Did you miss the May meeting of the NSA Las Vegas chapter?
OMG, that’s so sad for you. It was kind of amazing. Grab a cup of coffee and settle in. It’s recap time.
It turns out that what happens in Vegas… stays in our slogan — no matter how badly we want it to go away. Marla Laughlin with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority came by to tell us all about the cool things happening in our fair city. We learned about the history of Las Vegas, the impressive additions (like convention space and hotel rooms… not those ridiculous metal coyotes that keep popping up on the side of our parkways… highways… freeways? What do I know, I’m from New York.) Apparently, there are already more hotel rooms at the Venetian than in the entire city of Boston. With more than 41 million visitors each year, Vegas is one of the best places on earth to be a speaker.
Marla suggested that we each claim our free listing on www.vegasmeansbusiness.com . Just find the Vendor Application, then the permit, then check off Speaker’s/Lecturers. There are more than 153k visits to that website each month so it would be silly NOT to. She also advised us to head over to www.visitlasvegas.com to look for what conventions are coming to town.
Hey! Wait! You have to finish reading the recap first.
Next up was our very own Darren LaCroix. He imparted his wisdom about the Funnel of Trust (say it with me, “oooh, aaaah”) and how we need to create awareness of who we help and how. He likened this to the billboard truck his church created… and then promptly parked in the back of the building. As speakers, we must drive our trucks proudly and park them in public (just don’t block those stupid coyotes). He also admitted that he wanted to be the first person to drive a church truck up and down Las Vegas Blvd.
Back to the Funnel of Trust — you know, I really hope you’re reading that in a deep voice in your head. Anyway, this refers to the steps you’ll go through with a meeting planner. At the top of the funnel, you’ve got awareness, then rapport, then they Google you, then they watch your demo, and then (dun dun dun dun) they book you. Huzzah! Meeting planners generally book anywhere between 2 years and 2 weeks out (confirmed by Marla) so you’ll need to get on their radar well in advance of their event.
Darren interviewed a meeting planner (who we will call Fernando to protect his real identity) regarding how they make their decisions on what speakers to hire. Out of the 8 categories, Fernando ranked “NSA/SHRM/Connect,” “Demo Video 10 + 50 min,” “Keynote Description,” and “Referrals/Recommendation” as the highest deciding factors.
One of the best ways you can get on their proverbial radar screen? Write articles for trade journals.
Then, it was time for the main event. Erin Gargan King, author of Digital Persuasion: Sell Smarter in the Modern Marketplace, creator of the coveted Permmullet, and connoisseur of Irish dancing, took the stage. Not only is she an expert in Digital Persuasion. Not only is her husband the preeminent sea lion blasting specialist in the country. But, in the words of her father… “She does the twittering.”
We were in good hands.
Erin began with a harrowing statistic: The average person will spend 7.9 years looking at a cell phone, computer, iPad, etc.
Eeek! I’d try to dispute that if I wasn’t staring at a computer right now.
Why is this important? Because with so much time spent on these devices, we must understand the challenges of communicating in this new world and then learn the secrets behind successful digital persuasion.
Here’s the problem:
1) There’s been an outbreak of Influencer Influenza (vaccines are due out early next year). Basically, they’ve saturated the industry making it harder for us to be heard among the noise.
2) We suffer from Online Disinhibition Effect (ODE): we’re far away from one another, can’t see non-verbal communication, and there’s a delay in response (darn you, 3 little dots on our text messages!)
In person, we talk about ourselves 40% of the time because the other person will jump in to share. Online however, we talk about ourselves 80% of the time. Whoah. Turns out that ODE makes it about you, not the person you’re trying to persuade.
Are you clutching your pearls yet or fanning yourself? Don’t worry, there’s a cure.
Erin calls this the PUB method. Your digital communication should be:
Personal: can the audience see themselves? Avoid words like I, My, We, Are and shift them to “Imagine that you…” or “So there you are…”
Useful: add value instead of adding to the cesspool that is the internet. Don’t just thank people for having you at their event. Instead, share a tip that you gave the audience so you provide value in your post.
Brief: make your point and then stop. The brain makes a decision within 10 words or 2.5 seconds. Your job is to make them “stop the scroll.” How do you do this?
- Skip the niceties and offer value right away
- Only one idea or point per message
- Use A or B/ Yes or No questions so they can’t help but answer.
But wait… there’s good news. The bar is pretty low. If we step up our game even a little bit, we’ll be light-years ahead of most people.
These techniques can be used in a social posting (one-to-many) and in a one-to-one email or message on LinkedIn. Just beware of the “memails.” You’ve seen them before, it’s a 10 paragraph long synopsis of the person’s life and you can’t quite figure out why they’re emailing you until the very last sentence. Let them know up front that you bring value to the table.
How do you make this work?
Stalking. But healthy stalking. Learn something about the people you want to connect with and then share something that might be useful to them or their clients. On LinkedIn, you can message them with a common connection’s name at the beginning of the message, and you can send them an article and pull out a nugget that you think they might like.
Want more of Erin’s genius? Text PUB to 66866, reply with your email, and get her PUB cheat sheet (How to Create Your Own Award-Winning Social Media Campaign) or visit www.eringarganking.com . Find her on Instagram too!
Next month, we’ll have Alan Weiss, author of The Million Dollar Consultant (and about 60 other books), Hall of Fame speaker, and consultant. While I haven’t had the honor of meeting him just yet, he loves his dogs, and that’s all I need to know.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go paint 1-900-Darren-Direct-2U on the side of a truck.
About the Author
Sheryl Green has always enjoyed writing, however, it wasn’t until a divorce shook her world, that she discovered the power of story. Having penned three novels, she now brings her penchant for storytelling to non-fiction and content writing, working with businesses and individuals who want to position themselves as experts in their field. She leverages the power of story through blogging, website content, book coaching and ghostwriting, and speaking engagements.
She is the author of “Surviving to Thriving: How to Overcome Setbacks and Rock Your Life” and “Once Upon a Bottom Line: Harnessing the Power of Story for Sales.” Learn more at www.sherylgreenspeaks.com .