Taking Your Message Beyond Just the What and How
By Leadership and Sales Speaker Connie Podesta
After more than 25 years in the speaking industry this is clearer to me than ever: audiences truly WANT to learn — IF what they are learning is relevant to them NOW and can be used immediately to improve their life. Fortunately my experience and psychology background has also given me a clear understanding of just what has to happen between a speaker and their audience to create that sense of relevancy and willingness to change. Attitudes. Perceptions. Beliefs. Behaviors. It’s a three-step process. Without ALL three steps a commitment to change is rare.
Step one. Teach WHAT needs to be done. Communicated. Resolved. Fixed. Reevaluated. Let go. Improved. Mediated. Negotiated. Changed. Or achieved. This would be level one for speaker content and most are good at covering this first step. But it’s not enough. No way!
Step two. Teach HOW to accomplish the WHAT. This takes another level of expertise and credentials for speakers. But it’s super important. Your audience can sit all day and agree that things need to happen. Or change. BUT — If they don’t know HOW to go about making it happen the presentation was useless as far as significant change goes.
Step three. Teach WHY things need to happen differently. WHY change is imperative. WHY customers will buy more. WHY people are resisting. WHY people do what they do and say what they say. This is the level of speaker your audience wants. And deserves. They need to know more than just WHAT to do and HOW to do it – they need to know the WHY. Because it is the WHY that triggers their mindset to shift into action mode. It’s the WHY that makes it personal enough to them to see the benefit pop. It’s the WHY that is ALWAYS the catalyst for real change. Real commitment. Real ownership. Real accountability. Real transformation.
But speakers that can get to the WHY are harder to find. And cost more. WHY? Because it takes a whole different level of education. Experience. Intuition. Credentials. And moxie. To dig deep. To reach inside the mind of an audience and read what’s keeping them back from experiencing the true potential of what they are can accomplish with the right tools and motivation, and understanding of themselves and others.
That WHY? Is what I absolutely love to teach. It lets me incorporate the psychology of human behavior into my message to show audience members that they truly can go further than they’ve ever imagined. Here’s what I mean. Often times you’ll have a speaker who will share things like six strategies for doubling your sales production. Sounds good right? Who doesn’t love a good strategy? That kind of topic will often even cover the HOW. But you have to get to the WHY to increase sales. And profits. And market share. WHY do people buy? WHY do they walk away from the sale? (This is the piece my sales audiences love the most!)
One the things that I find most powerful about speaking to audiences, big and small, is when I can share the inside scoop on human nature. When I can help them explore WHY people do what they do and say what they say – and I’m not just talking about THEIR customers – I start with the audience members themselves. THEY have to get it. Know themselves better. Know what makes THEM tick so they can then find and fuel the triggers that will help THEM motivate themselves to go after what it is they want in life.
When I can put it all together for them – the WHAT, the HOW, AND the WHY? That’s when I see the light bulb moments, and I get the heart-felt emails, and the, “Wow – I never really understood WHY I need to do that. Now I get it!” Does it get any better than that? Not for me.
WHY would I be the perfect speaker for your audience? Because I can do the same for your group too. Give me an audience eager to make a difference – and I’ll give them the strategies, solutions, and WHYs that can help them do just that. And that’s priceless.
