Time and time again polls have been taken to measure the greatest fears of Americans today. Time and time again the answer confounds experts. The top fear is not the dentist chair, heights or even death. It is public speaking. What is it about speaking before more than one person which strikes fears in the hearts of the average American today? Do we fear that our tongue will fall out and we will never be able to use it again? Will we turn into a babbling idiot and start drooling on our clothes?

More importantly, if we are so afraid of speaking in public, why do so many strive to become better and more confident public speakers? The bookstores and seminars are full of ideas to help you improve your skills. Why is the attainment of this skill so attractive?

Public speaking is important because it is your best marketing tool. We can’t think of any other marketing instrument which can match its power:

• While automated marketing systems cost you thousands of dollars—speaking is free;
• Speaking lets you personally reach tens or hundreds of potential customers with your message—in a very short period of time;
• People cannot throw out speeches like junk mail: if they are there and you are good, they will listen;
• People who attend a speech or seminar are generally present because of their own choosing. In other words, they are very qualified candidates;

• You have a chance to instill great confidence regarding your abilities to many people at once.

Direct mail and other automated marketing techniques can be very effective if you deliver the right message to the right person. No method of advertising can be as effective as a direct emotional pitch in person. Selling is a people business and your success is determined by your ability to develop relationships. The problem is that it would take many, many years to develop all the relationships you need one-on-one. There just are so many days in which you can have lunches with potential clients.

Public speaking enables you to make the emotional connection to more than one person at a time. Sure you must follow-up on an individual basis. But given your ability to deliver a coherent message personally to these people, the basis for your starting this relationship will be greatly enhanced. When you turn to these individual relationships, your new skill will enable you to speak one-on-one with more confidence.

Let’s say that you deliver a homebuyer’s seminar to an audience of twenty. First, we can assume that each attended because they are interested in owning shortly or some time in the future. Now you have qualified candidates. If five of these attendees approach you directly after the seminar to ask questions, you have started the second stage of the bonding process with a handful of people. Now you know that a certain number of people have a higher level of interest and may be more immediate prospects. How many cold calls over the telephone and follow-up meetings would it take to reach this stage while prospecting?

If you are a great public speaker you will be able to deliver a message which will attract people to you. Direct mail pieces work very hard at establishing creditability: read me—I am good—a number one producer—just listed this property. Anything to get the phone to ring. Seeing you perform and conquer in public reaches people in a way that no advertising piece can ever match.

Finally, public speaking is such a great tool because not many people do it well or effectively. Attend any marketing seminar and they will tell you to market by making yourself look different. People then spend thousands of dollars concocting major schemes to shoot themselves from cannons in public— Look at me, I am different. In reality, it only takes something everyone has to look different—your mouth. You should do it and do it well because your competitors can’t.

Of course, what good are all of these benefits if an individual cannot bear to utter more than one word to a group of two individuals without turning to jelly? Many would love to use the power of public speaking but don’t see any way of making it happen. They might as well be standing on one side of the grand canyon with a pot of gold on the other side.

Fortunately, for those who are highly motivated the fear of public speaking can be conquered. We just need to recognize that overcoming our fear of public speaking will take hard work, determination and patience. All worthy goals are achieved one step at a time. You cannot expect to go away for a week and come back from a program as an accomplished speaker.

What is the key to achieving great public speaking abilities? Itis the Four P’s:

• Practice
• Preparation
• Performance
• Persistence

Practice. There is no factor which is more important than practice. No baseball player makes it to the major leagues without practice. No sales person becomes a top producer without practice.

It is practice which leads us to make progress one step at a time. If you had to appear before 300 people but your only task was to utter the word “you,” the situation would not seem as ominous. Well, start by practicing small segments of a talk: just a few sentences. Use something with which you are very familiar—for example if you are selling real estate, relate your first homebuying experience. Perhaps you were totally scared over a payment which was $400 per month twenty years ago.

Practice these sentences by yourself, over and over. Practice in front of a mirror so that you can practice your speaking gestures as well. Perhaps you are biting your lip as you speak. Tape yourself so that you can hear your voice. Many times we cannot hear ourselves inserting a you know after every sentence because it represents an ingrained habit.

After you have practiced these few sentences hundreds of times, start practicing in front of those you know—your pets, your family and your friends. Then move up to a tougher audience—your peers in a sales meeting. Perhaps you could get together with several other sales people and perform together. This is the concept of Toastmasters: a group of people helping each other better their public speaking abilities. Toastmaster meetings are a great place to learn and practice.

Preparation. Practice makes you more comfortable with the material because you know it so well. Preparation makes you comfortable with the engagement because it puts you in command of the situation.

