Public Speaking: A Natural Way to Market Your Skills
"People’s number one fear is public speaking.
Number two is death. Now
that means to the average person that if you have to go to a funeral,
you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."
—Jerry
Seinfeld
Despite this nearly universal fear, public speaking is one of the easiest,
most effective and most natural way of marketing holistic health care.
If you can get over the hump of fear, developing speaking skills is
one of the best ways to grow your business.
June is our “Marketing
to New Clients” month. Scary, huh? Because what you think of when
you hear “marketing” may be sales or advertising. And like
other practitioners in healing careers, you may be uncomfortable with “hard” marketing
techniques for their soft-touch professions.
Making presentations is
a natural way for you to present yourself by reaching out to people
with respect and caring, using the same skills and attitude you use
every day with your clients. By making a presentation, you meet potential
clients face-to-face, demonstrating a special effort to offer information
that can make an improvement in their lives, and inviting them to take
a positive step forward.
The essential component in this kind of natural
marketing is that you care. You care enough to step out and tell those
you come into contact with that they are important, they are deserving
of the best. You care enough to share what you know that can make people’s
lives a little better.
- Becoming a good public speaker can:
- Increase your comfort and ability to connect
with potential clients.
- Improve your skills in educating people about
the work and benefits of treatment.
- Clarify understanding of your own approach
and philosophy.
- Help develop your professional goals and target
clientele.
Do you want
to work with seniors, athletes, pregnant women and young mothers,
people with injuries? It would be well worth your while to hone a
presentation which focuses on the benefits of the work with your
chosen target group.
- Increase your visibility and credibility
with referring health care practitioners.
Keep in mind that giving a hands-on demonstration during a presentation
can be your best selling point. And, always be prepared to send participants
home with business cards,
client education brochures and other marketing materials. Here are
some resources to help you further prepare to make presentations.
Present Yourself Powerfully, Cherie Sohnen-Moe
101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers:
Controlling Fear, Commanding Attention. Caryl Rae Krannich, Ph.D.
Public Speaking for Dummies. Malcolm Kushner.
Natural Touch Marketing Presentation
Planning Kits:
www.public-speaking.org
www.speechtips.com
www.stresscure.com/jobstress/speak.html
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