Truly memorable disasters don’t just happen. They require a special blend of misunderstanding and misguided effort. Here are three ways to guarantee a disaster in your next presentation, and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Believe in Magic

Show up hoping that a coherent, eloquent, useful presentation will magically appear once you start speaking. Avoid any type of preparation. Just wing it.

What Happens

Everyone is amazed by the presentation because they expected more. They are also bored and disappointed. They may even become upset because an unprepared presentation insults the audience by wasting their time. Unprepared presentations sound like, well, unprepared presentations.

Instead

Prepare. Identify the goal for your talk. Design a presentation that achieves that goal. Talk with key members of the audience about their expectations. Rehearse.

Mistake #2: Memorize your speech

Spend untold hours committing every precious word to memory so that you can recite it even if awakened in the middle of the night.

What Happens

You sound like a machine. And if you stumble on a word, you can become stuck–speechless. I’ve seen this happen, and it’s painful.

Instead

Learn your presentation. Yes, write a script. Memorize the first and last sentences and then practice giving the presentation without looking at the script. Practice many times. Eventually, you will learn how to convey the key ideas in a natural, normal way.

Mistake #3: Talk About Yourself

Focus entirely on yourself. Tell about your background, your credentials, and your history. Tell your story. Just talk about yourself. Make the presentation all about you, yourself, and your life.

What Happens

They listen politely. If you manage to be entertaining enough, they may actually pay attention. Otherwise, the audience reacts by thinking, “So what?”

Instead

Talk about the audience. That is, talk about what they need and how they can achieve it.

Let’s face it – time is probably our greatest resource. We never seem to have enough of it and it seems to pass so quickly. Well we won’t get any more of it and we can’t slow it down.

What we can do is make the most of the time we have. Here are some simple steps you can take to get the most out of your day.

1. Plan your day the night before – At the end of each day write out all the things you need to do the following day to achieve your goals. Pull together all the information you’ll need, phone numbers and relevant paperwork.

2. Prioritise the list – Number each item and do the nasty jobs first. There’s always the temptation to do the easy jobs first. However, think how the thought of doing the nasty jobs hangs over you as you do the easy stuff. Think how good you’ll feel when the nasties are out of the way and how motivated you’ll feel.

3. Stick to your list – Tick off each item as you go and don’t let yourself be distracted. The temptation is to handle the telephone and e-mails as they come in. The phone is hard to ignore but you could always pull out the plug and let it go to voice mail and switch off the email program. Make an agreement with yourself to check for messages every two hours or so.

4. Remember the Three “D’s” – Do it, Delegate it or Dump it. Handle each piece of paper only once. Either do something about it now, delegate it to someone else or chuck it in the trash. And remember – “Only do it if only you can do it.” 5. Don’t procrastinate – Procrastination really is the “Thief of Time” It’s so easy to put things off till another time or till “I’ve had time to think about it.” DO IT NOW!

6. Plan your leisure time – Take up activities that need you to be at a certain place at a certain time. Instead of just “going to the gym,” book a fitness class or an appointment with a personal trainer.

7. Be honest with yourself – Keep asking – “Is what I’m doing now getting me to where I want to get to?” if the answer is “no,” change what you’re doing.

This is the easiest way to more out of your day and more out of your life.

If you WOW a customer at the Moment of Truth, the average customer will walk away and tell 5 people about the experience.

If you fail to meet the customer’s expectations at the Moment of Truth, customers are very likely to tell 11 people about the problem they had with your company.

If you drop the ball with customers at the Moment of Truth, but rebound with a quick customer recovery, research shows that the customer will tell up to 17 people about your service recovery.

Did you get that? Customers will tell 5 people if you WOW them, BUT if there’s a problem and you quickly fix it, they will tell more than 3 times as many people as they would if no problem had occurred at all.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your bottom line is to equip your front line employees with skills to respond to complaints and problems in such a way that they completely regain goodwill and restores the customer’s confidence.

Read on to find out exactly how to do this.

1. Resolve problems as quickly as possible.

The faster the resolution, the better the chances for maintaining loyalty. TARP, Inc. found that ninety-five percent of complaining customers would remain loyal if their complaint was resolved on the first contact. That number dropped to seventy percent when the complaint was not immediately resolved. In fact, the speed of resolution has a greater impact on future loyalty than the resolution itself. Strive to resolve complaints on the first contact and when that isn’t possible, final resolution should occur within 5 – 10 business days in order to maintain and build loyalty.

2. Give Them Something.

Coupons, product samples, and other freebies have a definite impact on loyalty after a service failure has occurred. Years ago American Airlines gave me 7000 frequent flyer miles after I experienced a gruesome delay. And that gift of miles, was enough to make me come back. But don’t take my word for it: A study conducted for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP) found that 58% of complaining consumers who received something in the mail following their contact with consumer affairs departments were delighted, versus only 40% of those who did not receive anything. Giving customers token items, such as coupons or product samples, after a service failure both increases the perception of value and serves to maintain loyalty.

