For many people, the simple act of talking in front of others paralyzes them with fear, and they avoid networking because of it. In fact, public speaking is the No. 1 fear of Americans—death is No. 7! As comedian Jerry Seinfeld says, “At a funeral, you’d rather be lying in the casket than delivering the eulogy.”
A lot of people have fears and challenges with networking for the same exact reason that people have fears and challenges with public speaking: they’re afraid they’re going to look stupid. Or not know what to say. They’re afraid they’re not going to know how to handle the questions. “The spotlight is on me. What if I screw up?”
So what does this have to do with networking? Well, networking is a form of public speaking so the same fears and deterrents apply. This goes for sales producers and job searchers alike.
This is a story I’ve told before but it bears repeating. I teach a public-speaking class at Rutgers University. One of my former students, Nicole, almost withdrew from my course because she was so terrified of speaking in front of the class.
In my first class, I have the students get up and speak about themselves. (It is a public speaking class you know.) At the end of the first class, Nicole came up to me after everyone else left and said, “I have to apologize. I don’t want to waste your time. I can’t take this class.” I asked her, “Why? Did I mess up already?”
She chuckled and answered, “No, no. It’s just that I’m absolutely terrified.”
I said, “Yeah, but you did so well. And you need this class to graduate.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m going to have to figure something out.”
“No, I can’t allow you to do that,” I said.
Right then, her mother called on her cell phone, and as Nicole spoke with her, she was almost in tears. Her mom was trying to convince her to stick it out. Then I said, “Nicole, do me a favor, hand me the phone.”
I said, “Hello, Mrs. Nicole’s Mom. This is Michael Goldberg, the instructor. Listen, your daughter is beside herself. Please help me keep her in this class, and I promise that she will overcome this fear, and be one of the best in the class. I will work with her—I will do whatever it takes, otherwise this is going to haunt her forever. And I can’t allow that. So if you can work with me on keeping her in this class, I will do the best that I can.”
That particular semester, we were videotaping students as they gave speeches and we would often start the class by critiquing a taped presentation from the previous week. Sometimes we would critique a newscaster or even a celebrity. So I popped in a DVD and we watched David Letterman deliver his monologue. And suddenly Nicole appeared on the show!
At the end of the clip, Nicole stood up in front of the class and gave a presentation about how she has overcome her fear, what happened, what was going through her mind and how appreciative she was of the class.
By overcoming her fear, Nicole had an incredible experience that she will never forget. And she will probably have many more—she will meet people she would otherwise never meet and have experiences that she would be too fearful to have otherwise.
What are the Letterman Top 10 opportunities you’re missing out on?
I met a young insurance sales rep a couple of years ago at a gig I was speaking at. We hit it off and stayed in touch. Even had lunch together a couple of times. Recently he contacted me about getting together to discuss a business opportunity. When I asked about it, he was guarded but then finally shared he was involved in one of those multi-level marketing deals. Wanted to get me involved because of my speaking and of course, my network. I thanked him for thinking of me but told him I wasn’t interested. He wanted to meet and have lunch anyway, so on my next trip to his neck of the woods we met. Seems most of the conversation was him trying to pitch me the MLM shtick. I mean, marketing collateral, laptop, PowerPoint slides, the whole thing. He didn’t seem discouraged by my lack of interest, change of subject, or my outright “no”. Finally, the lunch ended and it was over. Or so I thought.
The next thing I knew (like that same day), I was hit with an email with a list of products, services, and the revenues generated selling these products. I sent him a note requesting to be taken off the list but that didn’t happen. I just got more and more emails including the generic form letter telling me how stupid I was. He followed up with a phone message asking me about the products and if I would be interested in creating a website to sell them or if I was interested in buying them myself. This went on and on. I returned his latest call just this week (our original lunch was back in October) to tell him to stop calling me and to remove me from all lists or it was going to get ugly. I could not have been more direct. He said,“OK, OK. But can I call you back in 3 months to see if you’re interested then?” I said this would be our last call.
How many insurance agents, financial advisors, planners, and other salespeople just don’t get it? How many go way over the top to pitch their stuff? Answer – too many! No means no or it gets ugly.
Focus on your prospects (I mean true prospects) and there are no worries. A prospect is someone that knows you (or of you), values your work, and is interested in becoming a client now or later. That’s it! Awesome if it’s through a referral! How much of your marketing is focused on true prospects rather than on the proverbial suspect? No wonder so many reps fail! If more reps “got it” maybe less would be focused on MLM schemes.
The following article was in the New York Post this week. The approach may not be for all sales reps and financial advisors but consider how you can be more creative in your own marketing efforts. Hey, it could get you onto page three of the New York Post!
PERFECT PLATFORM TO MAKE HIS PITCH
By JEREMY OLSHAN
Click on the link below to access the story.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/perfect_platform_to_make_his_pitch_cSEBXiwSQpLeo8OAbxbcEN
Stand clear of the closing salesman.
When Eric Klarman first tried selling life insurance in the subway, he knew he’d be harassed and largely ignored.
He never imagined it would actually work.
Klarman, an agent with New York Life, lugs a folding table and a blue banner that reads “Life Insurance” to major transit hubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn during the morning and evening rush hours. That — along with a smile — is all the sales pitch he needs.
“I don’t need to call or hand out anything — people come to me,” he told The Post recently at a busy Brooklyn station.
It is against MTA rules to offer financial and estate planning in the subway. In fact, the only thing it’s legal to sell on trains and in stations is religion, which is protected as free speech.
So Klarman doesn’t solicit or transact business so much as meet and greet potential clients. Though he has occasionally been ticketed — or told to move elsewhere — he is mostly left alone.
There are no shortage of underinsured New Yorkers underground, Klarman said. The hard part is separating the real prospects from those just wasting his time.
He saves a stack of photocopied handouts for nonserious prospects, but when a client with real potential comes forward, he breaks out the glossy literature and a calendar with his Web site, www.ericklarman.com.
Those methods may be unorthodox, but Klarman said he decided working the subways is preferable to going door to door or making cold calls.
But why would anyone make financial decisions in the dingy recesses of the subway? “I am putting myself in a spot [so] they don’t have to go out of their way,” Klarman said. “Why do you think politicians go out to the subway two weeks before the election? If it’s good enough for Mayor Bloomberg, it’s good enough for me.”
Do you find that you don’t have enough hours in the day to get everything done? Maybe it’s your time management that needs to be improved. Read this article printed in The Wall Street Journal today in the Career Journal section. http://bit.ly/2dHQcQ