As a business owner do you want to know the public speaking habits of successful entrepreneurs?
Effective public speaking could take your business to a higher level.
Pay close attention to this article and it will enhance your public speaking habits.
Many entrepreneurs don’t appreciate the importance of being able and willing to communicate effectively.
They think that their business acumen is enough to see them through.
What they don’t realize is that they need good public speaking skills.
This skill can help them get what they need.
It could be from their customers, team members, investors, and other stakeholders.
However, communication involves both one-to-many and one-on-one interactions.
It isn’t necessary to have the speaking skills of a professional speaker to succeed in business.
However, successful entrepreneurs agree that the ability to communicate well is necessary for a business.
Public Speaking will improve your communication skills.
If you have little or no background in public speaking, you can start by getting some traditional training.
There are lots of places for business owners to learn public speaking.
It could be both online and offline.
You can also read books where you can find valuable tips for public speaking or moreover use public speaking apps.
In addition to this, you should practice to further hone your skills.
Importance of Public Speaking To Successful Entrepreneurs
Here are some instances that highlight the importance of public speaking for successful entrepreneurs, Why it is important for your business, and why you need it:
- Funding Needs
Your business may need additional funding.
And you need to address your prospective investors.
Most astute investors invest in people.
They do not just entrust their money on ideas.
Thus, they want to talk to the business owner himself, and not his representative.
They will look at you straight in the eye to assess your conviction and ability.
You need to be able to speak comfortably and persuasively to convince investors to buy into you and your idea.
- Appearing On a Panel of Experts
If you own a startup business, it follows that you’re the company’s brand.
Likewise, the brand builder and primary lead generator.
Any chance to be visible will highlight your expertise.
You might be invited to speak on a panel.
You may also be asked for interviews on TV to expound on your vision.
- Hosting Customer Seminars
Don’t think that you can always hire pros to handle seminars and meetings for your customers.
You might be limited by budget and other resources and have to handle the seminar yourself.
In cases where you have the expertise, you might not be able to outsource the delivery of a seminar to someone else.
In this case, you might have better chances of a successful outcome If you handle things yourself.
- Being The Key Speaker in Employee Reward and Update Meetings
When your business grows, and the number of your people becomes bigger.
You will need to communicate with your employees in potentially large forums.
Public speaking skills will prepare you for this.
- Representing Your Company in Industry-Wide Events
Having the proper skills of speaking publicly is more crucial outside your business.
Industry analysts will invariably critique how you speak.
They will compare it with the speech strategies of other great speakers in the same niche.
Remember that you may be speaking before potential partners.
This includes future customers, suppliers etc.
Due to this, you need to learn how to overcome the fear of public speaking.
This way, you can be on your way to positioning yourself as one of the authorities in your industry.
Top Public Speaking Habits For Successful Entrepreneurs
Here are some top public speaking habits of successful entrepreneurs.
If you want to learn how to improve your public communication skills and be a successful entrepreneur, experts in various types of speaking skills recommend the following tips for public speaking:
Focus On Your Audience
This is a good public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs.
When speaking in front of a crowd, a lot of entrepreneurs worry about how they look on stage.
Their focus is on themselves.
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to think differently.
Don’t focus on yourself.
But focus on your audience, and what they need.
How you look doesn’t really matter to the audience.
While it may give a hint of your personality, it doesn’t tell everything about your career and personal life.
Similarly, it doesn’t tell anything about how much you know the topic you’re about to discuss.
Being under the spotlight can lead you to think that you are the center of everything.
But in reality, it is the audience.
So, ask yourself what you want the audience to think, feel, or do after hearing you speak.
Focus on what they need, and you’re more likely to be successful.
Be Engaging
This is also a public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs.
In business, one of the scarcest commodity is attention.
If the audience finds you to be a boring speaker, you will see them checking their smartphones or talking to one another as you speak.
To grab and retain your audience’s attention, you need to be engaging.
A good way to keep people interested is to engage their emotions.
You can tell stories, ask questions, or play short videos.
The more engaging you are on the stage, the more attention you will get from the crowd.
Pace Your Delivery And Content
This is another important public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs.
One common mistake that many speakers commit is delivering the whole speech without breaking down the content sufficiently.
There is a lack of pacing in the delivery.
Remember that your audience can only take in a limited amount of information before overloading happens.
To remain attentive and engaged, everyone needs a break.
A moment of silence is a very powerful tool you can use.
Take note of the natural breaks present in your material.
These can happen as you transition between points.
So, make it a point to chop your speech into “bite-size” pieces that would be easy for your audience to digest.
Be conversational
This also another public speaking habit that every entrepreneur must embrace.
One of the speech strategies of great public speakers is to avoid the use of buzzwords.
Words like “synergy” and “leverage” just to make themselves more professional-sounding.
Words like this could leave your audience feeling lost if they do not know the meaning of the words.
So, if you want to learn how to improve your speaking skills, avoid using buzzwords.
Stick to using simple words to make sure that everyone in the audience understands what you are saying.
As a rule of thumb, the best way to send your message across is to use simple and plain words that even a 3rd grader can understand.
Tell Compelling Stories
This is another public speaking habit that every entrepreneur should pick up.
A good story is powerful because it can engage the audience’s emotions.
