Page 125 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders
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ASSESSING YOUR AUDIENCE
CHAPTER 7
FIGURE 7-1 Overcoming Objections within the Presentation
Determine the 103
Objection
Acknowledge
Empathize
Share Experience
Deliver Message
Open Door for Compromise
CREATE A RELATIONSHIP
If you get beyond the objection, you generate an opportunity for a relation-
ship. The relationship may last only as long as the presentation, or it may last
far longer. Relationships emerge from a community of understanding and a
sense of trust. To use a gardening analogy, relationships do not bloom
overnight, but they can emerge over time if the ground is made fertile and ade-
quately watered. Oprah has taken the relationship with an audience to an
all-time level; over the decades she has been on the air, she has forged a bond
with her audience, which has come to understand her as someone who reflects
its issues and seeks to make the world better for it.
Both the success of your leadership presentation and your personal credi-
bility depend upon assessing audience expectations. You can establish a rela-
tionship only if you demonstrate that you understand and acknowledge
audience issues.
Communications Planner:
Structuring the Presentation
Audiences have expectations. It is up to the presenter to determine those
expectations prior to the presentation or upon its delivery. Understand-
ing audience expectations can make the difference between a forgettable
nonevent and a memorable event.
1. Identify a key information resource.
2. Create a five-question survey. Mail it to key informants. Col-
late the data.
3. Ask what is on people’s minds— e.g., “What issues related to
what I will say should I be aware of ?”