3. Only allow the friendliest, most helpful, and diplomatic employees to talk to customers.

Employee courtesy and attitude are critical factors in regaining the goodwill of customers who have experienced a problem. Customers contacting a company with a problem want to talk to a person who is courteous, professional sympathetic and understanding. Additionally, employees must be skilled in communicating with diplomacy, expressing empathy, and representing the company credibly and convincingly during times of consumer distress. The attitudes and behaviors of frontline professionals form powerful lasting impressions with customers whether these impressions are positive or negative.

One of the hardest presentations to make is the entrepreneurial pitch. You have a great idea for a business and you want someone to give you money to make it happen. The problem is that venture capitalists, angel investors, and even rich uncles are heavily predisposed against you. Why? Because 99% of the pitches they hear sounds like sure-fire prescriptions to lose money!

If you are pitching investors to give you money for a new venture, you should subscribe to the following rules:

1. Explain exactly what your business is within the first thirty seconds. Many entrepreneurs waste valuable time giving loads of data, background and other info, all the while investors are left scratching their heads thinking what does this business actually DO?

2. Tell your audience who your customers will be. Paint a vivid, specific picture of these people.

3. Explain why your customers going to give you their hard-earned money.

4. Explain who your competitors are. (And if you say you have no competitors, that is a certain sign you are unsophisticated and deserve no investment money!)

5. Explain why you are the ONE to make this happen.

6. Give your presentation with confidence and enthusiasm. Investors want a founder/CEO to be a chief salesperson; they want to see that you can convince the world of your dream not just them.

7. Explain what star you can hitch a ride to. Investors feel much more comfortable knowing you have an established player willing to distribute your wares.

8. Ask for a specific amount of money. If all you do is ask for money, then you can’t complain if an investor gives you RM12.00 for a cup of Starbucks coffee.

9. Tell prospects exactly what you are going to spend the money on (hint: a trip to Maui for you and your friends will not impress)

10. Dress well, act confident, and put on the air that you don’t really need their money, but would be willing to accept it if they bring enough to the table to be a strategic partner for you. Sad but true regarding human nature, but people are much more likely to give you money if they feel you don’t really need it.

Finally, make each pitch presentation serve as a focus group for your next presentation. When one group of investors asks you a series of questions after you pitch, write down all of those questions and make sure most of them are answered in your next pitch so that the next group doesn’t have to ask them. Keep pitching and keep improving your pitch and eventually, you may get funded.

Reasons Why Speaking English is Important

The English language must be one of the most spoken languages worldwide. It is considered as a universal language that is spoken in many parts of the world. There are an estimated 2 billion of people who speak the said language as their second official language. This statistics represents the height of demand for the language as a gateway for communicating to others wherever they are.

Medium of communication for business

As a dominant language, English has become the medium of communication in the business world. It has become a necessity for majority of people to speak English as it needed to enter the global workforce. If you want to gain more opportunity in working in a bigger industry, then it would help if you would take time in learning the language and use it in your daily living particularly in your working place.

Communicating & understanding cultures

You may consider the English language as a helpful tool for communicating and understanding the cultures and practices of other countries. This is why it is important to learn to speak the language with all your might. One of the reasons it is necessary to learn to study the language is that most books and music are written in English. How could you possibly know the meaning of the words in the book if you are not familiar with the language? If you like reading but is ignorant of the language, how will you be able to enjoy the book without knowing and understanding what it is about? You would not want to misunderstand even a single word on the storybook that you are reading, right?

Be competent at your workplace

Speaking the English language is worth a try especially for those who are not a native speaker of the language. You will discover several benefits of speaking the language such as in an interview or search for a job. Without much knowledge in English, you may not be able to survive the pressure in the global workforce. Most employers would set English as their medium for communication in the business and if you don’t know how to speak the language, then how can you deliver your position well?

Get a decent job

Meanwhile, for those who are aiming for a job, learning to speak the language is an effective way to have access for the job that you have been dreaming since you were a child. You will be considered incompetent if you are not knowledgeable of the language and you do not want that to happen, do you? As much as possible, you must give yourself some time to learn the language for accomplishing all your endeavors and goals in life.

Consequently, if you have oriented yourself of the language and have learned the secrets of getting to know English better, you will find it easy to speak the language. It may take some time for you to fully become fluent of the language but as you devote your time and effort to the endeavor, you will soon realize that speaking the language is advantageous on your part.

Want to improve your English Speaking skills?

Our highly acclaimed Cambridge Advanced English Course is back in Kuching! Here is what you will get:

• Obtain world recognized Certification from Cambridge University
• Advance careers with effective English Communications in business and workplace
• Build confidence when participating in workplace discussions, meetings, conferences & researches, etc
• Enhance your corporate and individual profile

What’s more?

You get to use the 30% allocation or FREE funding (as and when announced) under the PSMB 1MGRIP program!

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