How to Show in Speech when Marketing and Selling

The Final Chapter

This last weekend I attended my third and final Professional Speakers’ Academy meeting. I missed one on a 10-day trip to develop a client’s sales process. Once again I was knocked out of the quarterly competition in the semi-finals. This time I didn’t sulk (I’m 55).

The competition involved Story and Unique Business Solution. These are two elements of a 90-minute webinar I’m building to showcase The P.R.O.F.I.T. Through Process Planner. The UBS has been designed by my brother, a graphic artist.

The slides have animation, suspense and solutions and end with the image above. There are lots of lessons about how slides should work that I’ll share in a future letter. I find presenting the UBS easier, because the subject is what I do everyday.

Story is harder. Three weeks ago my personal story was dismissed as crappy and cringey. I needed a case study. Here’s how it must work.

Each element of a presentation is to convince different people to buy. The story sells the desire to work with you to achieve change. You use words to paint a picture. It must be relatable, quotable and transformational.

Act One – Relatable

The first act introduces the theme that forms the final lesson. There must be both familiarity and uncertainty. The audience understands the type of story but not what will happen. In sales, start with a question.

“Do you use AI tools for productivity purposes?" gives the game away. One “No” and the story is over, however long you continue talking. The sale is dead.

“What does it take to cut 30% from support costs?” carries intrigue and promise. The audience strains for more. My question is “What does it take for a business to really work?” It could be “What does reliability mean to you?”

Act One includes a conflict. This requires an enemy, real or imagined, internal or external. The enemy wins, which results in a setback. In my story, my client loses a major contract and plunges deep into the red.

The story must be relatable. Is the enemy familiar? Only ask those responsible for them about support costs. If business is booming people don’t care about companies that aren’t.

Act Two – Quotable

A week after any presentation the audience remembers a tenth of what was said. We recall the peak and end of experiences. You need a quote or concept that resonates in Act Two.

This is the peak of understanding, the aha moment. From here the audience knows the hero will win, but just not how.

The sage appears in the second act to guide the hero. Yoda’s unusual wording in The Empire Strikes Back has become the stuff of legends. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

This tells both Luke Skywalker and us to take responsibility and focus on the present rather than dream. It could be the motto for my programme about building business systems.

Act Three - Transformational

The final act is the memorable end. The hero is transformed. In my case study, my client applies The P.R.O.F.I.T. Through Process Planner to achieve a small, a medium and a large win. The number three resonates.

In the denouement, we return to the theme. The question asked up front is answered. Processes make a business work. How? Now we dive into the Unique Business Solution.

Exit Stage Left

The winner of the quarterly competition is an actress. She teaches how to put on a one-hour solo comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe. I was struck by how similar the process is to launching a product. A story for another day.

I did not leave empty-handed. During practice, an academy member saw me act out a metaphor for why business owners must design processes. He said he was sold on that alone. He has two clients to refer to me.

Questions to Ask

• Does my audience care about my case study subject?

• Do I have a clear and memorable message?

• Does my hero have genuine successes?

I’m Simon Maughan and I write The Profit Elevator as a guide for B2B firms seeking faster growth. Stories are part of The Go To Market Guide in The  P.R.O.F.I.T. Through Process Planner.

If you’d like to tell better stories reply to this email or go to simonmaughan.com. If you found this letter valuable, please share it with a friend and with a colleague.