Tom S
Executive Director | Linked 2 Leadership & CEO | Recalibrate Professional Development
Does anyone hgave any resourses to help build a compelling speech to a sales force on the subject of "The Power of Confidence" to help build morale?
I need help in building a speech for a large sales force who has had a difficult year facing more rejection and disappointment then ever before. I want to know of any resources that can help me make a great motivational speech. I feel that they have the fundamentals and resources, but they need a vision to latch on to . Any suggestions?
Good Answers (6)
Doug B
Designer/Instructor at AAFES
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (1), Organizational Development (1)
Tried to respond earlier....I apologize if this ends up being a duplicate
What is the cause of the rejection and disappointment?
Is the issue 'confidence' or 'morale?'
Confidence is faith in one's own abilities
Morale is the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal.
If the issue is confidence, you might look at training interventions.
If the issue is morale, the corporate climate (relational) and culture (functional) need to be studied.
Lots of factors influence morale, such as
•Job security.
•Staff feeling that their contribution is valued by their employer.
•Realistic opportunities for merit based promotion.
•Team composition.
•Management style.
•The perceived status of the work being done by the organization as a whole.
•The perceived social or economic value of the work being done by the organization as a whole.
Tom, you won’t be surprised to hear me say that it sounds like a leadership issue…..because everything rises and falls on leadership.
If the sales force is competent, but leadership has not communicated their belief and trust in them, then that may be a missing piece to the puzzle.
A couple of good quotes
Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.--Sam Walton
A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves - Unknown
Ramon R
Sales Organizations Consultant
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (8), Business Development (1), Organizational Development (1), Computers and Software (1)
Why do you need to arrive to the end of the year to do motivational stuff?
It's easy to prevent it.
You can prevent this situation by coaching.
You can build morale but the real job is daily, it's call micro leadership.
While you and/or your managers coach the sales persons, you and them will be LISTENING for the problems and situations that they're having WHILE they're in the street, while they're selling.
There is a strong culture, at least in North America that says that with motivation everybody will do their job. And that's not true. The work has to be done one on one, doing micro leadership.
Ramon
Clarification added November 1, 2007:
...among other things, besides coaching, of course.
Graham P
Leadership and Sales Training
Best Answers in: Business Development (1), Professional Networking (1)
Hi Tom
If you really feel the speech is the golden bullet that can increase confidence and eliminate the feelings of rejection and disappointment, I think you have a very tough job to do. I don't know of many motivational speeches that go down well if there is no empathy built with the audience
I often come across companies who feel if the salespeople were more positive they, wouldn't have a problem. But your real issue is "Why are these salespeople feeling the market is difficult and is this out of their control"
Depending on the answer to this which could be lack of essential skills, market forces, increased competition, maturing market etc you could develop your speech on this
Firstly get them on board that you understand their issues
Secondly face facts that the market may welll be getting more difficult and reemphasise that things are tough
Thirdly describe the potential solutions which are to accept it and disappear into the sunset or rise up and face the challenge and agree that that they have to rise to the challenges (whatever they may be, and what you are going to do to help them)
Fourthly Build a powerful metaphor or story about the power of confidence, the classic Roger Bannister story (16 people running the 4minute mile in the year after he did) or there are a number of autobiographies to relate from, Lance Armstrong, Jonny Wilkinson etc
"Expect what you accept"
"Choose your attitude"
Lastly cap it all off with a direct link between the story and their own beliefs
Ok this is only a suggestion and you may have your own approach but your own delivery will stand or fail by your own confidence to deliver a message from the heart more than any prebuilt "rah rah" material in my opinion
Hope this helps and good luck
I agree with the points that Graham Price ponted out
- get them on board that you understand their issues, relive the pain, paint the picture
- describe "how" you will support them
- build a powerful metaphor or story about the power of confidence
- cap it off with a direct link between the story and their own beliefs -
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale - The Power of Positive Thinking (second largest selling non-fiction book after the bible).
The 2 most powerful words in the human language are "faith" and "fear" - great stories can be be told about having faith (even when one's faith is failing) because someone else has faith in you. Faith in people... that the R&D people come to work to have a successful day, that the marketing group works to produce the best collateral, does the sales staff have faith in their support staff, try to use a story about passion and going above and beyond from within the company. Do they have faith in the products they are offering? Fear will paralyze success, fear of failure, fear of starting over again, fear to share bad news with a valued customer, fear of retribution, demotions, fear of telling the spouse long hours of work are needed.
