CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 10, 2021 How to speak in public Whether you’re facing a large crowd, a handful of colleagues at a conference table, a job recruiter over Zoom, or trying to hold your own during a family fight, the all-too-common experience of speech anxiety can feel like a frustrating act of self-betrayal. You wish to share your knowledge, beliefs and feelings. Yet the moment you decide it’s time to communicate them, the words … don’t … seem. To Want. To Come. Out. Of. Your Mouth. Think about our usual ways of describing the problem: ‘I’m shy.’ ‘I suffer from speech anxiety.’ ‘I just don’t know how to be myself in front of a group.’ We often act as though…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 9, 2021 – PT.1 Five Body Language Tricks to get people to like you Review 5 Body Language Tricks Smile the first time Eye contact Body pivot Limit the fidget Using hands Practice in class Practice with friends and family between now and next session \ Make Body Language your Super Power (how and where to stand) Review the following points: 1. Stand facing the people2. Position of strength in the room3. How to stand (find base posture) Practice with a partner by telling them what your week was like Partner comments on your body language by •identifying things they did well  •offering one or two suggestions for improvement Switch rolls. Types of Gestures and How to…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 8, 2021 – Is It Time to Put Your Pipeline on a Diet? (PT.2) Be More Discerning When Assessing Prospects in the Pipeline If you are a Sales Manager or Business Owner, have you ever asked yourself why your salespeople add so many opportunities to their pipeline that have very little chance of closing?  Have you considered it might be because this is what you ask them about at every meeting? When you only ask about the new opportunities they have added, along with the size of their overall pipeline, you are telling them that only pipeline size matters and that pipeline quality is not important. It’s no surprise, then, that in the typical sales mindset, adding more prospects to the top of the sales…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 8, 2021-5 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS FOR MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS 11. Have a Stay Cool Plan Decide now what you’ll do if you draw a blank. If you know what to do in the worst possible scenario, you don’t have to fear it, and you can focus on delivering your best speech possible. I call this a Stay Cool Plan. Here’s what I suggest: Remind yourself it’s no big deal. Just pause. Take a deep breath. Stand straight and assume an “open” body position. Think. If you’re still stuck, take a sip of water. Then think some more. If you’re still lost, just move on to the next thing you doremember. You can even admit you are lost. But…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 7, 2021 – Is It Time to Put Your Pipeline on a Diet? (PT.1) In the “bigger is better” world of business, it seems ridiculous to suggest that your sales pipeline might be too big, right? Truth is, a leaner, meaner pipeline can make your sales efforts more efficient, increase your sales conversion rate, and boost your bottom line. Let’s take a look at why this is true and how to make it happen: Sales is a Numbers Game, but… Are your conversion rates lower than you’d like? Does it take 10 prospects, 15, 20, to result in one sale over time? If so, it’s tempting to think that the top of your sales funnel needs to be particularly fat in order to…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 7, 2021-4 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS FOR MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS 9. Watch Yourself Take a video of yourself giving your speech. And then watch that video. Yes, you will feel awkward doing it. I’ve done this, and it was uncomfortable, but not nearly as bad as I had imagined. More importantly, I learned so much about my public speaking habits. Please give this a try. I promise it is the single most impactful thing you can do to improve your public speaking. As you watch, consider the same things you consider when you watch others. Look at your body language; listen to your voice. Is it easy for your audience to follow what you are saying, or do…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 6, 2021 – As a Sales Strategy, Cold Calling Hasn’t Worked in a Long Time Remember 15 years ago when you used to get calls at home or at work soliciting business? You didn’t like those calls then, and you probably like them even less now. Cold calls are impersonal, if not lazy. They’re also hugely irritating as we simply don’t have time to deal with them. With the business world in its present state, I really don’t see how salespeople, sales managers, and sales organizations can afford to keep wasting their time on old ideas that are obsolete. Why would we be successful calling someone we have no relationship with, that we’ve never called on before, and ask them for…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 6, 2021-3 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS FOR MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS 5. SLOW DOWN. I’ve seen so many students deliver their speech so quickly that they literally turn red because they haven’t given themselves a chance to breathe!  Don’t do that! Breathing is kind of important  Also, if you speak too quickly, it’s hard for your audience to keep up with you. Slow down so that they can digest the points you’re making. When you pause, the last thing you said has a chance to “sink in” with your audience. Consider incorporating pauses strategically to emphasize important points. Get Your Brain In Sync With Your Voice I ran across a YouTube clip about speaking in phrases instead of sentences…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 5, 2021- Steps to Successful One-on-One Company Sales Meetings Do you have weekly one-on-one sales meetings in your company? You know, regular progress reporting and strategic planning meetings designed to help your salespeople understand how to surpass their sales goals and contribute to better overall company sales performance? If you do, you probably know that these can be a challenge, sometimes fraught with misunderstandings, anxiety and defensiveness. It doesn’t have to be that way. Consider these 5 tips for how to conduct more effective one-on-one sales meetings in your organization: Come Prepared: Before beginning a sales meeting, make sure you and your salesperson are prepared with all necessary sales reports, sales performance results and other deliverables, including: The sales rep’s pipeline report A…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 5, 2021-2 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS FOR MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS 2. Use Your Own Words Use words that are part of your speaking vocabulary. After years of writing formal essays, your speaking vocabulary is probably a bit different from your written vocabulary. Most people write their speech and then try to memorize it. I recommend doing the opposite: you say your speech – don’t write it. This way, you’ll use words you actually speak, not the words you write. Prepare an outline of the main ideas of your speech, just a summary of the points you want to go over, in the order you want to go over them. Using your outline as a guide, verbally explain your points. Make…

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