Welcome back to the Business Skills 360 podcast. In this lesson, we’ll look at some more tips and techniques for selling your ideas.
Now, you know your ideas are good, but how do others? You need to make them think or even just feel that they are good. Last week, we looked at some techniques you can use. In this show, we’ll look at attitudes that you can adopt. This isn’t exactly about what you say, it’s about how you say it and the feelings or impressions your delivery creates.
Welcome back to the Business Skills 360 podcast. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at how to ”˜sell’ your ideas and be persuasive.
You may be full of great ideas, but exactly how do you get people to buy into them? How do you get people on board with your brilliant plans? Well, today I want to share a few tools and techniques that will help you do just that.
These tools and techniques have two important effects: they build connections and they build credibility. The connections can be between you and your listeners, but they can also be between your listeners and your idea. Those connections will generate buy-in. And that credibility can be your credibility and your idea’s credibility. You, and your idea, have to be believable and trustworthy.
Nobody likes a long and boring presentation. In fact, a long and boring presentation can do a lot of damage. People might actually feel less convinced of your idea. And that’s certainly not what you want. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving a presentation at a staff meeting or a sales presentation to a potential client. You have to make an impression. Most business people have to sit through a lot of meetings and presentations, and it can be difficult to impress them. So how are you going to make them sit up and listen? How are you going to convince them of your idea?
You need impact. Fortunately, there are specific things you can do to add impact. And that’s what we’re talking about today.
In our last episode, we heard Ben talk about the problem of too many documents on too many computers in too many locations. He finished by suggesting that he has a solution to this problem. In today’s lesson, Ben will continue his presentation. He’s going to talk about cloud computing, which he thinks can solve many problems in the department. He’ll use several different techniques for adding impact.
Listening Questions
1. What are the benefits of the system that Ben is suggesting?
2. Why does Ben mention several large companies such as IBM and Dell?
3. What does Ben think that people should spend less time doing?
We’ve all sat through boring presentations before. And we’ve all worried during our own presentations that others might be feeling that way. So what can we do to prevent this?
A presentation needs impact. It needs to make the audience feel something, understand something, or believe something. And it needs to make them want to do something. Fortunately, there are some simple techniques and language that you can learn that will add impact to your presentations. And then people will look at you, and not out the window.
In this lesson, we’ll hear part of a presentation delivered by Ben. Ben is going to talk to his colleagues and managers about cloud computing. But first he is going to identify a problem and then show that there needs to be a solution to that problem. Only then can he help them understand what cloud computing is and what benefits it might bring to the company.
Listening Questions
1. What happened to Ben on Monday morning?
2. Where is Ben’s stuff stored?
3. What does Ben say about the number of documents in their department?
This is the second in a two-part Business English Pod series about an internal meeting to consider a proposal.
As we saw in the last episode, this type of meeting can be similar to a negotiation. People with different opinions sit around the table and try to convince each other that their idea is the best. So in this situation, you need to be very persuasive and provide good reasons for your recommendations.
In this lesson, we’ll look at how to express doubt, admit risk, confirm support, and speculate about possible future situations or scenarios. We’ll also cover language that you can use to highlight any concessions you might have won in a previous negotiation.
In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Steve and his managers as they discuss a proposal for language training. Steve is recommending a blended training model that would combine classroom sessions with online training.
Listening Questions
1. Which advantage of online training does Steve focus on?
2. What is the main concern of the two female managers?
3. If the blended approach doesn’t work, what do they have the option of doing?
