaker about her brand and message. Years of experience, carefully designed and reliable content, a passion for her subject—and she was ready to blow it all away. Why? because she was warned by a speaker coach that the message wouldn’t be effective. Ouch. The scars are evidence that I’ve been there and done that. This woman was on the verge of wasting everything she had earned. not as a result of bad guidance. but due to insufficient guidance.
Buyers actually know what they want, thus if your topic is not what they want, they won’t buy it. There’s a good probability that the Fortune 500 firm won’t be interested in your presentation on how to master hair curling techniques to a new level. Consequently, the guidance you received was sound. yet not always exhaustive.
First of all, resist the need to immediately delete all of your content. Look for potential markets for your message. At a bank staff gathering, the topic of hair curling might not be a huge seller. However, perhaps that very action will bring you thousands of YouTube likes and build a following of followers who are interested in what you have to say. You just need to find a different outlet for your message in this situation.
Or it’s possible that you DO have what the customer wants; they are just unaware of it because they are requesting something else. Perhaps you haven’t explained to the customer how your message would enable them to achieve their goals.
The problem is…
People don’t take you seriously. They believe you when you promise to fulfill a want or solve a problem they are experiencing.
Perhaps you’re making an effort to sell them the answer too hard and failing to relate it to the issue they’re facing.
Say, for illustration, that you make a speech on the art of forgiving. I believe it is reasonable to assume that the majority of businesses do not typically include this subject on their usual list of continuing education needs. However, teambuilding is. Does the practice of forgiving make your team more effective? Yep. Customer service is important to businesses. Will showing forgiveness improve how well you handle customers? Of course! The subject of leadership is always crucial. Will being able to forgive toxic colleagues help you focus on the good instead of the bad if you’re a leader dealing with them? The answer, I believe, is indeed yes.
Don’t thus be the speaker who promotes pardon. Be the speaker who offers a solution that will enable you to build stronger teams, hone your leadership skills, and provide more in-depth customer service by utilizing a single, underutilized tool. Then, you may inform them of your solution’s foundation in the practice of forgiveness, or you could hold off and reveal it later in your speech.
Connecting the dots between their problem and your solution looks like this. Without ever having to adjust your message, you now have buy-in by illustrating their issue in their own words.
Think twice the next time someone suggests changing your topic. Perhaps what has to change is how you communicate the answer to your customer rather than the actual solution itself.
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