So many times as leaders, message bearers, or speakers, we’re so concerned about how we’re delivering our product, pitch, or speech that we lose sight of who it’s intended for – the audience! We tend to focus on what they’re thinking about us instead of how they’re receiving the information.
Crystal Paine is the genius entrepreneur, mother, and home economics multi-tasker behind MoneySavingMom.com. She’s also the author of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget. We had a great conversation about being message bearers and caring for our audiences (this could be your customer, your team, followers, etc.) and I’m sharing those thoughts with you in a new Q&A Series video.
Whether you’re giving a presentation to your team, or speaking to your tribe, keep these things in mind:
- What is the audience hearing?
- What is the most important information I can share at this time?
- Am I taking care of my customer, team members, audience, etc.?
When we care about what people hear, the focus will be on them and the message.
As I was getting ready this morning, I was thinking about when you are first taught how to present in front of a crowd as child/teenager. You are taught everything from keep a paperclip in your pocket to thinking about the audience in their underwear to help distract you from being nervous. All this focuses on you and not them which now thinking about your message today is why a lot of people miss the bigger picture (myself included). Thank you for putting this area of opportunity in such a way that not only helps change the focus but also makes it about servant leadership! Great message Chris!
One of the things I always try to do is put myself as an attendee. The areas where I have failed to connect have been those moments when I tried to speak or teach like someone else. By putting myself in the seat of the audience, this has helped me make sure I was being myself on stage. I know this isn’t foolproof, but it has helped me not try to be Chris LoCurto, Dave Ramsey, or anybody else because there is only one of them! Thanks for the insight Chris!
Good tip, Chris! Like any area of business, we’re most successful when we put the customer first and focus on serving. The “applause” will occur when you do that well. As Ken Blanchard says: “Money is the applause you get for doing a great job serving your customer.”
Chris, this is huge…it reminds me of your podcast interview with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, where he explains that if you don’t have customers, by definition, you don’t have a business.
If you are not meeting others’ needs, they will go elsewhere until their needs are met.
Chris, thank you so much for how you freely give and share from your wealth of wisdom. The nuggets in this video have been life-impacting for me.
I appreciate you more than you know and am so excited with how God is using you in powerful ways!
This is one of my biggest struggles as a leader and as a speaker. I focus too much on how I’m going to deliver the message that I lose sight of the audience and what they need to hear. Thank you for the reminder of what’s truly important!
Amen Chris!
Mostly I prefer to yell at people and demean them, preferably in front of others. That seems to do the trick.
Oh you meant how to do it effectively?
I’ll go with that you suggest. And add that there is a fine line to straddle between preparing what you want to say and memorizing it.
I don’t think it’s wise to “wing it” when having a difficult conversation with a team member or when delivering a presentation. I’ve made that mistake and I sounded scatterbrained and um, juvenile, um, you know.
I’ve also practiced too much and ended up sounding like a robot. It’s hard to sound empathetic when you’re basically speaking off cue cards.
Glad @crystalpaine:disqus asked about this!
Matt, yelling at people is most definitely an ice breaker! If something works, stick with it! At least it takes the attention off of you! (just kidding)
Touche.
This is such great advice – keep the focus off of you. (I guess God knows a thing or two about presenting. Hehe.) Love this though. I don’t remember the post, but Dan Rockwell has a great one about how he presents too – that he often goes in ahead of time to connect with this audience, and learn more about them. Love that.
Love your videos!
Worrying about what others think is NEVER a good thing, whether in public speaking, private coaching, or day-to-day interaction with team members. Staying focused on the material, and not on self-image is something that I’ve been struggling with for quite some time.
It’s encouraging to know that the best in the business have the same struggles.
Learning to focus on others before self is key for most of us. I usually try to open with a joke to take away the tension. Most times it works, however, if the joke bombs the stress is magnified! Fortunately for me, I’m a natural talent! (ha ha. I wish!)
Thanks for sharing another quality trait of a passionate servant leader. Although I would be cautious in addressing what the audience (customers, team members, peer groups, family members, etc) want to hear versus addressing topics that the audience have a vested or keen interest that they want to hear. I attended Acuff’s Start Conference. Jon addressed a lot of topics that I had a deep interest in tackling. Some statements were unexpected or I really didn’t want to hear but it caused me to think, to contemplate, to probe and to re-examine. The audience will eventually sniff out if the “deliverer” who is not genuine, lacks sincerity, or doesn’t walk the talk & talk the walk. If the focus is on the subject and “target audience” and not on fleeting fame and applause, the speaker will do well even if the message is not to the liking of the audience. Sometimes, “bad news” needs to be delivered. A good speaker can pick up on these audience response queues but the speaker should not compromise or abandon his/her core values. Instead, the speaker realizes that not everyone can be satisfied and some people are just squeaky wheels (SWA – We will miss you!). One can’t ignore that delivery style can enhance or detract from the message. Delivery style can be fine tuned through practice, experience, coaching/mentoring, and honest constructive criticism. One reason I why elected 8th grade speech. The other reason was to address my fear of being near girls! Zig Ziglar offered some great insights on the transition of his speaking/selling career. Nothing beats honesty, sincerity, preparedness, and humility.
Two of my favorite people, the CloTribe and the @crystalpaine:disqus CPaine tribe. 🙂
This made me think of the biggest issue I have with marketing: when it sounds like marketing! Communicate with your audience as if they are real people, not a demographic.