Wake Up Your Audience with Enthusiasm

Stop talking, start inspiring

Linda, a sales rep for a Portland based ceramic and clay company told Session 8B of Turbo Leadership System's Leadership Development Lab™ (LDL):

"Twice a year I put on a one-hour sales seminar for our customers on the newest items in the market. During Session 5 of the LDL, we were challenged to put five times more enthusiasm into some aspect of our work. I decided to analyze and make some improvements in my program.

"I work with a lot of small businesses, some with little or no business experience. My goal for this seminar was not only to sell them new product, of course that's important for theirs and our sales. I wanted to do a better job this year of giving them more insight on how to make their product sales and revenues higher. I wanted to encourage them to conduct seminar programs and demonstrate new ideas to increase their customer base. Most of all, I wanted them to have five times more enthusiasm to stimulate their own business.

"I engaged our clients during my presentation by asking audience participation questions such as: "Who traveled the furthest miles?" while speaking about the added value for attending our seminar, "Who has the oldest shop represented?" while reiterating the importance of keeping up with new products, and "Who has the newest shop?" as I demonstrated ideas to increase their client base. All these standout, ceramic crafts, business owners who answered these questions received recognition and an award. I gave specific awards for each sales achievement from the past season. This validated the message I wanted to instill. The result was great participation with enhanced learning, without my usual monologue, lecture.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is I can have fun with my programs and have my message received, instead of my old approach of strict do's and don'ts. This adds to our dealer's enthusiasm for what they buy, and they take that enthusiasm back to their customers.

"The action I call you to take in your very next meeting is to apply five times more enthusiasm. Your sales will increase, get the group involved to validate their experiences and their lessons learned. Call them to action by following up with your ideas and encourage them to act with five times more enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious and a great leadership characteristic to develop and share.

"The benefit you will gain is the programs you present will make your audience enthused and optimistic. They will have more fun, learning better ways to do their jobs and they will look forward to your next meeting."

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