The Hidden Superpower That Skyrockets Sales & Leadership

0:00If you've been feeling stuck in your business and wondering if you're the reason it's not growing faster, I have something for you. I'm hosting a free, no-pitch, live class called Three Money Beliefs That Made Me Millions. And I'm sharing the exact mindset shifts that helped me go from million-dollar years to million-dollar months. This isn't fluff. It is a surprising strategy that changed everything for me, and I want to share it with you. Like I said, no pitch, no fluff, just you and me talking about how we shift our beliefs around money to make you millions. Save your seat now at jasminestar.com forward slash millions.

0:33I can't wait to see you there. By improving your speaking skills, you can improve almost all aspects of entrepreneurship. Closing sales, networking, negotiation, team culture, and so much more. Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show, a place where we empower seven-figure founders to scale to eight figures and beyond. I am excited for today's show because I'm going to be sharing with you my insights on what I believe is a crucial skill for any entrepreneur, and it might not be what you think, becoming a better public speaker. Okay, so before I get there. I want to talk to you about how my husband and business partner, JD, orders at a steakhouse.

1:07I am telling you, he loves being sold to. He loves the experience of it. If there is a special with freshly flown in fish from Greece, sign him up. If there is a steak and he can add scallops or shrimp, if there is some flavored butter or some exotic bacon that he could add to a potato. Oh, he's doing it. He just loves the art of somebody guiding him to what they think is going to be the most extraordinary meal. Now me, on the other hand, I am a natural born skeptic. I am always thinking in the back of my mind, oh, this server wants to travel a model. But there is a difference. I spent about six or seven years being a server, understanding the art of a sale.

1:54Now, when I feel like somebody's coming in and being like, oh, you have to get this, and it's like the most expensive glass of wine in the menu. I'm like, but when I am convinced by confidence, clear explanations and a little bit of showmanship, my God, I'm an obscene tipper. And I love leaving like receipt notes. Like, thank you so much for this incredible service. That is the difference between selling, becoming a great speaker. That is the idea of casting a vision. And I'm just telling you all, that right there is the difference of a very clear communicator. At the start of 2023, I made it a personal goal to get very serious about honing my skill as a speaker.

2:32Yeah, I mean, I'd spoken on stages, but everything I learned was through trial and error. I spent years speaking to groups of people five to 10. You know, I spent years not getting paid to speak, but I was valuing the practice to learn how to have that lean in moment. So what's a lean in moment? Now, I want you to picture having a conversation just with one person and just like right as you build to the crescendo of that conversation, that person leans in, that is a very clear indication from their body language that they're very interested in what it is you have to say. So as you become a better speaker, I want you to start watching in for those lean in moments.

3:06And a better speaker, not just on stages, but a better speaker to your team, a better speaker to your partner, a better speaker as you are on a sales call. When somebody's leaning in, that is what we're really focusing on. So I started focusing on when are people leaning in? how do I use that story? How do I build up to that moment as I become a better speaker? So, because whether you are pitching, presenting to clients, or at networking events, effective communication mixed with self-awareness can make a big difference in the impression you leave on people in that room. But first, we have to get into the how-tos and tips.

3:41So, I want to discuss why these speaking skills are important for all entrepreneurs, not just the ones who are considering seeking out speaking opportunities. This is for all of us. First, these skills help you handle objections and close sales. Remember, your job is to think of every objection that people might have before they have it, and then think of overcoming that objection. Whether I'm giving a presentation or pitching, I come across confident, not because I'm naturally confident, because I already thought of every objection I need to address. I'm prepared. This is especially helpful because if you're able to show empathy and understand your customers' concerns and objections while clarifying features, benefits, and the transformation of your product or service, you're already off to a really great start.

4:27Second, it helps you lead and build relationships with your team members. How can being a good speaker help you lead your team? Well, when you effectively convey the vision and the goals and the strategies, your team will be able to align their efforts and understand the role that they play in bringing your vision to life. Solid speaking skills also help you communicate your ideas and expectations and instructions. And what does this do? Well, it creates more of a productive and collaborative culture. So let's go back. I wasn't really great at explaining my thoughts. So now the team uses words.

5:04So what I hear is, okay, so we're going to pause here for a second because I think, I mean, literally hand to heaven to the best of my ability, I think I'm being clear with my asking, with my ideas, with my vision. And I think I'm clear. And then I started noticing that things weren't done in the way that I expected. And I was like, what must it be? And what I started realizing was that despite my best efforts, I thought I was being clear and I wasn't. So now the team, a very common vernacular on our team is somebody will tell me, so what I hear is, and they're essentially repeating back. And so what happens when this happens?

