At Tufts where I'm a professor for two courses-"Entrepreneurial Marketing" and "The Science of Sales", a decade plus later, I have the luxury of bringing back our alums from these courses who are now experts in their own fields at their companies to teach portions of our 13 week semesters.
...and, for me, it's the human and very personal pride to see these still young 30ish year olds come back to this course and provide deep expertise, and in many cases-like this past Wednesday-much more than I could provide. Wednesday, we were visited by two returning alums, who have lectured in this course many times before:
"you need to tell a good story!".
#1. "Know the Core" of what you need to say
Define that number one point that you must deliver in whatever time you have and make absolute sure that that core topic or idea is delivered succinctly and powerfully and does get confused or misunderstood because you want to deliver too much.
#2. "Make Moments out of Elements"
Focus on the best moments that you must deliver. What are the absolute "best parts" of what you need to deliver within "the element" of a 45-minute presentation or a one minute meeting with a prospective client or a hiring manager? Know all of the elements (the entire architecture of what you have) and make lasting moments so that the listeners want to hear more. Zach added here to also fully understand your weak points and be able to adapt or respond to those.
# 3. "Do I have what I need?"
After weeks of research, preparation and formulating plans, make sure that you are meeting the objectives that you set out or were given at the beginning.
#4 "Be authentic!"
Be true to yourself in what you are delivering since people are real and not static audiences, classes, bosses or any third person identifier. People are real people, and, especially today, they want to meet and learn from other real people. Given the environment we work and live in today, in any media, in any presentation, in any job interview, if you are not authentically yourself, it will show through.
Thanks, Zach for your advice to our students, and it's also great advice for all of us as Sales & Marketing professionals just settling in this morning on the last work day of February and now two thirds of our way through the first quarter of our business plan.
Have a great day selling today!
If at any time, you have a need for a confidential sounding board for Sales, Marketing or business planning, just connect with me at any time. Text or email me, and I'll quickly set up a call. I'm a pretty good listener.
Obviously, no cost for a call or two; just an opportunity to listen intently and make a few recommendations based on decades of experience.