Miranda Birch Media

Stories that change attitudes and reach new audiences

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Case Studies
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

Be a knock-out success with your audience. (When being weak is a strength.)

29614858731_6a880cf36b_o

Does anyone have a question?

It’s a question speakers routinely ask at the end of any session. In my experience, it kills the conversation. An irony, because it’s designed to do the opposite.

And I understand that. When I go to conferences, I never want to speak up first. It takes me back to the classroom. Why would you want to be the first to put your head above the parapet?

Be open.

The audience reaction was different with Richard Skerritt, the founder of Skerritts Wealth Management and part-time fund-raising boxer. Yes, that is Richard, above, on the left, during a charity event hosted by his firm. I interviewed him in more serene surroundings, in front of an audience of businesses for the Brighton and Hove Chamber Of Commerce earlier this year. By the end of our twenty minute chat, you could feel that everyone had warmed to him and had no hesitation in raising a hand.

Why? Because he was endearingly honest about different aspects of his career.

Acknowledge the difficult bits.

Being open in this way is sometimes seen as weak. In the business world, there’s a culture of putting on a brave business face the moment you are suited and booted. True, you do need to be careful about wandering into commercially sensitive information or describing your product as “crap” (Remember Ratner?)

But if you are sharing your personal business back story, people appreciate it if you give examples of how you negotiated the lows as well as celebrating the highs. Particularly if your sector – like Richard’s – is maligned or misunderstood. Let’s face it, financial planning, a.k.a. wealth management, doesn’t always get glowing references in the press.

Give real examples.

skerritts-logo-1a

But the moment Richard began, any negative headlines in the minds of the audience melted away. He was upfront about how he had started Skerritts ‘all wrong’. How, in the early days, he used to say to himself, “Come on Skerritt, you got yourself into this mess. Get yourself out of it”.

Or how, as Skerritts grew, he found it tricky to delegate – like checking the number of postage stamps used on any given day. (Skerritts now have more than 27,000 clients and a team of fifty plus. So it’s a good thing that postage stamps are no longer on his priority list.)

Be engaging and memorable.

You don’t need to spill all the beans, but sharing some of your trickier moments won’t count against you.

Quite the reverse.

People will value the fact that you trust them enough to open up and reveal some of your so-called weaknesses. And they will respond in kind.

In Richard’s case they immediately put their hands up to talk to him, when I said the words, “Have you any questions?”

Remember:

If you are presenting about your business, don’t worry if you reveal something about the journey that you wouldn’t necessarily put in a press release. People warm to you more and, in content marketing terms, you become more engaging. When you tell a more rounded version of your story, you also become more memorable.

I prove the point about the memorability in my next blog post. A discerning member of Richard’s audience explains why his story has stayed with her, several months later.

PS. Richard survived his bout. He, and his wife Heidi, deserve to smile: Skerritts raised £91,000 in just one evening.

29660272086_61a2d7c38f_o

Photos by permission of Skerritts Wealth Management.

Related posts:

  • When you stop speaking, how much will your audience remember?
  • How do you measure business success? It’s the emotion, stupid.
  • Brilliant Storytelling. Be Yourself
  • It’s OK to get carried away. What I learned from my SiteVisibility interview.

Filed Under: Effective communication Tagged With: challenging received wisdom, how to tell your company's story, human interest, natural storytelling, personal stories in business, stories at live events, stories in presentations, Stories that change minds, storytelling tips

Miranda Birch

About Miranda at Miranda Birch Media: your marketing will make a deeper impression once I interview the people who will help your organisation to grow: leaders, clients, volunteers and staff. From these conversations I unearth the themes (clients call them ‘nuggets’) that will land most powerfully with your target audiences. As your content mentor, I’ll also help you turn these nuggets into client case studies, About and Home pages, thought-leadership articles and other content that will prove you’re as good as you say you are.

One last thing… There’s another ‘Miranda Birch’ out there, who writes books about ‘dominance and submission’. This is not me and has nothing to do with my company Miranda Birch Media. I’d love you to dominate your niche, but not in the way she means! Email me now and we can have a chat about where you want to get to and how I can help.

Read More...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get new insights about your business every week.


    Recent posts

    • Company values. Are they a match for you?
    • Is your firm an osteopath in disguise? (Perhaps it should be.)
    • You’d never want to make your customers feel stupid, would you? But many well-meaning companies do…
    • Win that business. Write as you speak.
    • Have you told your ‘before’ and ‘after’ stories yet?

    Copyright © 2021 Miranda Birch Media | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
    Website by Steve Watson

    We use cookies to make this website better. If you continue to use this website you are agreeing to their use.AcceptCookie policy