Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Do you Attract, Invite, Receive or Block Success?

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At the end of a work day, I like to reflect on how well I allowed success (money, prosperity and abundance) to flow into my life.

Did I attract it? Did I stand tall like a lighthouse and shine out a unified, confident message about who am I and what I do, so that the customers who are the best match for me could find me?

Did I invite it? Did I actually ask for the business, even when it scared me?

Did I receive it? Did I gratefully receive and respond promptly to all requests for business, gracefully declining the ones that weren’t right for me to leave room for ones that are?

Or did I block it with procrastination, confusion or ego, or by losing myself in trying to compete with or mimic my colleagues who offer similar services?

How did you do when success came your way today?

What Self-Help Readers Want

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To help you get into the minds of your clients, prospective clients and readers, I started to ponder what self-help readers want.

I used myself as an example (as an avid reader of self-help books, articles, websites and blogs), which I thought was a pretty good place to start……..

1. They want to feel at home. They want to see words they know and they want validation for some of the theories they’ve already come up with or accepted on their own.They want to have a pretty immediate grasp on the material – they’re not here to study, they’re here to learn.

Writing Prompt: Keep your language simple and straightforward. That will be far more impressive than an academic vocabulary.

2. They want a solution to their problem. They want their lives to improve, they want to get better, they want reassurance and hope that things won’t always be this way.

Writing Prompt: Tune into the unique, specific problems that your ideal customer wants to solve. Use the same language they would use to describe the problem and your solution.

3. They want to know they’re not alone. They want to hear you say that you’ve known and helped other people like them, maybe even that you were once like them and you found a way out.

Writing Prompt: Use examples, case studies and your own life stories. Balance theory with real-life experience.

4. They want to know that they haven’t wasted their money. They want to know this book isn’t like others they read and then shelved.

Writing Prompt: Provide lots of suggestions for real-life application of the solution, and follow-up options to get more support if they need it. Don’t leave them hanging.

5. They want to know, like, trust and interact with you. They want you to be an expert who is still approachable.

Writing Prompt: Offer a way for readers to interact with you, such as a blog or discussion forum. Invite comments and questions via your website and/or email. Share news about your new successes and offerings.

Pitching Your Business – Fact, Care, Do

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Improving your elevator pitch seems to be a very popular topic at networking meetings (see my previous post, A better elevator pitch? You be the judge) – I guess because it's an important of what we do while we're there.

At the December SOHO Women International meeting, Mark Bowden of Truth Plane shared this template for creating a great elevator pitch:

FACT – CARE – DO

First, share a FACT about life that affects the person you're speaking to, and has something to do with your business and what you do. For example, as a presentation trainer, Mark would share the fact that most people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death.

Next, tell them you CARE about them and how this fact affects them. For example, Mark would share that he doesn't want that panic and fear happening to them when they're in front of a crowd.

Finally, tell them what you can DO about it. Don't give them your title or job description, paint a picture of how much better their life will be once they've purchased your product or service.

Another important DO is to tell them what to DO next – whether it's call you, visit your website, sign-up for your newsletter or hire you then and there!

Writing Prompt: Craft a simple fact-care-do version of your elevator pitch and try it out the next time someone asks, "So, what do you do?"

3 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Presentation Notes

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Last year I was fortunate to participate in several presentations, both as a speaker and as a listener. I came away with many examples of good and not-so-good presentation notes.

Here are my top 3 mistakes to avoid in your presentation notes:

1. Don't give away all of the answers. Keep some mystery alive, so that someone can't glean the entire message and value of your presentation just from the notes.

Lynda Robertson of the Sandler Sales Institute handled this brilliantly by using a quiz as her handout. As her presentation progressed, we answered the questions together and she expanded on each answer with many more details.

I've seen other presenters and tele-class leaders do this by providing point-form outlines only, with blank pages for attendees to write in their own notes.

2. Don't confuse your audience. Finalize your presentation early enough so that whatever you've submitted to the conference organizers matches the presentation you're actually delivering. I sat in on a presentation where this wasn't the case and it really distracted me!

Also, don't make your audience work too hard by giving them too much to read. Leave enough white space on the page so they can digest the information and fill in the details that they find most relevant.

3. Don't leave your audience empty-handed. Even if you weren't able to get presentation notes ready ahead of time, offer to email notes to anyone who's interested, or set up a special download page on your website. You can combine this with a special offer for attendees.

Don't forget to bundle this with a subscription to your email newsletter AS LONG AS you are upfront about it, and that you offer a no-hassle way to unsubscribe at any time.

Like any other piece of writing, presentation notes deserve your time and attention, because they'll be representing you long after your presentation is over.

Writing Prompt: Take a fresh look at your presentation notes and make sure you're not making any of these mistakes.