**The following is based on a true story. The names have been changed.

Rick, an executive at a medium-sized business in Nashville, TN, looked himself in the mirror and stated his daily affirmation. “I am leading my organization to year over year double digit growth.”

Rick smiled briefly and then frowned as another thought flickered in his mind. “Do my employees believe in me?”

Sam, an employee at Rick’s company, recently attended a Communication Skills workshop. During the “Eliminating Filler Words” segment of the workshop, Sam couldn’t hold back.

“My boss, Rick, always ends sentences with the words, ‘that way’. He says, ‘Blah, blah, blah, that way. Dah, dah, dah, that way.’ It’s so distracting! When Rick speaks at a big meeting for the company — there can be two or three hundred people in the meeting room — it’s like a competition amongst me and my co-workers counting how many times Rick says ‘that way’. We aren’t listening to a word Rick says except for, ‘that way’. We tally the number of times Rick says it. Everybody jokes about it. It so destroys Rick’s ability to communicate! It’s complete destruction!”

Rick’s employees see him as a laughingstock instead of an effective leader. Rick’s use of filler words has devastated his attempts to communicate and damaged his image as an effective executive.

Do you want to attract more people to your business, earn more income, and create a life more like the one in your fondest dreams?  Then use “The Most Important Selling Principle”. 

This is the second post on “The Most Important Selling Principle”.  To see the first, click the button below.

To maximize your sales and sales income, remember and use The Most Important Selling Principle. That principle is:

Never sell a product, always sell the result.

This principle can be applied across a wide variety of selling situations.

For example, if you sell services, never sell a service; always sell the results.

If you’re on a team, never sell an idea; always sell the result.

If you’re a teacher, never sell a lesson; always sell the result.

Here’s one example of this principle.

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

As a speaker, you should and likely will read a lot of books written by inspiring people.  You will also meet many wonderful, interesting, motivated, and achievement-oriented people.  If what Charlie Jones said is true, then over time you will be changed, for the better, by those books and people.

In addition to being changed by books and people, you can be changed by the act of speaking in front of groups of people.

In his book, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, Dale Carnegie said that “overcoming the fear of public speaking has tremendous transfer value to everything that we do.  Those who answer this challenge find that they are better persons because of it.  They find that their victory over the fear of talking before groups has taken them out of themselves into a richer and fuller life.”

It seems Dale Carnegie’s point is that public speaking can help us become more confident and thus more capable of achievement in every area of life.

Those benefits — becoming better because of the books you read and the people you meet, as well as achievement-enhancing increased confidence —  are available to you through public speaking.

Yesterday I listened to a motivational audio program by Darren LaCroix on what it takes to become great at a skill.  During the program, the speaker said something that stuck with me.  It was this:

“It’s great to visualize where you want to be, but what are you doing TODAY to get there?”

Wow!  That statement ties in with something I heard from the author, speaker, and motivator, Jim Rohn.  He said that the formula for success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

If we combine what Darren LaCroix said with what Jim Rohn said, we might come up with this: Today, practice an activity to make yourself better at something that you want to be great at.  Repeat this practice every day and after a while, you will have built a great skill.  It may even be world class.

“So tell me – how are you dancing your dance in the dance of life?” I asked my audience this question. Then I paused. The pause allowed the question to sink into the audience member’s minds. However, that wasn’t the primary reason I had paused. The primary reason was…

I had forgotten what to say next!

My mind raced. “Oh my gosh! What do I say? What’s next?!”

Then, like a soft light that slowly became brighter in my mind, the thought of what to say next gently shone itself in my mind. With my mental grasp I caught that soft light before it disappeared, and continued with my speech.

However, the danger had not completely passed.  Later in the talk, I forgot the last line of my conclusion. The little “soft light” of thought was nowhere to be found this time. I had to conclude my talk with lame stammering and off the cuff remarks.

I promised myself, I would never put my audience and myself in that position again.

That event brought the following question to mind. How can you remember a talk so that you don’t forget any parts of it while delivering it? This article covers how to do just that.

I’d rehearsed my talk countless times.  I’d gotten feedback from my wife, daughter, son, home Toastmasters group and speech coach.  I was prepared to give my audience a life-altering, perspective-changing, soul-grabbing talk.  I delivered my talk and then…they didn’t understand.

I was shocked.

Last night I previewed my talk in front of a new group.  Most in the group found my talk confusing.  This was not good.  Especially since I had to give the talk in competition the next day.  Initially, I tried to discount the feedback I had received from the group.  Afterall, my Toastmasters group, family and professional coach had given me positive reviews on the talk.  Certainly, this new group didn’t know more than my speech coach!

Then, I thought about this fact: four out of the six people that heard the talk said they didn’t fully understand my message.  Three of those four were people that have listened to speakers for years.  Thus, I concluded that theirs was valuable feedback that should be listened to.

