Skills Employers Want #10 – Ability to Sell or Influence Others

The ability to sell or influence others is the number ten skill on the list of top ten skills employers are looking for. Selling is something we all must do at times, whether we are at a job interview, networking, or pitching an idea to a supervisor, investor, or customer. It involves communicating clearly who you are, what you want to do and why in a captivating way. (Learn more at the Brand and Purpose Toolkit)

• Prepare with information: product or service knowledge
• Identify the market: target audience
• Target key drivers (needs) and engage interest
• Communicate with confidence
• Highlight the Unique Selling Proposition: focus on benefits that can help them

Resources for learning sales skills:

• Sales Skills at Mindtools
• Sales Management at Management Study Guide
• Summary of the book “Getting to Yes”
• Resources at Kutztown University
• Education-portal list of free online sales and marketing management courses
• TED talk: the four letter code to selling anything by Derek Thompson (MAYA: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable)

Presentations are often a critical part of selling an idea or pitching a product. Learn more at The Simple Way to Create a Compelling Talk.

Plan, practice, and peform with passion. Remember the ABCDs of presentations:

• Ask what the audience needs to believe so they will want to do the desired action. Watch Tim Pollard TED talk, see below.
• Beware bullet points: use good images, limit words, one key message per slide – See Who Moved My Brain slide show by Merlin Mann (and see it in action here).
• Contrast current reality with a vision of transformation. Watch Nancy Duarte TED Talk, see below.
• Don’t die by Powerpoint. Watch David JP Phillips TED talk, see below.

Presentations should be:

• Simple and short – Watch TED talk Secrets of Success in 8 Minutes by Richard St. John
• Clear and concise
• Original and organized
• Relevant and remarkable
• Enjoyable and entertaining

The same acronym can be applied to structure:

• Start strong – begin with a bang
• Captivate attention – with pictures, props, participation – TED talk How to engage an audience Padraig Hyland
• Offer a journey with storytelling – Watch Pixar: the Secret to Storytelling
• Reversals – pose a question or expose a gap in knowledge and then fill it
• End well – explain the main point

Capture attention and interest with something:

• Helpful – Watch TED talk 3 Magic Ingredients of Amazing Presentations by Phil Waknell
• Emotional – Watch TED talk Half a Million Secrets by Frankl Warren
• Amusing – Watch TED talk Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban
• Rare or special – Watch TED talk Underwater Wonders by Dave Gallo

Books and TED Talks

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• The Compelling Communicator by Tim Pollard, TED talk Why communication goes wrong, and how to fix it
• Resonate by Nancy Duarte, TED talk The secret structure of great talks (18.12)
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds, TED talk Why Storytelling Matters (15.10)
• How to Avoid Death by Powerpoint by David JP Phillips, TED talks How to Avoid Death by Powerpoint and 110 techniques of communication and public speaking (16.51)
• DK TED talk The Public Speaking Lesson You Never Had (19.14)
• Lawrence Bernstein TED talk The trick to powerful public speaking (14.35)
• Chris Anderson TED talk What Makes a Great Talk Great (23.39)
• David Rose TED talk 10 things to know before you pitch a vc (see also Pitch It board)

Learn more

• FiRST framework from remotepossibilities
• SpeakingSherpa.com
• Guy Kawasaki 10-20-30 Rule for pitches (1.51)
• How not to be nervous Parade.com
• Powerful Presentations, Nathan Gold at Kauffman Founders School

The ability to tell a story is an important part of communicating a message. Check out Entrepreneurial Selling with Craig Wortman at Kauffman Founders School.

From the article “6 Easy-to-Steal Rituals of Extremely Successful People” at marcandangel.com:

“Selling is convincing other people of the benefits of working directly with YOU.”

All of the successful business owners they interviewed feel that the ability to sell themselves, their ideas, and what they have to offer is the one skill that most contributes to their success. The resources in this post can help you learn and develop these skills. Find more TED talks by speakers who are also authors at TED Talk book discussion.

About dailyplanit

I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.