Finally, after you know what you want to say; study any book on neuro linguisic programming and apply it to giving your speech, (this is what the really good tele-evangelists, and Tom Peters, and Zig Ziglar...etc. know) its about timing, the message, the volume, the anchoring and body language, passion, and asking for the deal. Practice saying the words outloud. Say the vital words that are your beliefs, your faith in them, your company and your fears.
- your delivery will stand or fail by your own confidence to deliver a message from the heart more than any prebuilt "rah rah" material in my opinion
K. Morrow
Sr. Manager Sales and Service Training
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company, Dayton Ohio
Hi Tom,
The first thing I would ask is "what is it, what are the words, that would inspire me to face adversity or to move outside my comfort zone?"
One thing to remember is to move a large group of people in a direction, whether it is sales or whether you are motivating them to act, is to get them to FEEL strongly about that which it is that you are trying to convey to them. So how does one get a group of people to FEEL strongly about something? Well, first you have to move what is in their heart (their feelings) with a story (or two).
The best motivational presentations always have a story which connects with the audience. You are not just conveying information, but rather connecting with them in a way that will inspire them to overcome adversity, or in your case, where they will not be affected by fear of rejection and being willing to move forward in a market where others may be stopped.
I would begin to frame the speech by thinking of 2 "real life" stories, where you or someone you know overcame an obstacle or achieved something when the chips where apparently down. In these stories, I would paint a picture (with words) what that person was up against, what they were feeling and make it REAL for those listening to you. At that point, you will have a REAL connection with your audience. Something which they can identify with, something that touches them inside.
True inspiration and motivation are two characteristics which come from one's feeling realm. Once you get that connection with those whom you are speaking to, you can then instill a sense of feeling in them, which allow those to act upon it. Presenting material that is not yours, or which are simply principles found in book, is OK...but real life stories, those which mean something to you (and hopefully, to those who you are speaking to) is a powerful way to build confidence in others. Make it personal!
Contact me should you need further assistance and best of luck!
John
Ok, I will provide an answer for you that I saw no one really brought to your attention.
I have turned to the following books for guidance, motivation, optimism and self improvement----All books by Norman Vincent Peale, Dr Robert Schuller and Tony Robbins.
Also.....Martin Luther King Jr Quote ---"The ultimate measure of any person is not where they stand at times of comfort and convenience, but at times of challenge and controversy."
More Answers (11)
Tom, the 1st question I would have is - "Do they have a solution that has a good market and an excellent value proposition?"
If the answer is 'absolutely yes', then --
1) There are lots of motivational resources out there that have been around for awhile, as you probably know.
2) I would suggest maybe something more 'unique' like Samurai selling (www.corporatevisions.com) to help make them more memorable in sales presentations and learn the human aspects of why people buy, the kind of buyers, people's memory and how it works when remembering things, etc.
Good luck...
Links:
Toby Y
Internet Marketing Expert
Best Answers in: Business Development (12), Internet Marketing (7), Advertising (5), Lead Generation (3), Viral Marketing (2), Public Relations (2), Customer Service (1), Internationalization and Localization (1), Offshoring and Outsourcing (1), Direct Marketing (1), Events Marketing (1), Graphic Design (1), Customer Relationship Management (1), Sales Techniques (1), Search Marketing (1), Writing and Editing (1), Change Management (1), Branding (1), Business Plans (1), Small Business (1), Information Security (1), Telecommunications (1), Web Development (1), Wireless (1), Using LinkedIn (1)
Good evening, Tom...
I have a well worn book in my library entitled "World Class Selling - How to Turn Adversity into Succes," by Art Mortell.
The book is autographed. Mr. Mortell gave it to me after a sales motivation event in 1993 at which he was speaking, and I was attending.
The combination of his seminar and his book were life changing.
I suggest you'll find everything you need for your speech in the 50 or so pages of Chapters 10-13.
Good luck.
