Expert Advice – Solve Your Prospects’ Problems & Book More Business

Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert, Patricia Fripp
Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert, Patricia Fripp Introduces FrippVT

Successful sales presentations are always focused on your prospect’s problem, goal, or challenge – NOT on the product or the service you are offering. If a prospect believes their needs are not seen, or not of interest to you, they will never become your client. This is true for all avenues of sales and marketing. My friend Lois Creamer is an expert in branding, marketing, and sales.

In the mean time, Lois shares this excellent advice for professional speakers and consultants on why and how to create and use a positioning statement. She reminds us that in order to be effective, our sales and marketing efforts should always let our potential clients know how we can solve their problems.

Lois and I collaborated on a web training to help speakers Book More Business. You can watch a replay of this web event at the end of this blog post.

Position Yourself For Success!

by Lois Creamer

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Professional Speakers – Do You Want to Book More Business?

Lois Creamer
Lois Creamer works with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money, and avoid costly mistakes.

My friend and colleague Lois Creamer works with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money, and avoid costly mistakes. We teamed up for a web event to help you build your professional speaking business, but our suggestions will help you in any professional services practice! Enjoy the video replay below.

Lois “Book More Business” Creamer says, “If your goal is to get more speaking engagements, it is necessary to connect with those professionals who actually book speakers. You may find them on the phone by calling. However, social media is a great way to find and connect to executives in the companies who could well hire you. Unless you have an existing relationship, an email to discuss how you might help them in their next meeting is unlikely to be opened.”

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Professional Speakers – Do You Hate to Talk about Money?

100 Dollar Bills
Are you afraid to talk about money? If you aren’t willing to assign a value to your work, your prospects will do it for you and your work will probably be undervalued.

As a speech coach, I work with professional speakers to help them develop more powerful and persuasive presentations, my friend and colleague, Lois Creamer works with professional speakers to help them book more business, make more money, and avoid costly mistakes. Lois and I joined forces for our virtual event, How to Book More Business and Get Invited Back. At the end of this post, you can enjoy a replay. We shared industry-insider strategies to help speakers, trainers and consultants. Here is Lois’ expert advice for speakers, explaining how to determine and negotiate your professional speaking fees:

Money Talk: Book More Business Style!
by Lois Creamer

So many times when I talk to professional speakers I hear the following, “I hate to talk about money!” My reply (and I’m only half-kidding), “Then you better get a different job. Perhaps something in retail where price tags are used.”

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The Sure-Fire Way to Influence, Persuade & Inspire

Patricia Fripp explains the secrets to successful executive presentations through FrippVT.
Patricia Fripp shows you how to design and deliver powerful persuasive presentations through FrippVT.

“Why are executive presentations so boring?” Unfortunately, I hear this question often. Corporate leaders rarely receive the honest feedback they need to become powerful and persuasive communicators. Public speaking is the number one tool of leadership. Good presentation skills are no longer a nice skill to have; they can mean the difference between career life and death.

When you’re a leader, even if you have a communications department or an army of speechwriters working for you, YOU must be actively involved in the creation of your own presentations. Fortunately, even if you are not a born communicator, the strategies behind powerful presentations can be learned. As a leader who can speak publicly with confidence, you have the power to persuade, influence, and inspire others; build confidence in your corporate strategy; cultivate loyalty within your organization; move your team to action; and demonstrate to others why your products, services, and ideas are truly valuable.

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Connect with Your Audience – Why & How to Customize

To be powerful and persuasive, you must connect with your audience both intellectually and emotionally. Enhance your connection with your audience by customizing or personalizing your message for each specific audience.  Customization is indispensable for professional speakers. However, even if you’re not a professional speaker, you will find that taking the time to tailor your next presentation to your audience’s unique interests and concerns will help ensure your success.  I share this brief video sample from Fripp Virtual Training that explains the importance of customizing your speeches and presentations:

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How to Become A Great Speaker in The Most Effective Way

Executive Speech Coach Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Executive Speech Coach Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Seven strategies to become a great speaker:

1. Consider learning to speak to be a long-term goal, not a one-day seminar.
2. Learn from someone who knows more than you do on this subject.
3. Practice with safe people – your supportive friends or others with the same goals.
4. Use web-based training for repetition and reinforcement.
5. Take your message to an audience.

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Toastmasters Presents The Seven Most Buzzworthy Speeches of 2015

Top Seven

Last summer, I was honored to deliver the opening keynote at the annual Toastmasters International Convention in Las Vegas. In case you aren’t already familiar with Toastmasters International, Toastmasters is a non-profit educational organization teaching public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network. I share Toastmasters’ roundup of the most buzzworthy speeches of 2015. Enjoy!

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Your Everyday Life Is Your Best Source for Stories

As an executive speech coach, people often ask me, “How do I come up with original stories to illustrate my key points?” Fortunately, you don’t have to have survived an avalanche, founded a pioneering tech company, or won a Nobel Prize to tell a good story – because audiences identify with and delight in stories drawn from ordinary life. In this video sample from FrippVT, I share a few strategies for finding stories and examples in your own life, or the lives of your colleagues, friends, and family:

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How to Create Your “Effortless” Presentation

A powerful, persuasive, professional presentation may appear effortless to an audience… but even an “effortless” presentation requires that you first devote time and energy to organizing your content around a strong basic structure. Presentations are comprised of content, structure, and delivery. The more you clarify your content and organize your structure, the easier it will be for you to sound professional in your delivery. I share this brief video sample from FrippVT to help you develop your presentations:

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Connect, Encourage & Inspire with Your Words

Hall of Fame Speaker, Patricia Fripp Presenting with Her Brother Legendary Guitarist Robert Fripp.
Hall of Fame Speaker, Patricia Fripp & Her Brother, Legendary Guitarist, Robert Fripp

While you might already know my brother, Robert Fripp as one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists,” you may not know him as a superb and entertaining speaker. When we deliver presentations together, it’s always a delight – both for us and for our audiences. Robert has an extraordinary ability to connect with an audience both intellectually and emotionally. I was so encouraged and inspired by these closing words from my brother; I thought I would share them with you:

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