HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 4, 2021 – Determine if Your New Sales Rep is Going to Succeed I often have conversations with business owners that revolve around their disappointment with a recent hire for their sales department. They are unhappy because after investing a year and a lot of money, their new sales rep has not succeeded in driving expected revenue. A whole year…wasted! When leading a company or a sales organization, each sales rep you hire is important. If you lead a big team, you may be able to get away with 19 of 20 reps operating at peak efficiency. Conversely, if you have fewer than 10 reps on your sales team, one sales rep contributes a larger percentage of your revenue; therefore, you must…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 4, 2021-1 PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS FOR MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS You’ve probably heard that public speaking is feared even more than death. Public speaking is unavoidable in mock trial, and you should be proud of yourself for tackling it, instead of fearing it like most people do! If you’re nervous about speaking in front of strangers (including a real judge!) in an open courtroom, these 13 tips will help you find your voice and speak confidently in a public setting. The 13 tips really boil down to these three basic ones: Be clear.2. Be yourself.3. Don’t be awkward. Note: Throughout this article, I use the words “presentation” and “speech” to describe anything a mock trial participant might say.…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 3, 2021 Public Speaking Tips For Kids Public speaking is a powerful skills, yet young students (and even older ones) are often rather fearful of it. In fact, it remains a common fear well into adulthood for many people. Some kids are naturally good speakers and take to public speaking, while others fear standing in front of an audience and talking to them. Public speaking improves young people’s overall communication skills, increases self-esteem and confidence, plans and organize their thoughts, expresses their ideas in front of the class and develops leadership skills. It is an essential skill to learn and master. It is one of those skills that will help them in their educational journey and professional career. Here…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 2, 2021 The Power of Speech & Debate Education Debate is a valuable activity for students of all skill levels.  Debate teaches useful skills for other academic pursuits and life more generally.   Most obviously, debaters build confidence speaking in public and expressing their ideas eloquently.  That comfort speaking in front of others is useful in so many areas of life, from interviews to school presentations to discussions in college seminars. But the benefits of debating are not limited to the skills built while students are speaking—the preparation for competition teaches critical thinking and research skills, as well.  As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 1, 2021 – ALWAYS Ask for the Business This content for this article comes from our friends “across the pond,” The Sales Experts Ltd, in London. See their web site at www.thesalesexperts.com. The founder and Managing Director, Wyn Nathan Davis, says he has made the science and art of selling his life’s work. Over the last 25 years he has kept a written sales journal of the 23,806 pitches (!) he has made listing the date, client, product/service pitched, value, preparation work and results for each one. An intern compiled the following results into a database: He made a direct request, asking for the business 57% of the time When he directly asked for the order, he got the business 83%…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 1, 2021 How to Conquer the Fear of Public Speaking (PT.2) 4. Prepare, prepare, prepare. A public speaking appearance is only the culmination of a thorough process of preparing and rehearsing your presentation. The more prepared you are, the less worried you will be about looking nervous, forgetting your lines, or losing your train of thought. Think about the amount of work actors put into delivering entire scripts in front of audiences. Approaching public speaking the same way actors approach performing will help you shift your focus from worrying to preparing, and the more prepared you are, the more focused on your message and the less distracted by your fear you will be. In this TEDx talk, Amy…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – SEPTEMBER 29, 2021 – Your Strategic Sales Plan is Perfect. Now, Change It. It’s been said that the only constant in life is change. Certainly this is true in business and sales, too. It follows, then, that the conditions that led you to develop the perfect sales strategy and business plan last year, last month, last week, have since changed. Because change is constant, your plan is almost instantly less effective than it could be. Does that mean that having a strategic sales plan is futile? Not at all. In fact, a well-crafted sales and business plan is essential. The mistake many sales managers make is in seeing the plan as static and semi-permanent. Rather, the Sales Manager should view it as a…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – SEPTEMBER 29, 2021 Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking? (PT.3) 3. Situations While there are people who by nature tend to be more anxious, or people who don’t think they are good at public speaking, there are certain situations that are likely to make most of us more anxious when presenting in a public forum. Lack of experience. As with anything else, experience builds confidence. When you don’t have a lot of stage hours under your belt, you are more likely to experience fear of public speaking. Degree of evaluation. When there is a real or imagined evaluation component to the situation, the fear is stronger. If you are speaking in front of a group of people who have the…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 – What Makes a Top Salesperson? I am often asked by business owners and leaders who are anxious to recruit the best salespeople, “What is it that makes a salesperson a top performer? What are their characteristics? What are their strengths? What differentiates them from other salespeople?” Over the past twenty-six years I have trained and developed many sales professionals, and I have found some commonality with those at the top of their craft. So what do top salespeople do better than most? They… Listen, listen, listen. Average salespeople are so eager to talk about their product or service that they do not listen to the prospect’s concerns. Top salespeople, on the other hand, listen intently. They ask questions throughout…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking? (PT.2) Some researchers suggest that there are people who generally experience higher anxiety across different situations, and are therefore more prone to feel anxious about speaking in public as well. People who are predisposed to feeling anxious find it more challenging to master their anxiety and conquer their fear of public speaking and will opt to avoid it. For other people, the anxiety is limited to public speaking situations, but the physiological signs of fear they experience as they anticipate, prepare, and perform in public are similar. Moreover, some people experience what researchers call anxiety sensitivity, or the fear of fear. Anxiety sensitivity means that in addition to being worried…

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