Toby Younis
b2bmarketingpro.com
This speaker is not tied to "confidence" directly, but his topics are easily grafted into that given that the core message is finding creativity, passion and vision when those around you and even you yourself may not be able to see these things.....Dewitt Jones Reestablishing the mindsets of creativity, passion and vision would be core to building confidence in this team.
Links:
Linda Z suggests this expert on this topic:
John Kwarsick has an excellent background in Sales and Marketing management. Please let him know I referred you to him. He should be able to give you great insight to your question.
Best Regards,
Linda Zollo
Harry Norman Realtors
404 550 1445
Kevin J
Senior Sales Director at The Hackett Group
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (15), Using LinkedIn (6), Business Development (4), Customer Relationship Management (4), Ethics (3), Mentoring (2), Government Policy (2), Staffing and Recruiting (2), Organizational Development (2), Planning (2), Career Management (2), Freelancing and Contracting (1), Risk Management (1), Personnel Policies (1), Change Management (1), Non-profit Management (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Individual Insurance (1), Professional Networking (1), Starting Up (1), E-Commerce (1), Enterprise Software (1), Computers and Software (1), Databases (1)
We had a motivational speaker at our sales conference a couple of years ago, who had finally climbed Mt. Everest, after a couple of failures. It was riveting at time, funny most of the time, and very poignant. His name is Jamie [something] - I apologize for not recalling his whole name. I believe you can find him by doing a Google search. I believe he is from Australia or New Zealand.
I would highly recommend Blair Singer, a RichDad Advisor to Robert Kiyosaki. He had a similar scenario in an air freight trucking company that he owned and missed payroll for weeks straight. He said the thing that turned his company around was a "Code of Honor" that they had infused into the organization. This would be the context that holds the company together and gives them that sense of not abandoning a teammate in need, etc. His book that references this story and how to deliver that message is "The ABCs of Building Business Teams That Win". Let me know if you have any other questions -- I could get you on the phone with Blair as well.
Jason Tyne
SalesPartners Worldwide
Randall W
President at Cypress Media Group
Best Answers in: Advertising (3), Events Marketing (3), Conference Venues (1), Business Development (1), Lead Generation (1), Communication and Public Speaking (1)
I have written several articles that might help you.
Types of Presentations
www.cypressmedia.net/pages/articletypes.htm
Fine-tuning your Presentation
www.cypressmedia.net/pages/articlefine.htm
Presentation Development
www.cypressmedia.net/pages/articledevelop.htm
Final Preparations
www.cypressmedia.net/pages/articlefinal.htm
Important Presentation Pointers: During and After
www.cypressmedia.net/pages/articlepointers.htm
In addition, there are some Internet speech writing resources listed on my speech writing training page at www.cypressmedia.net/pages/class9.htm that might help you.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Randall P. Whatley
Cypress Media Group, Inc., Box 53198, Atlanta, GA 30355
E-mail: randy@cypressmedia.net URL: www.cypressmedia.net
Telephone: 770-640-9918 FAX: 770-640-9819
Cypress Media Group, Inc. is a consulting firm specializing in advertising, public relations, and training seminars primarily related to business and technical writing, presentation skills, and media relations. We also provide professional video production services, including streaming media production and hosting.
Ann T
linkedin@toddconsulting.co.uk - Managing Consultant and Director of Change Programmes
Best Answers in: Public Relations (1), Organizational Development (1)
Ann T suggests this expert on this topic:
Tom - Rob Killen will have some ideas
Tom,
Just off the top of my head I like to use some clips from "Seabisquit" for "encouragement speeches". In particular, the clips of the trainer talking about the horse being abused during its training and being held back from winning so that other horses can have thier confidence built. I like how he explains that Seabisquit has just forgotten that he's a race horse.
I have some clips edited together that I would be happy to share with you. Of course, you'll need permission or a CVLI license to show them.
With any such large group, you obviously need to look for that common situation that almost everyone understands. If the composition of this sales group fits the sports themes, then you could look to Dan Jansen's story for overcoming disaster and adversity. His story of personal discipline is also one to emulate.
From an inspirational aspect, look at Rudy Rudinger's story. The number of people that know the basic story is huge. No need to explain it. I also have seen him tell the story. It's a great one of perseverance in a team and individual environment.
Good luck.
There is a book called "The Greatest Salesman in The World" that has some fantastic parables about selling with confidence and conviction. I highly recommend it.
