Professional Speakers Know Low Aim Is Better Than No Aim

I was just reading about a professional speaker whose forte is reaching out and inspiring young people.

That's not easy to do. Facing the typical teenage cynicism and distrust of authorities, even those who speak well and use lots of teen-friendly anecdotes aren't assured of success.

Then I had another thought. The proverbial adage came to mind:

As a professional speaker, "If you reach just ONE member of the audience with your message, you're a success!"

I know, this doesn't sound much like a lofty goal, especially if you speak before hundreds of folks at a time. Don't we want universal acclaim? Shouldn't EVERY member of our audiences embrace us and our messages?

That would be nice, and there have been streaks that I've been on where one group after the next loved my addresses and rewarded me with hearty congratulations, belly laughs, oohs and aahs of delighted appreciation, and cash-register ringing testimonials.

But I've also fallen flat on my face, or so I thought at the time. In Las Vegas, I've seen audiences too busy counting chips to applaud, and too eager to make a quick score at the gaming tables to learn new sales or service techniques.

Yet I've learned more from these misses than from my hits, and usually, in the chilliest of chambers I've been warmly received by at least one person who was ready to hear precisely what I had to say, and more important, to act on this information, immediately.

Sometimes, as speakers, we're ahead of our time, foreseeing recession when our audiences are all too giddily thinking boom times will last forever.

Knowing the telemarketing industry was shooting itself in the head by pestering people at home with awful spray-and-pray presentations, I developed what I call "The New Telemarketing," a method of selling that engenders receptivity instead of rejection.

I received some support for it, but not enough to head off the Do Not Call Registry legislative movement, which drowned most traditional sellers in a popular movement more devastating than a tsunami.

I'm about to try again, this time promoting better telephone communication as a method to cope with skyrocketing oil prices and climate change.

Will my message be heard?

Yes, by a few.

As a professional speaker, I realize that low aim is sufficient at first, if you're aiming at the right target, sending a message worth hearing.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, sales, customer service, and negotiation consultant, and attorney. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than 1,000 articles and several popular audio and video programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he teaches at more than 40 university extension programs, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary's sales, management and consulting experience is combined with impressive academic credentials: A Ph.D. from USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies.

His web site is: http://www.customersatisfaction.com