Avoiding the Biggest Mistake

How much information do you give away when you speak?

I got asked a great question this week: What is the biggest mistake that coaches make when they speak from the stage?
That’s an easy one. They try to present a shortened version of their program.

They give a lot of tips away; lists, details, how-to’s. And what these coaches find out time and time again is that this method of providing value DOESN’T WORK to get them clients.

Why? They leave the audience with their heads swimming in information. The audience is both confused and confident that they have the tools to do things themselves.

The result: The speaker leaves dejected because no one is interested in following up.

The audience goes home, thinking they can solve the problem on their own. They put their notes on a shelf somewhere, never read them and don’t get the help they need. No one is happy.

Speaking to sell is all about providing INSIGHT as value – not how-to tips. Insight helps your audience understand their problem and leads them to the next big step they need to change it. Not five steps, or six steps… but ONE – and that’s the call to action that guides the audience to get the help they need.

How much information do I give away when I speak?

Whenever someone asks me how much information to give away when they are doing their talk, I usually reply – It’s not how much information you give away – it’s what kind of information you give away.

Providing value to your audience is important, even if you’re speaking to sell.

The key is to provide the audience with real insight into something they may not know about. Insight means “deep understanding“. The whole point of speaking to sell is to give people insight into what is holding them back from what they want.

For example, my entire signature talk is based around solving an important problem: “How do I get more clients in noisy world where sales messages are easily ignored?”

The big picture answer is SPEAKING. But that alone doesn’t give insight to the problem. Because that big problem consists of a bunch of little problems including:

How do I get my message out to more people?
How do I get people’s attention once I’m on stage?
How do I get people to take advantage of a call to action?
How do I get people to spend money to work with me?

By giving insights into these problems, the audience ends up with a big-picture strategic roadmap. They can see where the road goes, but they haven’t learned how to build the car to get there.

If they’re interested in building the car, they can take advantage of the call to action to learn more.

This isn’t about shortchanging your audience. It’s about being realistic. A great map is the only value you can provide in such a short space of time. If you give them a few parts of the car without giving them all of it, they’ll wonder why it doesn’t run and simply give up.

I’d love to show you how to create a talk with insight. You’ll probably find it’s the best sales tool you’ll ever have. Click this link to book a free 20 minute clarity session with me. We’ll get clear on your marketing and your message and I’ll suggest the best next steps to take you to the next level.