Improve Your ROI and Your Impact With Your Mouth...

ErnieSaid, the Speaking Academy for Inspired Dialogue invites you to find out how many opportunities you may be missing at networking meetings by spending money on the wrong resource.

"How much did your banner cost, £80 - £100?"

"How about your business cards and flyers, £35 - £50?"
"How much did your website cost, £500 - £2,000? Is that about right?"

Are these costs about right?

"Let me tell you why I believe there is a better way of spending your money if you go to network meetings"

• "You take your banner from meeting to meeting, different venues, different groups, different people. But the words on the banner don't change.
• You take along your flyers and your business cards and come away with the same scenario.
• Your website is visited by all the people who have shown an interest in your service. But you and I know that they may be looking for different aspects of what you do. Are they looking to find out about us? Our services, our pricing or our blogs.

There are so many ways we can market ourselves, or our company, that I think we forget the one method of communicating who we are and what we do which costs a fraction of the above methods. It's the only way you can change your message, according to the various venues you visit and the different people in the room. It is with your mouth. It is with your story."

"How many of you believe you have a story?" How many of you would be willing to tell your story? How many of you believe you have a story  worth telling?"
 

Now, I know from just a few short days we have been connecting with each other that "storytelling for business is having a revival -if it ever went away that is- but  I also know that there are still people who are reluctant to face a live audience and tell their story honestly. People who are comfortable speaking to a live audience about their business knowledge, but not their lives and people who are willing to tell their business story and their life story but don't tell it well.

How many of you believe that people couldn't care less about your problems?

There was a time, I would have said to a client "tell people  who you are, where you are, what you do and who you are looking to talk to and stay away from any negatives." That seemed to be the method of delivering networking and conference presentations. Life stories were left to "Motivational Speakers." That position is, I believe, changing. One of the present topics which is attracting many sole traders and entrepreneurs is Mental Illness In The Workplace.

It has been my experience that speakers are now not only being encouraged to talk about their darker moments but also how they have struggled with the effects of those experiences. Of course, they do have the benefit of being able to stand up and finish on a positive. They are still there in front of us. They are still functioning, still working, still alive.

If they are comfortable and confident talking to a live audience or into a camera then they can become the 'go-to' person for presentations on mental wellbeing.

The Point of The Article!

In conclusion, I began this article by asking for the costs of banners, flyers, business cards and websites. The questions I want to ask you now are:

• "How many times do you take real notice of other people's banners or read all of the text?
• "How many flyers and business cards do you collect from people you don't know very well?"
• "How many websites do you visit without listening to someone speak?"
• "How many times would you connect with someone who has spoken powerfully about their life and their business? How many times have you connected with a stranger whose presentation/speech made an impact on you?
   

The point of this article is that I have sat in network meeting and conferences, surrounded by banners without having remembered the words on the banner and the owner's details. I have a drawer full of business cards from people I have collected from meetings but I cannot remember their names.*

There are business owners and I include myself amongst them, who can make an impact every time we speak because we have the ability to change the words of our presentation, our service and our craft at a moments notice.                                                                                                                                                               Those words and our actions can, in my opinion, have a greater ROI than banners, business cards and websites. Our stories are, in fact, our Audible Banners, Business Cards and Message.

IMPORTANT

 Has this article made an impact on you, made you think or made you want to learn more about my programme 'The 4 Ps of Perfect Presentations'? Let me know by replying to ernie@erniesaid.info