Developing good public speaking skills helps you make more sales more often.

To sell you need technical skills, product knowledge, how you compare to your competition, territory management, a good relationship management system, discipline, and self-management. However, that is not enough. Too often the best presentation wins.

Earlier in my career when I was primarily a keynote speaker, a large food service company invited me to keynote their yearly sales conference. After my speech, Jennifer, the National Sales Manager, pulled me aside and said, “I liked your speech. However, I really loved how you delivered it. Can you teach our salespeople to speak that way? We sell quality food and uniforms to hospitals and healthcare systems.

It takes us a year of work and relationship management to be in a position to deliver an hour presentation to a hospital board. It is worth $9 million dollars a year if we win the business. We are losing sales, and it has nothing to do with our offering or price. When I follow up, I keep hearing it has to do with the fact that the presentation skills of our competitors are better than ours.”

As I put together the program for them, little did I know she had just given me the secret to always be in demand, no matter how good or bad the economy is.