PUBLIC SPEAKING - the most practical skill to influence people. If you can talk to anyone, at anytime, in anywhere then you have mastered the secret of good communication as Larry Zeiger the award-winning host of CNN's Larry King Live would say "Keep It Simple, Stupid".
Am so glad that you clicked link, that is a sign that you would one day become a great person, in the next few minutes we are going to answer questions like;
How to begin a talk?
What will get people interested?
The best way to make people understand you?
When to exchange contacts?
How to end a talk and make money from who you talked to?
Some years back when I was much younger, though am still very young, I was part of a group of young people who sang in a District Choral Competition. Before the D-Day my team gathered almost every evening and did what we called "Practice"🤔 We planned on how to present the song at the competition, I remembered surgesting that we should appear on stage in a particular attire - of which other members of the team disagreed with, they said "the event have a dress code" which was actually a T-shirt which every one was expected to appear in.
At the event we found out that other teams that will compete with us paid music experts to coach them, apart from evening practice they did night practice and the top three most out standing teams in that competition all presented there song in a unique attire, they think out of the box.
When the results where announced my teams position was successfully second😃 to the last position, but the team with the last position didn't even attend. (I would want you to reread this paragraph if you did smile after reading it), thank God that they did not attend, I hate to be associated with anything last position excerpt for being the last child in my family. The story above is the summary of what you are going to learn in the next five minutes if you continue reading.
How to begin a talk?
I grew up finding it difficult to talk, I stuttered through almost every word, and this gets worse when am outside especially when teachers ask me question in class, one of my distant cousin sister use to call me heavyweight starmmerer 😭, but now if I should pick up an aguement with you, believe me except if you know what you are saying and I do not understand the issue before getting involved - I hardly makes such mistake, I guarantee you that I will out talk you. My strategy is very simple, I built confidence in myself, when ever I sees more successful or influencial person I imagine how he/she talked as a kid learning how to talk and I take that feeling in contrast to what I want to achieve in talking to you. If you are a male I would likely ask you about football if I meet you at a viewing center sipping your glass of beer, I would ask a prospective girl friend if she would be driving or taking a taxi home from church service 🙄 , but that should be after greeting and introducing myself. After taking the first step which many people shy away from, the next step will be to pass the acid test.
What will get people interested?
If you should tell a Nigerian about the Biafra agitation and the recent attacks on police stations in South-East Nigeria he would pay more attention to you if he or she is of the Igbo ethnic group or have a relative who is a police officer that serves in the region, but when you talk about the increasing case of Corona virus in India, he would likely ask you to help him log his Twitter account. The truth is that if people are to find what you have to say interesting enough to listen to you have to talk about what they need and what they want to hear about, tell them what they care for like there health, how they can solve low sperm count, explain in detail how you as a millionaire started and made it to the top, they will listen.
Last week Saturday I helped a man type in recharge card pins in his Android phone which developed a sensor problem after falling down 😞 . Our talks that day was about how/where to fix it, I also advised him to fix a Glass Screen Guard later. Before he left I chipped in that I stocks screen guard, he was the one that started the conversation and is obvious to me that he just wanted me to help him but if after helping him I told him about T.B Joshua he would likely not be interested in what I was saying. Don't talk about a new brand of diaper in the market with a bachelor- you will just kill the conversation. Instead of telling your friends who are deep in debt about the new ten thousand dollar iPhone tablet tell them how they can market it and make money 😁- they will ask you to explain more. After you have the interest of your audience, you have to know;
The best way to make what you are saying clear?
When I started my company, in the first year I found myself spending close to 20% of our Profit trying to correct misunderstood instructions which have lead to expensive error. For instance when you contact a Chinese manufacturer to add a particular feature when producing and packaging for your product, if you do not give the information in details, like saying what the design would look like, the size, weight, colour, the quality of the raw material to be used, just as many information as you can, you're as good as jumping out of an aeroplane with out a parachute - will end up getting yourself killed. When talk to people use simple language that even a seven year old can easily understand, as the Chief Executive if you meaning of your order is not clear you loose money. One of the best ways to make sure that you are well understood is after saying something, rephrase it and say it again. Another way is to listen and listen again, the latter "listen" stands for the body language, the facial expression of who you are talking to tells if you are communicating or not. Forget about the "yes sir" or "the nodding of head" some people just behaves like GetResponse, they would react and still go and do exactly the opposite of what you said. Finally ask questions.
When to exchange contacts?
Most people will do that at the end of the conversation, but I personally in most case will ask about your contact if our conversation leads to you telling me your occupation, if you are selling something you can add exchange of contact as a way of closing the sale, after the ask the person to buy. I once listened as Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah, a Nigerian oil billionaire and also one of the governitorial candidates in Anambra State Nigeria asked an aluminum dealer for his contact after he mentioned that he sales aluminum roofing sheets , the Senator was like, " I actually needs aluminum sheets to roof some of the house that we built for our people, though my friend sales but can I get your phone number" . The man gave it quickly with a "thank you sir" at the end. The Honourable Senator replied "I know that you will give me discount, I will call you by 10 O'clock tomorrow". He ended the conversation and also made money, I will tell you how he made money from that conversation while answering our last question.
How to end a talk and make money from who you talked to?
Be it online 🤳 , in the train station, at the barber shop, presenting a lecture before ending any talk with a new person please in the name of what ever you believe in try and call for action, it can be giving out your social media contact like most On Air Personalities do on after Radio and Television show, drop your business card, offer to buy lunch for the person 🍛, invite them to your birthday 🎂 party, just do anything positive that will make them to talk about you when they get home, the Senator made money from getting the roofing sheets at a lesser price. Find a way to make yours.
In summary, keep on reading and developing yourself, even the best speakers still reads, like the Boys Scott will say "be prepared", keep your language simple and stupid, if you can use humour to your advantage fine but never Force it or tell us that you want to tell a joke before you tell the joke. Be kind enough to know what people need and profer solutions to those problems and try not to use those confusing technical language, I follow Google to tell you "be no evil". Make good aquitance and keep the connection strong via phone calls, mails, text message, and occasional meetings who knows one of these days those contacts will definitely make you some cool cash.
Don't forget to comment and tell us what question you would like us to write about next time.
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