We suggest your first official speaking engage-ment be for only a few people. If you are already a sales person, you should be comfortable giving a sales pitch one-on-one. The next step is to deliver this pitch to a few people. How can you prepare?

• Speak to the participants ahead of time. Familiarize yourself with their background and their expectations. Later on when you speak to larger groups, you can interview one or two leading members of the audience and customize your remarks to match their needs. This works for general substance and details such as the proper dress.
• Arrive at the place at least one hour ahead of time. Look over the lighting, seating arrange-ments and acoustics. Fix anything which needs to be fixed now, before the group arrives.
• Use handouts, slides, overhead transparencies, and/or notes. Being prepared with your visual aids will assure that you will not lose your place. Do not read from your notes: this is what practice is supposed to eliminate. It is perfectly acceptable to refer to your notes periodically. Handouts or slides with bulleted points serve as great visual effects for participants and as a guide for you.

The proper preparation is no less important if you are talking to three people or a hundred. All the practice in the world will not help unless you are prepared for anything which can happen. When you are prepared for a disaster you no longer will fear that calamity. It is now time to put on the show. Where do we go? Try...

• Large employers, who might let you hold an informal gathering in the company cafeteria.
• Government agencies, es-pecially local housing agencies which are trying to service low-to-moderate income purchasers.
• Civic organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce. Many of the members are financial planners, CPA’s and attorneys who could have tremendous networking value for you.
• Holding your own first time homebuying seminar in a public library or a local hotel.

The possibilities are endless. Of course, you must decide what to say in-front of these groups. A couple of rules to follow when deciding what topic would be appropriate:

• First, speak to their interests and not yours. They know that you sell mortgages for a living. They do not. If you are speaking to a group of financial planners, then you must explain how a home purchase or refinance will help them achieve goals for their clients. Are you interested in always having material that will help you deliver first-class presentations of interest to your clients? If so, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for free newsletter samples designed with this goal in mind. We believe that the true test of the value of a newsletter is whether you can present the material in front of a group of professionals. In this regard, pleas for business, recipes and handy homeowner hints will not cut it.
• Customize the presentation. Canned presentations do not work before all audiences. Speak to representatives beforehand and find out everything possible. Perhaps a layoff just occurred. How would you approach your homebuying presentation differently with this knowledge in hand?
• Generate a goal for each presentation. No presentation will be beneficial to you unless you achieve your own objectives. Do these objectives include walking away with leads in your pocket, scheduling another presentation or the long term objective of being a resource for the group organizing the meeting?
• Organize the presentation. Start with a strongly worded statement regarding why your topic is important. Within the body, back up your statements. End with a summary which includes instructions regarding how they can take action.
• Distribute an evaluation at the end of the presentation. The good comments can be used to capture more presentations and the calls for improvement can help you make adjustments in the future. You might make sure that everyone participates in the evaluation by holding your door prize until the end and selecting from the evaluations.

Performance. You have identified the group and the topic. The big day arrives. Your still nervous? Even with all of your preparation and practice? Do not be alarmed as this is normal. Even the greatest of professionals get tight right before they perform. There are a few tricks which will help you become more comfortable.

First, arrive early and meet as many of the audience as possible. Once you know your audience well, they will be pulling for you and you will be talking to friends. Second, imagine the worst that can happen. Perhaps the worst thing you can think of would be to completely go blank. What would you do in this case? Perhaps you would begin reading your notes. Once you face the worst from a mental standpoint, reality will not seem as bad. The important thing is to remember that the audience has no idea what you are going to say. Therefore, if you miss a point or two no one will notice or care.

It may seem traditional to start the audience off with a joke (A funny thing happened to me on the way...). Try starting off by relating a personal story. Perhaps you can talk about your own first homebuying experience. You will soon learn that people remember very little of what you say (which is why missing points is not so important). What they will remember will be the stories and the pictures (visuals). The more stories you tell, the more human you will become and the more the audience will relate to you.

Even more important, the more likable and human you become to the audience, the more likely they will want to do business with you in the future. This is why it is important for you not to speak behind a lectern with little or no energy. Make sure you get plenty of rest the day before and get ready to move around. Look at the eyes within your audience and try to relate on their level. Walk around the room and up the aisles, smiling as you go. The more you become part of the audience, the more comfortable you will become. A comfortable public speaker? Watch out, you now have a powerful tool at your disposal!...q

Are you interested in learning the right way to sell? That is what the number Dave focuses upon in his speeches and though OriginationPro Mortgage School. Perhaps it is time to take a different approach by learning from the industry expert who has written seven books—including two best sellers for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.. For more articles and newsletter samples by Dave and a schedule of classes visit www.originationpro.com or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .