Presentations are an effective tool for reaching prospective clients. Choose a presentation topic you have researched thoroughly and are passionate about. Develop a short, 20 minute presentation to share with organizations. The presentation is NOT a sales presentation about a product. Rather, it is useful information that positions you as an expert with whom people would like to do business. Examples of presentations and businesses: fall prevention by a business who sells personal medical alert emergency response services; how to deal with stress by a psychotherapist looking to grow a practice; and the inside scoop on buying and selling real estate by a real estate agent.

presentation tips

1.  Find groups eager to hear your message. Groups are always looking for guest speakers. Often, libraries keep lists or 3-ring binders with community group schedules. Groups to speak with include: Rotary clubs, Councils on Aging, Kiawanis, Quota Clubs, and Chambers of Commerce.

2.  Set up your PowerPoint at least 20 minutes before the speech. This allows time in case there are technical issues and time to mingle beforehand.

3.  Introduce yourself to every audience member before the speech. This gets the audience on your side before you even speak. Individuals will be routing for you.

4.  Keep a glass of water with you up front.

5.  Know your material well enough to present without the PowerPoint presentation. You can deliver the presentation even if there are technical difficulties or the group does not have access to a PowerPoint projector.

6.  Always use a microphone for 40 or more people. Project and articulate. Assume approximately 15% of your audience has hearing difficulties.

7.  Stand still at the beginning and have good posture. The group is getting to know you and decide whether they can trust you.

8.  Make meaningful eye contact. Look people in the eyes for approximately 2 seconds each.

9.  Engage audience members. Ask questions.

10.  Use vocal variety when presenting: speed, pitch, & volume.

Share your business cards with all of the audience members. It’s also a good idea to have a unique and useful “leave behind,” something that the participants will keep. Examples of leave behinds include: bookmarks, magnets, pens, etc. After the presentation collect business cards from those who would to be on your mailing list or would like more information.  Follow through with the audience members within a week after your presentation.

retain a professional to deliver presentations to build your business

Another option is to hire a professional speaker to share your message and reach potential clients. Find a speaker who is an expert on a topic related to your business and sponsor speeches. For example, I speak about creating meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues. Possible sponsors could be telecommunications companies, stationary suppliers, a restaurant chain, etc.

One more way to approach using a professional is to target CEU opportunities.  I have been retained by organizations such as nursing homes to present free CEU training for social workers, nurses, and rehabilitation counselors, to increase the visibility of the nursing homes and increase admissions. Offering free CEU opportunities is an effective method for any business dependent on referrals such as home health organizations, hospitals, personal medical alert emergency response services, and substance abuse treatment centers.

A good place to find professional speakers is the National Speakers Association. It is the association of experts who speak professionally. Their website includes a search feature for finding professional speakers based on area of expertise.

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As an organization communications consultant, I am often brought in to work with teams who are not performing at their highest potential. Organizations often have members who are solely focused on individual achievement rather than the mission of the group. The sweetest words colleagues can hear are others reflecting their emotions (empathy). The vinegar words are others repeatedly using I statements: “I want you to complete this task, I know what’s best for the group, etc.”

In the work environment, empathy working with colleagues has 2 components:

1.  Tuning in to others’ feelings and emotions. This involves being able to empathize with how others experience situations.

Practical application – When working on a project with a problematic team member, take a moment to look at this situation from his perspective. What is his primary motivator or emotion, self-interest, fear, anger, etc.?

2.  Being socially adept at responding to others’ emotions. While it is great to be able to see where others are coming from, it is worthless without an appropriate response. Let your colleague know that you can see the situation from his perspective.

Practical application – After you’ve uncovered what emotion is driving him, say “it seems as though you are angry because your marketing idea was shot down. Is this accurate?”

Displaying empathy with colleagues serves 2 purposes. First, it helps you create meaningful relationships with colleagues. People who are empathetic are more likeable and perceived as team players. Second, it gives you insight for developing projects that use the strengths of the various team members. Empathy is the honey in successfully working with colleagues to achieve the organizational mission.

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Service quality is a key component in competitive differentiation and customer loyalty. Business clients are looking for a positive experience in addition to a quality product. Research over the past 15 years has repeatedly demonstrated that service quality improvements directly improve profitability (Rust, Zahorik, & Keiningham, 1995; Parasuraman, & Zeithaml, 2002). A cornerstone of service quality is empathy. Empathy involves the skill of perspective taking.

3 Keys to Increasing Profitability: Look at the situation from the customer’s perspective

1.  Access – ease of contact. Is it easy for the customer to get through on the phone? Is it easy for the customer to meet with you on his schedule?

2.  Communication – humility in interactions. Do you use language the customer understands? Do you look for opportunities to be of service to the customer?

3.  Understanding the customer – knowing the customers and their needs. Do you remember the customer from one time until the next? Do you make an effort to find out the customers’ stories? Do you make recommendations custom tailored to the customer’s needs?

In this competitive environment, people and organizations need to focus on improving service quality using skills such as empathy to develop deeper relationships to retain customers and increase profitability.

References:

Parasuraman, A., & Zithaml, V. (2002). Understanding and Improving Service Quality: A Literature Review and Research Agenda. Handbook of Marketing. SAGE Publications. Newbury Park, CA.

Rust, R., Zahorik, A., & Keiningham, T. (1995). Return on quality (ROQ): Making service quality financially accountable. Journal of Marketing. 59 (4), 58-70.

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In my work as a university professor teaching graduate students how to be counselors, the single biggest worry of new counselors was “what if I do something wrong.” As I work with more experienced counselors, social workers, child abuse counselors, sexual assault advocates and victim assistance counselors,  the single biggest worry is “what if I do something wrong.” The focus of both novice and experienced counselors is on themselves, often viewing everything as about me, me, me. This is missing the mark. Counselors need to be humble in their communication with the client. Everything needs to be about the counseling client. The most effective method for keeping the interaction about the counseling client is for the counselor to use empathy.

Advanced Communication Skill: Empathy

The term empathy was first used in 1909 by E. B. Titchener referring to an “instinctive tendency we have to feel ourselves into the things we perceive or imagine” (Gantt, 2005, p. 1). Empathy involves a counselor feeling or sharing the emotional state of the client. It’s differentiated from sympathy where one “feels-for” someone. Empathy is “feeling-with” someone. As a therapeutic technique, empathy facilitates effective communication and promotes a stronger relationship between client and counselor.

In my work with counselors who want to create meaningful relationships with clients, I teach advanced communication techniques for conveying empathy to clients.

3 Steps for Showing Empathy

Step 1: Create a safe and nurturing environment for the client. This is both literal and figurative. The area should be uncluttered and private. The counselor should be a calming presence.

Step 2: Use encouraging behaviors to prompt the counseling client to share more information about his/her life circumstance. These include non-verbal cues such as open body posture and verbal cues such as “um,” “I see,” and “tell me more.”

Step 3:  Truly listen to the client’s words and observe non-verbal cues. Every single ounce of attention needs to be focused on the client. Try to see where the client is coming from and what s/he is experiencing.

Formula for Showing Empathy

Once the counselor has created a safe and nurturing environment and the client has opened up about what is going on in their life, the counselor can accurately reflect the client’s feelings. Identify the key emotions of the client and restate the emotions back to the client to clarify and focus attention on the client’s feelings. The basic formula for displaying empathy:

You feel…..(name the emotion expressed by the client)

because…..(name the thoughts, experiences, and behaviors the client has mentioned).

One may want to include a disclaimer beforehand such as “let me see if I have this right” or “please tell me if this is accurate.”

Through the use of the advanced communication skill of empathy, counselors can continue to follow their noble calling of helping others and creating meaningful relationships with clients.

Reference

Gantt, E. E. “Empathy.” Encyclopedia of Human Development. 2005. SAGE Publications. Newbury Park, CA.

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In this era of virtual meetings, more people than ever are expected to lead conference calls. I work with people and organizations who want to create meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues. Relationships are created and nurtured through positive communication skills. However, many conference calls are a waste of time and detrimental to professional relationships. When a conference call is not well executed, it’s common to hear dogs, babies, and the sounds of someone typing on their computer answering their e-mail. Here are the steps to take to assure that your next conference call will be a success and a positive use of the participants’ time.

Before the call:

1.  Send an invitation via your e-mail software 2 weeks before the call.

2.  Request a copy of the conference call company’s instructions, i.e. how to mute calls, how to record the call, etc.

3.  Send an agenda for feedback 1 week before the call.

4.  Send a final agenda with a reminder 1 day before the call.

5.  Call-in to the conference call 10 minutes before the scheduled start time and wait for others to join. This 10 minute window will give you some  time to work out any glitches that may arise for joining the conference call.

During the call:

6.  Adhere to the schedule. Start and end on time. Let people know at the beginning of the call that you value their time. Since you value their time, you will stick to the agenda and end the call at or before the scheduled time.

7.  Record the call. Many conference call companies have this capability. Let the participants know that you are recording the meeting to assist with recordkeeping.

8.  Ask participants to please take the call off of speakerphone.  Also, to place the call on mute if they have children, animals, or office noise in the background.

9.  When others get off topic, guide the discussion back to the agenda item. Mention how you value their time and that “we only have a limited amount of time today. I want to make sure your time is well spent on this call.”

After the call:

10.  Block off the hour following the call to tie up loose ends, review the conference call recording, and send follow-up e-mails about the call.

Following these steps demonstrates how much importance you place on the participants’ time and effort. By valuing others’ time and effort, you are creating and nurturing meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues.

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