Building Your Real Estate Business with Public Speaking
Do you have a fear of public speaking? You’re not alone. In every field, there are many successful people who still struggle when forced into a public speaking role. If you’ve been putting off developing your presentation skills, read ahead for some of the top reasons why it should be an area of focus, as well as some tips on where to get started.
How Public Speaking Benefits Your Business:
Enhances Your Confidence and Sales Skills
Public speaking can significantly boost your confidence. When you overcome your fears of public speaking, that in itself can feel really good. It’s even better when you make a connection with your audience and you realize you have valuable insights and opinions that people actually want to listen to.
Be prepared ahead of time for any questions that you anticipate will be asked. Sometimes, you will be caught off-guard with a question that you are not prepared for. Respond in the best way you can and strategize afterwards how you can improve on your response the next time it’s asked. This will help you be quick on your feet and ready to tackle any question in the future. Before no time, you’ll advance your public speaking from talking to small groups to eventually large audiences.
Builds Reputation as an Expert
Public speaking is your opportunity to have a group’s attention to talk about a topic that you are passionate about. Don’t waste the opportunity and try to hold the audience’s attention throughout your whole speech. You may be an expert, but you have to convey that expertise to your audience in a way that captures their attention. When you can deliver a confident and captivating speech to your audience, your reputation as an expert increase. The more public speaking you do, the more your reputation increases within your community as an expert in your field.
Builds Your Business
Public speaking can be used to make you and your business more marketable. Make sure you are doing your research as you write your speeches to ensure all facts and information are up to date and accurate. This will further help you gain credibility within your field. The topics within your speech should be strategic. Consider how you will segway between different topics in your speech and also consider which topics would be the most relevant and beneficial to your audiences, and which ones could be revised or completely cut out of the speech. If possible, record your speeches so you are able to upload your them to your social media platforms to reach a wider audience.
Overcoming Your Fears
Organize
Knowing your topic inside and out will help you feel more comfortable speaking about a topic. Before your speech, organize all your thoughts. If you’re just starting out, don’t be afraid to bring note cards or other materials to help you stay on track. However, you should avoid reading directly from your written material or trying to memorize your speech word by word. While this may seem like an easier way to remember everything, it may also show that you are not confident in your material and come across less persuasive. Instead, outline the basics of what you want to cover and practice speaking about the content in a conversational tone.
Learn From the Best
Even the best of public speakers had to start somewhere. Gain some inspiration from great public speakers that you admire. It’s even better if the public speaker is in your same field of work. If a colleague you admire has a presentation or public speaking opportunity coming up, don’t be afraid to ask if you can tag along. Take careful notes on their mannerisms and speech patterns. If you don’t know of any public speakers that you can learn directly from, consider watching some Ted Talk videos or reading material from experts such as Terri Sjodin, who has worked with numerous teams in the real estate industry to improve their persuasive speaking skills.
Stay Focused (On Your Content)
If you’re nervous about speaking, it can be easy to start focusing on your audience rather than your material. Remember that most audiences will be paying attention to the information being presented, not the job you’re doing presenting it. Keep your focus on delivering the information you’ve provided and don’t let yourself be distracted by these thoughts. And when you need a moment to breathe- take it. If it helps, you may even want to schedule in moments to take a deep breath and compose yourself before moving on to a new topic.
Practice
The best way to help prepare for public speaking and to ease your nerves is to practice, practice, PRACTICE! You can practice in front of a mirror or record yourself to be able to review how you will appear to your audience. Take notice of your facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movements. Also listen for any excessive use of filler words that can have you appear to be unconfident and unknowledgeable. If you are feeling especially nervous about having an audience, gather a small group of family and friends that you trust to recite your speech, then ask them for feedback.
