Critique Your Speeches With My Ears

My students often request that I listen to their speeches and presentations to comment on what I see as their strengths and weaknesses in their persuasion skills. Unfortunately, I haven't discovered a way to exist without sleep and I don't have enough hours in a day to do everything that I want to do and everything that is requested of me.

I can suggest that you record yourself giving your presentations and speeches and listen to them several times with a number of things in mind as you do. I am positive that you will find value in this exercise.

Listen to your presentations with the following question in mind: Have I achieved rapport? Then listen to it again. Have I used presuppositions? And if so, have I used them effectively? Listen to it a third time and ask yourself: Am I utilizing their criteria effectively? And if they objected ask: where could I have heard the objection earlier on?

The following are some frames through which you can view your presentations:

What is the level of rapport you have achieved? Is it strong? How can you make it stronger?

What is the overall frame you've set from the minute you begin interacting with those people? With your prospect? What's the overall frame you're setting? Is it one of authority? Is it one of one down and they're one up? Are you one up and they're one down? Are you equal? How do you come across in terms of the overall frame you're setting?

What are the presuppositions you're using that you can quickly identify? Are you using them throughout your presentation?

What other persuasion skills are you using? What is working? What could be used better?

What are the objections you are getting and where in the presentation or conversation did these objections first come up? How can you frame your presentation to eliminate the objections before they even appear?

So let's say you have an hour presentation, you're listening to it, and you know that at the end, there's an objection. Where could you have heard that earlier on? How could you have become aware earlier on of what happened and how could you have framed against it earlier on maybe even at the point of the criteria elicitation?

Re-listen again and ask yourself: Did you get and use their criteria? And did you continue to reference it throughout the presentation?

How was the length of the presentation? Was it too long? Were you focused on your outcome throughout? How much time did it take and was it worth it for all involved?

Look around at other articles I've written, especially articles on framing. After having read a bunch and checking out my blog at www.maxpersuasion.com, you'll begin to be able to hear yourself through my ears.

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.

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