5:38Well, it allows me to clarify and see where my communication gaps are. Okay. And third, learning public speaking skills will help you with negotiation and business deals. This is the important part. I want you to hear this. You have to be intentional about being confident, asking for what you deserve and backing it up with easy to understand reasoning. Now this applies to everybody, but as a side note, it applies especially to women. Negotiation is part of business. And as I've interviewed hundreds of people, I can say that women are less likely to state what they want, less likely to negotiate, and less likely to come into an interview with a plan on how they are going to create their own return on investment.

6:18And I want to demystify this process. It's normal. And when you're qualified for a job, this should be par the course for you. I mean, I can go on and on about why developing speaking skills will help with media interviews and with tough conversations and with networking and content and probably a million other things in business, but I know you are ready to hear how. So let's move on to some strategies that will help you overcome public speaking anxiety. It's obviously completely normal to be anxious before speaking, and even experienced speakers I've seen, well, they're still nervous. I mean, I think I've told you I'm an introvert, right?

6:54I use my introvertedism to my advantage, but that's a conversation for a different episode. I want you to really hear what I'm about to say. The more action you take, the better you'll become at public speaking. You know how people say practice makes perfect? Well, practice, it's intentional action. You can start with smaller speaking opportunities to build your confidence gradually, but until you've got a few speeches under your belt, you can manage these anxious feelings by being prepared, breathing techniques, and mantras. Okay, so if you're a mantra person like me, because your girl loves a good sticky note in my mirror, I have a few mantras that I say before I speak and that you can say before your spiel.

7:33Okay, while speaking these mantras, try to visualize yourself speaking successfully. Feel the satisfaction of crushing it and hear the applause of the crowd after you've given your speech. Mantra one, my voice is strong and my message is important. Two, I'm in control of my nerves and they feel my energy. I bring value to others. This audience is here to learn from me. Every word I speak helps others get closer to their success. I'm grateful for the chance to share my knowledge. All right, let's chat about what's probably going to make you feel the most prepared, writing your outline or script.

8:13But before you do, if you know someone that wants to become a better speaker in any capacity, please share this episode with them so you can compare notes and learn how you can grow together. Okay, let's get back to writing your outline or your script. when you're going to give a presentation or a keynote. I would first decide which is going to be a best fit for you, an outline or a script. Now, an outline is more of a guide that you could follow that has structure, flow, and main topics. This might be best if you're, number one, really well-versed in the subject. Number two, you need room and flexibility to show yourself.

8:46Three, you aren't on a strict timeline. Four, you want to allow a lot of room for improv. And five, you're looking for more, less polished, natural delivery. Now, on the other hand, a script is a detailed word-for-word document that has exactly what you're going to say during your presentation. It also includes the entire speech, including introductions, transitions, anecdotes, and conclusions. And a lot of times it's written out verbatim. So scripts are very helpful when you are, one, needing to use precise wording, two, dealing with complex or very sensitive topics, three, wanting to ensure that you cover specific points exactly as you plan them.

9:25Four, need to hit a certain timeframe. And five, are being paid for the delivery or you're paying somebody else to film, edit, and produce the speech. When money is involved, you probably wanna have more control over the delivery. Something else you're gonna wanna consider after you choose if you're gonna do a script or a line is the duration. In some cases, this is already decided for you. Like they say, oh, you have a 20-minute speech or an hour-stage, hour-long training session. Now, here are two tips that have helped me and my team in these situations. Tip number one is to consider your speaking pace.

9:57People tell me I talk fast and then I just reply while you listen slow. But anyway, I do consider this in speech writing. I want you to assess your natural speaking pace to know how long your speech or outline you should be preparing for. Now, this will help you avoid rushing or dragging at the end. And I'm going to pause. I have learned a helpful tip for me based on my speaking cadence is that I tried to have one slide for every minute. So if I am paid for a 60-minute keynote session, I'm having about 60 slides. This helps me stay on track. I just wanted to share that point with you. Now, if you're going to use like the script route, you can simply Google how many words are in a 30-minute speech.

10:45And if you're using an outline, estimate the time for each segment or topic. Okay, tip number two is to consider the content density. Decide the complexity and depth of the topics that you're going to be covering. Like in other words, how deep do you want to dive? How deep are we going to dive into certain topics? Or would you rather just touch on those topics and cover more like of a wider scope, like scraping the surface? It's not a right or wrong, but this is probably depends on the time that you have allocated. Like if you have more time, you can go deeper. Now, if you want to write your script or outline in a way that your content is structured and your message is clear, here are six foundations to include while writing a speech or a presentation that will keep people engaged.

