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Recently I participated in a workshop organized by the Suisse Romande chapter of the International Coaching Federation. The workshop entitled ‘The Coach as secure base: the foundation for building trust’ was presented by Professor George Kohlrieser of IMD in Lausanne. My initial intention in writing about this was to summarize and communicate the learning I took away from the workshop. However, I have also chosen to write about communication and presentation skills, both of which are development areas for many of my clients.

George Kohlrieser is the consummate professional when engaging an audience and getting his message across. Due to factors beyond his control he was a little late for the event. After a day’s work which finished with him giving a presentation to 500 senior executives (a last minute request) one could forgive him (and us) for being a little jaded. However he launched into his presentation with a few self-deprecatory and funny remarks which had the workshop participants laughing uproariously and soon we were almost eating out of his hand.

The enthusiasm and passion George has for his subject were palpable. He has a background in clinical psychology and, in addition to his work on leadership development at IMD, he is frequently involved in hostage negotiations around the world. One might of thought that this was the first time he had given this particular presentation given the energy and freshness he brought to his delivery, but I am guessing he has given the core of the content many times.

This leads to a key requirement that many presenters forget. What will interest the audience in what I have to say, and/or how can the audience use the information imparted practically? Frequently, presenters try to deliver exactly the same message to many different audiences and consequently there is a discrepancy between the message delivered and the message received. George remained faithful to the context and the professional interests of the majority of his audience, i.e. professional coaches. I would bet that every participant in this event could take some learning away and use it the next day in his or her work.

To call it a presentation would be misleading. It was a highly interactive experience with frequent demands on the participants to respond to challenging questions thrown at them, or to interact with fellow participants to try out some technique, and/or engage in a role play.

Throughout, George gave the impression that he could learn at least as much from us as we could learn from him. He listened actively to all questions and comments, asking clarifying questions or recapping what he had understood when necessary to ensure he could respond accurately. In this way he built rapport and trust with every participant.

His discourse included a mix of professional and personal anecdotes which always adds to the interest and understanding of participants. I certainly felt that I was gaining an insight into the man, both professionally and personally. His description of his first involvement in a hostage taking, during which a man held a pair of scissors to George’s throat, threatening to kill him, had me on the edge of my seat. Happily he was able to bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion with the man deciding to give himself up to the waiting policemen, and thanking George for helping him see a better way out of the situation.

George did have a PowerPoint presentation but I only remember seeing a few slides which he used when he felt they could add value to the learning, and he certainly did not need the slides as a prop. He used several quotations to highlight points or to stimulate thinking. What was helpful about the slides was that each participant received a hardcopy at the end.

Finally, ever available and gracious although by now it was after 10 p.m., George took questions, signed copies of his latest book Hostage at the Table and wrote a personal and individual message for each person.

If you get the opportunity to participate in a workshop animated by Professor George Kohlrieser TAKE IT. If you have a personal or professional interest in coaching, I recommend that you attend a monthly meeting of the ICF.

I’ve done a lot of speeches and presentations to smaller senior groups in the Philadelphia community as my primary way to attract private lenders.  I would do presentations sometimes where there would only be three or four people and sometimes there would be 30. It all depends.

Massive Action Produces Massive Results
 
If you do enough speeches and presentations, you will get enough people that will come to you after the meeting and want more information about private lending.  If you can, stay afterwards and have a conversation and even sit down again.
 
Let’s say you do a presentation for 30 people and 27 leave at the end, but three stay behind.  You sit down and have almost a second meeting with these three.   Those three become very viable private lending prospects for you.
 
If you can, get to the point where you’re doing presentations, I hooked into senior groups.  If you can do that it’s wonderful.  Talk to the local senior community if you have one in your area. They typically are looking for speakers all the time.
 
In your networking event, BNI or whatever networking you go to, say, “Hey, I provide speaking.  I’d be happy to present for your group if you want somebody to do an interesting half hour presentation.”  You can get a lot of speaking presentations.
 
Avoid Direct Selling
 
The only warning is you do not – do not! – do any direct selling in these presentations. Do not start talking about specific deals.  Do not talk about specific private lending opportunities. You want to talk in an educational presentation style. It’s general information. You do not want to talk about specific deals.
 
As long as you follow that caveat you’ll be fine with presentations and speeches and you’ll do very well. You will get a very high response as opposed to postcards and letters. You’ll get a very high response from speeches and presentations.
 
Do What Works For You
 
Again, with speeches and presentations, it’s ultimately up to you. Some people are very comfortable doing it. I enjoy public speaking, so I don’t have a problem with it. Other people don’t. It has to fit your style and your personality. If you’re willing to do it, that is clearly probably one of the best ways to develop your private lender prospecting list.
 
If you do five or 10 of these presentations, I can almost guarantee you’re going to have a list of 15 to 50 people that have heard you speak, like what you have to say, and who want more information and will continue to want more information from you. This is a very powerful way of developing and getting people to kind of believe in what you’re doing.

December arrives, the weather takes a turn for the worse, relatives’ and loved-ones’ Christmas lists arrive by the dozens, and since you’ve grown up, Santa doesn’t seem to be pulling his weight. All in all the winter months have a tendency to be a time to dread rather than a time for cheer.

Once again, however, technology has come to our aid. Now, instead of trawling around the shops, weighed down by bag after bag of presents, Christmas shopping is no further than a mouse-click away. From the comfort of your own home you can purchase a set of floral tea towels for your dear old Nan and a new Nintendo Wii for your favourite Nephew (or the other way ’round!) all from the same source – the Internet.

With the ease of the process, and increased user familiarity with the Internet, it is little wonder that online Christmas sales figures have soared in recent years. Indeed, one national newspaper estimated a record-breaking £14bn worth of Christmas shopping being spent online in the UK this year – making the UK Europe’s most dedicated online shoppers during the festive period.

However, like the risk of buying your dear old Nan a games console, the reception of the gift is something the Internet cannot guarantee. And so not all the money spent this Christmas will have been money well spent. A recent survey showed four out of five people are likely to receive presents that they either don’t want or don’t like, while Abbey Bank estimated the total money spent on unwanted or novelty gifts this Christmas as being a whopping £1.3bn.

Again, however, the Internet has come to the rescue; working from the belief that ‘one person’s rubbish is another’s treasure’ (or that one person’s weird white box with a weird white stick is another’s prized gaming machine), people up and down the country have started using online UK classifieds as a way of sorting out the problem of unwanted Christmas presents. Rather than braving the shops during the January sales in order to return unwanted items to a variety of stores that may only offer an exchange for something else that you don’t want, online classifieds offer users the opportunity to sell all of their unwanted gifts – again from the comfort of their own homes.

It could be said, then, that with the help of UK classifieds and the Internet, Santa Claus can work right into the New Year, making unwanted presents, wanted.