The short answer is Yes. Bad Presenters can and often do get clients from speaking.
First of all, what are Bad Presenters in my book?
- They don’t engage the audience
- They have eye-charts with too much info and facts
- They don’t tell stories
- They don’t have audience interaction, no matter what the size of the audience
- They and their presentation materials are boring, dull and recycled from other boring and dull people
Yet these Bad Presenters, to my astonishment and dismay still get clients. I see it all the time, everywhere. Here’s why:
They Are In Front Of The Right Audience
If the majority of the audience in front of a speaker is looking for a solution around the Bad Presenter’s presentation topic, then that’s a huge win right there. So even if they’re the worst presenter in the world, they too can get clients if they just first get clear on WHO their right audience is and then find a speaking opportunity in front of a lot of them.
They Present Solutions
Even just giving the glimpse of a few solutions about a common pain point of the audience during a Bad Presentation positions the Bad Presenter as more of an expert in the topic of pain than say the people that they met at the bathroom lineup earlier. Even if their solutions aren’t formed as stories to engage or specific enough to be actionable, the mere fact that they’ve put together a presentation with the audience’s pain topic is enough to convert.
They Dare To Stand Up
Most of the population would rather be dead than be standing infront of a room full of people, taking on the daunting challenge of telling them what they think is the right answer to their solution. Most people cringe at the thought of someone challenging them, or asking too many questions, or losing control of the room or not having the right answer. The public speaking fears can go on and on. Well, just standing up positions the speaker as different from the rest of the population. So they will and can get clients, even if they are a Bad Presenter.
They Make An Offer
Even if someone has made the worst presentation in the world, they will get clients if they make an offer at the end of their talk. This offer could either be to sell something or to connect afterwards. The critical piece is that the Bad Presenter isn’t leaving the audience in pain and alone. She is offering them a natural next step to continue helping them with that same pain.
So if you’ve been nixing speaking to grow your business because you think you’re a Bad Presenter, take heart, you can still get clients provided you hit the mark on a few basic things that I mentioned above. Yes, even a Bad Presenter can and does get clients from speaking.
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