11:27That's the main thing. I'm going to name each of the six foundations first, and then we're going to go into detail around each one. You know, this is for the people who are writing notes. Okay. Foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content. Foundation three is the supporting content. Foundation four is the segment structure and the transitions. Foundation number five is engagement techniques and foundation number six is the call to action. Okay, starting with the first foundation, which is the hook. Your hook should grab a listener's attention right at the beginning.

11:58It'd be a statistic, a thought-provoking question, a bold statement that makes them stop, get their attention, and it's like, I'm going to listen. I've also learned that stories are truly the most compelling way to begin a presentation. I've learned that politicians do this when they visit different cities and they go around and they want to find like relatable ground. So here's an example. Sorry, I was late St. Louis. There was a line at the door at Mama's on the Hill and I had to get some fried ravioli while I was there. When politicians do this, they not only gain the audience attention, they gain their trust.

12:30We've all heard that saying like people do business with people they like, know and trust. But what we don't always hear is that people like, know and trust people who are like them. This is why being relatable is so important. The next time you're speaking to a crowd virtually or online, ask yourself, what are the commonalities in the audience and how can I create a relatable moment here? So I was speaking at an event in Las Vegas and it was for beauty professionals in the hair industry. And the event was actually at the Las Vegas Convention Center. And I had given my presentation, but in order for me to capture their attention from the ground floor.

13:08I walked on stage. I explained who I was. I said, I understand the difficulty of building a business, but you have to understand that you're building your business for future generations. And then I said, my grandfather was a security guard here after he had retired. He was the person who arrived to open doors early in the morning and lock them up late at night. I don't think that my grandfather could have seen that his granddaughter would be standing on a stage giving a presentation. Right there in that moment, it shifted everything in the room. I am looking for the quickest and most earnest way of building that know, like, and trust factor, and a personal story contextualized of why it matters to them always works best.

13:52So after you've earned their attention, and maybe you've earned a little bit to trust, you should provide a brief overview of what the episode, training, or speech is going to cover. Okay, why? Preparing the audience for what they're going to learn will help them contextualize and digest that information. We have to prepare our brains for what it's about to take in, and this helps us pay better attention and retain that information, which is what we want we speak. After you hook your audience and prepare them for what they're about to learn, you can move on to the second foundation, which is preparing the main content.

14:26This is most likely going to be the bulk of your spiel, the bulk of your presentation, but there are several ways that you can organize your information. So you can, number one, divide the content into segments or sections. Two, create frameworks or step-by-step processes. Three, give tips. Four, you kind of get to talk about the reasons why. Okay, all of this, it's going to be up to you. In this podcast right now, I'm building on foundations, which is another example of how you can organize your main content. I look at every podcast episode like I'm preparing a keynote presentation to give. But you do want to focus on a single idea in each foundation to maintain clarity.

15:05Now, this leads us to foundation number three, which is the supporting content. You can support each main point with facts, statistics, examples, antidotes, and expert opinions to build credibility and strengthen those main points. I would even encourage you to tie your own personal stories here. I mean, man, because they relate to you and they can add to the main point. And it personalizes you as a speaker. So before we move on, I want to make sure that we're recapping. Foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content. Foundation three is a supporting content. And now foundation number four is transitions.

15:41Transitions are needed to remove like the choppiness of a speech and then tie in separate thoughts together in a narrative-like way. We want it to feel natural. Here's an example of a smooth transition that guides listeners from one subject to the other. Now that we've covered the main challenges of fighting food hunger in America, which are X, Y, and Z, let's go over the five potential solutions. There we go. It's helpful to summarize those key points before moving on to the next topic because what we wanna do is we wanna help listeners digest information. Maybe you've noticed already that I've done this in this podcast already, right?

16:14Because confused people stop paying attention. After transitions, we can add in foundation number five, which is adding engagement techniques. Now, this is like next level gangster stuff. We talked a little bit about this in foundation number one. We talked about that hook. And you might already do this naturally without knowing that it's a foundation. Okay, so you can add engagement techniques by incorporating engaging stories, personal experiences, or relatable anecdotes. Engagement techniques can make the difference between your presentation seeming like overly salesy training. It's going to be too textbooky and sounding stiff.

16:49And yes, I'm making it my own words. Now, this is a foundation that really leans into your personal voice and sprinkles in a touch of your personality and your humanity throughout the presentation. I ask people to raise their hand to vote or to do live critiques or feedback sessions during a presentation because I want people engaged. Foundation number six is a call to action. Now, even though you should only have one specific call to action, it should do two things. It should serve your audience in some capacity. This could be by providing a mindset shift, facilitating a breakthrough, inspiring action, or maybe having a provoking thought.

17:21They should always feel like they're getting something from the call to action. The second thing is it should serve you. You spent a lot of time putting together your speech, your presentation, your training, your sales, whatever it is you're preparing. It's okay to ask for reciprocation. This could be visiting your website, subscribing to your channel, or sharing an episode on social media. Now, we want to make sure that we're going to get permission from the event host. Like let's say you're having a keynote. You want to make sure that you're having permission from the event host before having a call to action that requires your audience to do something that takes away from the conversation or the event itself.

17:54So here are three examples of what we call the two-in-one calls to action that serve both your audience and get them to take the next step with you. Okay, so if it's a podcast that you're speaking on, you can get great reviews by saying, if this episode is valuable to you, leave a review and share a takeaway moment. If you're guest coaching or providing any sort of training, you could serve your audience and gain email subscribers by saying, I have a free, and then insert the name of your Phoebe, when you visit my website at XYZ. If you're pitching a product or service, you can get people to experience it while gaining new leads by saying, start your free trial today or do XYZ for a free sample.

18:32Okay, now that you have your speech, here are five tips to becoming a better public speaker, whether it's virtual, in person, or in a boardroom. Tip number one, practice authenticity. I know it's easier said than done, but I don't want you to imitate somebody else's style. Embrace your own unique voice and show your personality, which sounds a lot easier than it is. I'll record myself on my phone using a voice memo so I can listen back to see where I was confusing or boring, and then I can make changes to my presentation. We have to remember that audiences connect with speakers who are genuine and relatable.

19:04Tip number two is to rehearse. I want you to practice, and this is a non-negotiable thing. Like this is the thing that you have to do to become a better speaker. Practice your presentation multiple times. Practice in the mirror or even record yourself and analyze areas where you can improve. I'll tell you right now that this is not easy, but it is so effective. Rehearsing builds familiarity. It reduces your nerves. It boosts your confidence and it boosts that overall quality of your presentation. Tip number three is to improve nonverbal communication. So nonverbal cues, like body language, you see me moving my hands.

19:39I can't help it, I can't help it, I'm Latina. So nonverbal cues are body language, facial expressions, hand gestures, and that's the majority of communication, more than words that we use, which I'm gonna go into detail in an episode that we titled Three Sales Strategies to Increase Your Revenue. I'm gonna link that in the show notes. Anyway, you can do this by making eye contact, standing or sitting confidently, using your hands purposefully. These cues will enhance your message and show your audience that you are engaged and confident. Tip number four is to seek constructive feedback. To improve your speaking skills, you can also get feedback from mentors, business friends, or trusted members of your audience.

20:18And there were times in the Insider Social Curator that I asked people, I said, it's totally volunteer. I'm working on a new keynote. If you sign up and join me live, could you give me feedback and tell me ways to get better with it? Was it uncomfortable? Yeah. But did people like seeing the process? Yes, so practice is going to help you a lot and simply asking for people to join that is a real game changer. Now, what are we doing when we get this feedback? So constructive criticism can help you identify areas of growth and refine your approach as long as you remain open and receptive to the feedback and look at it as ways to improve.

20:51This leads us to tip number five, embrace continuous learning. Just like any other skill, speaking improves with continuous learning. I recommend you start watching other speakers more critically and even take note about what you want to adapt into your own speaking style. You can also attend workshops, watch TED Talks, or YouTube great speeches to continue learning. Okay. Oh, wow. That seems like a lot of information. I know. So I want to stop here and I want to review what we talked about. Do you see me using those tips I just showed you? Okay. By improving your speaking skills, you can improve almost all aspects of entrepreneurship, Closing sales, networking, negotiation, team culture, and so much more.

21:30If you tend to feel anxious before speaking, I want you to try, number one, being prepared as possible. Two, practice. And number three, repeat some of the mantras that we went over to feel a little bit more confident and to remember that you're there to serve. Now, I want you to decide if a script or an outline is gonna be better suited for you and your situation. There's not a right or wrong, but there are two very different things. and the way that we show up for them is very different. We then covered six foundations of building a great script or outline. So I wanna go over them one more time.

22:02Foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content. Foundation number three is a supporting content. Foundation four is the segment and structure and transitions. Foundation number five is engagement techniques. And foundation number six is a call to action. And then we went over five tips to help you improve your speeches, which were practicing authenticity, rehearsing, improving nonverbal communication, seeking constructive feedback, and embracing continuous learning. I hope you'd enjoy this episode. And if you would be so kind to leave a review or tag me on your stories and you share at Jasmine Starr, I would love to see what you're doing while you're listening to this podcast from my heart to yours.

22:43Thank you.