55. Speak by Design

In this episode I explain three useful structures to use when speaking. 1. When you're pitching; 2. Asking someone to do something for you; 3. Matching people with a product or service.

Once you get familiar with the templates you can 'plug and play' the content, meaning you'll rarely feel stuck on what to say or how to structure your words.

Transcript

Sally: Um, I don't know what to say. Like, I do know the gist of what I want to say, but I don't know how to organize it. I really hate speaking off the cuff, especially in interviews or meetings or pitches. Well, what if I told you, even when sprung on you, you can speak by design.

I'm Sally Prosser. You're listening to That Voice Podcast, no matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

Welcome to episode 55 of That Voice Podcast - Speak by design. I'm going to share with you some really useful templates you can whip out when you haven't got much time to prepare, or even when you do have time to prepare. Now, if this has piqued your interest, then come and join us in Members Only because this is the topic for our November Masterclass, where I'll go into a lot more detail, and you can also download the slide deck with it all there in black and white for you.

So this is a bit of a taster. I'm going to take you through three templates today. And before I share what they are, let me be clear that you'll never always know exactly what to say. You'll never reach perfection, right? You'll always look back on scenarios and say, I could've said that differently or better - happens to me all the time, but I'm forgiving of myself. I'll never be able to say the best thing all the time. It's always the best thing in that moment in time. It's always the best thing in that moment in time. So be forgiving. So while these templates definitely arm you with communication ammunition, you can do it without them. Also, these are only suggestions and there are plenty more ways to skin this cat. Believe me.

All right, let's get into it. Number one is great if you're preparing for a pitch of any sort, you might be pitching your business, pitching for a client at work pitching for a promotion even. And there's three steps. Problem, Promised land, Solution - problem promised land solution. So first of all, what is the problem? The audience needs to feel the pain to even know they need a solution. So let's use an example. What about people not getting heard in meetings? They're being talked over their ideas dismissed. They'll say something and no one will blink an eye, but someone else says exactly the same thing. And it's the best idea since sliced bread. Their reputation is just someone who's 'nice' with no substance. They're being overlooked for promotions. They're feeling bad about themselves. And of course, if you can use a story to paint the problem, it's even better. Now we move on to the promised land. We paint a picture of everything being great. You know, wouldn't it be great if you could walk into any room and be noticed, have that presence that aura that others are drawn to when you speak people pay attention, they listen to what you say. You have a reputation of being a confident speaker, a leader, someone who knows their stuff and can articulate it beautifully.

All right. So we've got, Oh no, there's a problem. Yes yes yes. I want that solution. And then we swoop in with the solution. So I can work with you one on one to get you there or whatever the solution is. There's a real temptation when we're pitching, I'm guilty of this too, to jump straight to our solution, straight to what we have to offer. But if we frame the problem and frame a picture of how the solution could impact the audience's lives, we have much better buy in because without knowing the problem and understanding where they're going to get to - the solution doesn't mean much. And this format is used in heaps of advertising. You know? Oh no, you're sad because you have wrinkles and pimples. Oh, what a problem. Wouldn't it be great if you were like this gorgeous woman with clear skin and no worries - promised land. Swoop in - buy this facewash - solution. Now there are heaps of frameworks to use with pitching. I just find problem promised land solution, an easy go to.

All right. Let's look at number two. I've got ARE - A R E action reason example, and you can use this any time you'd like someone to do something for you. It's useful for managers working with staff, teachers working with students and parents - I can see your ears prick up. I bet you already do this with your kids. And basically it's framing the reason behind the action. The reason behind the action, rather than just leaving it as the action - do this, because I said so. So the action is what you want them to do. So what I want you to do is I want you to imagine that your lungs are in your buttocks. We want to visualize the lungs away from the shoulders. And the reason we want to do this is you want to get as much air in as possible because oxygen fuels our voice. It also helps us relax. Moving onto the example, for example, your voice tends to creep up in pitch and crack a little when you're nervous and doing this deep breathing will help prevent that. Or - action. You might want to double check your camera settings in meetings. Reason. It might come on without you realizing and you're not prepared for it. Example. Do you remember on Facebook or on social media there was a woman who went to the toilet while on her zoom call, not realizing her camera was still on. It is hilarious by the way, look it up

If it's a point you want to make, rather than an action. You want someone to take, Oh, that rhymes, you can replace the A with a P. So instead of action reason example, it becomes PRE point reason example. And I'll explain that one further in the Masterclass in Members Only.

Now, finally, let's look at WWW and this is handy when you want to help someone find the right product or service, they might be inquiring your business, or just asking for help. WWW - who, what, why, who, what, why start off by finding out who they are? What is their problem, their experience, their story, the more we know who someone is, the better we can match the product or service to their need. The what. And then of course we communicate the why, why have we matched that What with that Who, all right, so let's run an example. Someone inquires about voice coaching. I want to find out more about who they are. So I get this picture. This person's a 43 year old professional who's transitioning careers and looking to build confidence. Let's call her Jane. I ask if there's any scenario that stood out for her, any reason that prompted the inquiry, I'm asking questions to understand who she is, find out as much as I can about who she is. And I find out that mindset is a big part of it. So Jane spent a lot of time in a male-dominated environment. She feels she doesn't get heard and worries about saying the quotation marks - wrong thing. So armed with this information, I can move on to the what. And I can say, it sounds like the most ideal thing would be for you to join Members Only. I let her know that I'll also send her my podcast episode about mindset, and then I can move on to the why, why am I offering Members Only for Jane?Well, I say a lot of members struggle in this area, and it's really great to work on mindset in a group environment. And I actually cover this in the first Masterclass, which is in the portal, ready to go. Now, if the, who had been someone preparing for a particular conference presentation, I may have recommended one-on-one, but this formula works a treat who, what, why - it makes the conversation a lot more directed and a lot more personalized if we're always just saying, well, I have all these things. I have Makeover courses and memberships, and one on one, which by the way, I do have all those things, then you're leaving it up to the person to understand what's best for them, but they don't know your products the way that you do. So you're much better off finding out about the person and essentially choosing for them, choosing what's best for them based on the information you find out. So if you get a phone call inquiry out of the blue or a DM, or even an email, this is a really handy one to follow. Who, what, why?

So there we have it three really handy templates, problem promised land solution use for pitching. ARE - A R E action reason example use whenever you'd like somebody to do something for you. And finally, who, what, why use this to match up products or services to a particular person. Now in the Masterclass, I'll also cover templates for highlighting qualities that you have, like at a job interview or a performance review. You may have heard of STAR - situation, task action, result. Well, I have an upgraded version of STAR to share with you. We'll also cover how to bring people on the journey of change or to argue for change. And I've got a great one from my days in PR for answering tricky questions, including those from the media. And of course, if you're live on the call, you can ask me any questions. So this Masterclass speak by design and a whole bunch of other resources are waiting for you inside Members Only including hot seat coaching, a 50% discount on my digital courses and of course, dozens of other people to connect with. So I would love to see you in Members Only head to the link in the show notes.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast for episode details straight to your inbox, leave your email at www.thatvoicepodcast.com.