I changed the talk slightly.  I removed a portion of the talk that wasn’t needed.  I added some language that made the talk easier to understand.  I think the talk flows better now.  I think it is easier to understand.  And if that’s the case, my audience will the better for it.  Heck, I’ll be the better for it.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons.

One, try to get your talk in its final form and preview it before a trial audience a few days to a week before you have to deliver it “for real”.

Two, get feedback from multiple trial audiences before you perform your talk “for real”.  You learn something different and valuable from each audience that hears your talk.

Three, keep your message Simple and easy to understand.

“Knock, and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened!” That was the last line I said to the audience before my mind went blank.

I was calm on the outside.  Inside, however, I was frantically knocking on various doors hoping that the memory of what I was to say next would come to me. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, like the momentary warm flash of soft yellow light from a lightning bug, an idea flashed in my mind.  It was the thought of the next portion of my speech! (Yea!)

I watched a recording of that speech.  There were seven full seconds of silence between when I forgot my next line and when I started speaking again. Seven seconds of silence.  Seven seconds during which I probably aged seven years.

The takeaway lesson learned from this little episode is: Have your talk memorized several days before you deliver it!

My major stress-inducing mistake was that I had created my talk in the two days before I was to give it. With my wife’s help, I had settled on what to say in the talk only an hour and a half before I had to deliver it! I had then rehearsed the talk as many times as I could (2 or 3 times) before I gave it. I’m embarrassed to admit that.

Please tuck this takeaway into your mental file folder: Be settled on your speech, presentation, or talk at least two days before you deliver it. A week before would be even better. In the final days before your talk, rehearse to further solidify the presentation in your mind and to iron out any wrinkles. This will help your confidence and the smoothness of your delivery when you actually give the talk. It will help you deliver the talk like a champ!

The next educational article will focus on exactly how you can remember your talks. Look for it in the “Education” section.

Words are powerful. Why? Because you can use them to move people to action.

The action might be to read an article (like this one), to buy a product, or to willingly take up a new habit.

Martin Luther King used words to help bring our nation closer together.

Winston Churchill used words to help defeat Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

My 12-year old daughter is currently using words to talk me into getting a cat (even though I don’t want one). Yes, words are powerful!

This article contains three tips that you can use to make your communications even more powerful. To set the stage for the tips, here’s how I recently used the tips and the result of using them.

Recently I began selling a programming course. Initially the course was selling at a rate of about 3 courses per week. The name of the course is “Enhance Your Skillset with Perl”. The subtitle stated, “Learn Perl to Become a More Efficient, Effective, and Valuable I.T. Professional”.

After a month of sales, I decided to tweak the subtitle of the course. My goal was to make the subtitle more focused on what the student would experience if he or she signed up for the course. I changed it to, “See Perl work, Hear Perl explained, Practice Perl to be an even more Skilled, Versatile, and Valuable I.T. Professional”. Within minutes of my making the change, the course sold 2 units. Sales went from an average of 0.6 units sold per day in the first month to 1.12 courses sold per day in the second month. So far, here in the third month, the course is selling at a 1.42 per day clip. Thus, if the current sales rate holds up, the subtitle change will have resulted in a more than doubling of my sales.

Here’s what was done to make the subtitle more effective.

I’m a grown man, yet today I was scolded. Here’s how the chew-out session unfolded. 

Advisor: “Why do you want to manage your account when you could have somebody else do it? You’re taking your eye off what’s most important!”

Me: “Because I like to do it, I do it well, and I like to be in control.”

Advisor: “What I’ve learned as a businessman over the years is that the best thing you can do to be successful is to focus your energies on one thing. Your success doesn’t depend on how you manage your account. It depends on you building your business. Don’t waste your time working on something that’s not going to make you successful. Focus only on those things that will add to your success. The more you focus, the more successful you will be!”

Well, I’d already made up my mind. However, my advisor struck a chord with me. I believe he spoke a truth that is vital for anyone that wants high-level success. I believe the truth he spoke will benefit both you and me if we apply it. The truth is this: To be most successful and to be so in the shortest amount of time depends on how much we focus on the tasks that will make us successful.

Sunlight shining through a magnifying glass doesn’t burn until it is brought into focus. In similar fashion, we generate the most energy toward our goals when we focus.

Gary Keller, the founder and chairman of Keller Realty, preaches the principle of focus in his book, The One Thing.

The dance instructor that taught the late artist, Prince, to dance said she learned a most important principle from Prince, and it was this: if you eat, drink, and sleep your profession, you will maximize your success in it. In other words, focus on your profession.

Larry Fitzgerald, one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play professional football said, “You can never let anything distract you from your main objective. My only goal is to be great. That’s all I want. That’s all I ever aspire to be. Greatness is something nobody can ever take away from you, no matter what happens. So I put all my energy and focus into my craft.”

Focus on one thing. That will bring success. That is what I’m going to strive to do from now through the rest of my life. What about you?