3 Steps to Success

Billie Jean King, winner of 39 tennis grand slam titles, says:

“Sport is entertainment; everything is about the audience whether you give a speech or play tennis.”

After Billie Jean’s retirement from top-class tennis, she was regularly asked to speak. Here are the three pieces of advice she gave to audiences!

• Relationships are everything
• Keep learning and keep learning how to learn
• Be a problem solver

Let me explore with you how these three excellent pieces of advice are applicable in your daily lives.

The Interview:

Audience:

Research the company and ideally the people who will be interviewing you (use LinkedIn, Facebook etc.).

Learning:

Talk about what you’ve learned/observed in your previous positions and how you hope to continue to learn and face new challenges

Problem solver:

Most importantly, talk about your ability to solve/overcome problems. Ideally, have some stories that demonstrate

Pitching – Presenting to Win Business

When pitching for business, you also need to address these three objectives.

Audience:

What did you discover about the organisation and what do you know about the people in the room and their issues?

An in-depth knowledge of the following is critical to your success.

The current situation:

A brief recap of the current position, ideally as said to you by the prospect.

Their objectives:

What would be a measure of success for the people in the room?

Can you articulate clearly the value to the organisation?

 Note: Measure of success and value to the organisation may often be different, you need to understand and articulate both!  (see case study below)

Continue learning:

The above is what we have learned about your company; we would welcome the opportunity to increase our understanding of your issues and tease out any misconceptions we may have.

Problem Solver:

Finish your pitch by reminding them of the problem they have and get their agreement, then paint a word picture of them enjoying the benefits to their organisation.

Case Study:

I recently worked with a very dynamic energy management company and helped them to create their pitch.

Let me show you how I articulated their story using Billie Jean’s Questions;

Audience:

Global Management Team

Current situation:

Multinational Organisation who wished to reduce global energy costs.

Objectives:

Energy savings with the minimum disruption to production.

Measure of success:

Less breakdowns (Stress) due to increased reliability.

Value to Organisation:

Significant Energy saving with the added bonus of as a world leader in the area of environmental management.

Why not try completing these 3 Steps for your business; it’s always good to take a fresh look at how you tell your story?

If you need assistance why not avail of my free 15 min consultation?

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking