Three tips to get that client or sponsor

You know how important it is to sell yourself, your event, your company while speaking to a prospective client or sponsor, don't you?  However if you're like most of us, you feel very uncomfortable tooting your own horn. Am I right?

Well here is a suggestion to help you stand out from other PCO's or similar events by getting your points across with stories.

Yup. Stories not only help you to be more memorable and persuasive, you can use them to get that benefit of 'you' out without seeming boastful. For example a story on How you helped a client; got great results for a sponsor; saved money. Telling a story well requires skill. Here are three tips to improve your success.

I/You Ratio
When we communicate with people, we always talk from our point of view. The focal point is what you did, what experience you had, what happened to you. However your prospects don't care about you - they care about themselves. Your prospect wants to make sure they are hiring the right company or putting their dollars in the right place. They need to be sure they're making the right decision. Rework your story away from I, me, our, us and bring them into it. How do you portray the story from the listeners' perspective? Instead of beginning with "We shaved 10% of catering costs" change it to "You mentioned you had a smaller budget this year. It was the same with one of our clients and I was able to help them reduce catering costs by 10% by...". Their ears will perk up with every "you" they hear. See how you can change an I statement to one with two you's?

Description/Dialogue
Good stories have flesh and blood characters and dialogue. Tell your story through the conversations that occurred. Describe the people, the weather, set the scene. People think in pictures. Draw them with your words. Use specifics. Instead of simply saying last year, you would say It was a Tuesday afternoon, the normal Auckland drizzly spring you have in Mid-October.

Hollywood it
The story doesn't have to start in the beginning, nor told in sequence A through Z. Movies don't do that. Go for the dramatic statement, one that grabs and makes one want to know more. Then you go and back fill the story.

To highlight how your conference could be successful for a sponsor you story could start: "We got seven new large deals from sponsoring this conference, more than a quadruple roi" Tom said with glee. Let me explain. You might have many requests to sponsor conferences like ours...

Written by international speaker and bestselling author Debbie Mayo-Smith For more  success tips, sign up for her monthly newsletter here.