When you succeed in engaging their emotions.
You can expect the audience to pay attention to you.
More importantly, they will be inspired to take action, and also do what you want them to do.
Stories can help make you stand out.
It would be great to tell stories from your own personal experiences.
This is because you are most qualified to tell them.
Use Visually-Engaging Slides
This is also another public speaking habit that every entrepreneur must look out for.
For instance, when doing presentations, a typical entrepreneur would use lots of bullet points.
However, it gives the audience the impression of another boring presentation that they have to sit through.
So, one of the effective types of speaking skills is the use of slides in a different way.
Instead of using bullet points, you can use pictures, instead.
For each slide, include a picture that gives the whole idea.
In addition, use the fewest words possible.
This way, your presentation will be more memorable to the audience.
Stick to A Few Points
This is also considered as a public speaking habit for successful businessmen.
When speaking in front of a large crowd, there is always the temptation to flaunt what you know and show off.
Never dump data just to show people how much you know.
Keep your presentation interesting, just stick to making a few points.
Make sure to support each point with enough data.
Do not confuse your audience with a lot of ideas.
Use Body Language
This is another public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs.
Don’t be a mere talking head even if you think your content speaks for itself.
The non-verbal aspects of your performance can be powerful tools in keeping your audience engaged and attentive.
So, by using the right gestures as you speak, you can get your message across more effectively.
The audience doesn’t only want to listen to your speech, they also want to watch it.
Get Good Coaching
One of the keys to a top-notch speech is good coaching.
And one of the habits of great speakers is to listen to their coaches.
No matter how good you think you are, there are always areas where you can still improve.
Even Tony Robbins, acknowledged as one of the greatest personal development experts has his own coach.
This only shows that you need to keep on learning and improving, even if you are already a great public speaker.
Keep Things Simple
This is another public speaking tip for successful entrepreneurs.
Abraham Lincoln is considered as a poet US president; however, his Gettysburg Address is arguably the greatest speech ever delivered in American History.
The speech tells the story of the United States’ past, present, and future.
The speech is only 272 words.
This proves that a speech doesn’t have to be too long and winding to be effective.
Talking about the past, present, and future is a great and effective way of building an interesting piece.
Keep The Speech Short
This another related public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs.
In relation to the previous tip, keeping your speech short is a great idea.
Do this, unless your speech is required to be of a certain length and delivered in a specific length of time.
President Kennedy’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen swore by his mantra.
“Brevity, levity & charity” when writing speeches.
Note that he put brevity first.
People clap after a long speech because it is finished
Keep your speech concise but useful.
Keep On Learning 
This is another important tip for public successful entrepreneurs.
The best entrepreneurs in the world never cease to learn.
This is because they want to stay on top of their industry.
Moreover, only dying people stop learning.
If you are looking for ways on how to develop speaking skills, take courses, attend seminars, read new books.
Use The Problem-Solution Model
This another tip to consider as a public speaking habit for a successful business person.
First, define the problem.
And let the audience know that you have the most optimal solution.
Then, proceed by describing the necessary steps in order to succeed.
By using this structure in delivering your speeches, you are able to create drama.
People like drama, but more importantly, you succeed in holding the audience’s attention.
Practice The Art Of Conversation
Today, people find conversation-like speeches more interesting to listen to.
While typical business presentations today are still more on the formal side, they tend to make the speaker look stiff, awkward, and less effective.
But by being yourself and sharing the ideas you have with passion and in a conversational way, you can be more effective at speaking publicly.
Avoid Using Meaningless Modifiers
This is another public speaking habit for successful entrepreneurs to consider.
In order words, eliminate meaningless adverbs.
Adverbs such as very, really, and other similar words from your speech.
Instead, use strong, action-filled adjectives.
Don’t say it’s “really great.”
Say it’s first-rate or “top-notch.”
Avoid saying “very old,” and Go for “ancient.”
It is also highly suggested to remove the fillers.
For instance “um,” “ah,” and “er” from your speech.
As well as useless phrases like “I mean…” and “you know…”
They only tend to slow you down and garble the point you want to get across.
Plan
A lot of times, speakers end up in their thoughts just to make a point.
The key is knowing what to say.
Plan it out.
Jot it down, refine it, and then practice delivering it.
Bad Public Speaking Habits to Avoid
It isn’t enough that you only learn the public speaking habits of successful entrepreneurs.
To be an effective communicator, you also need to know the things you should avoid at all times.
Failing To Tailor Your Message To Your Audience
This is the first most important public speaking habits to avoid.
If you talk to people about themselves, they would be more willing to listen.
They would not listen if you don’t talk about themselves.
That is human nature, and it applies to public speaking.
So, don’t make the mistake of giving generic messages in your presentations.
Your audience can tell if you didn’t do your homework, and you’re just giving them an off-the-shelf presentation.
You should tailor your content to a particular audience sitting in front of you.
Having Low Energy
This is another bad public speaking habits that entrepreneurs must avoid.
No audience would like to sit and listen to a speech with a boring delivery.
Which is often characterized by lethargy, dull facial expressions, and a low monotone voice.
Displaying Distracting Mannerisms
Habits of great speakers do not include off-putting mannerisms.
Like wringing or clenching your hands.
Keeping your hands in your pockets, pacing back and forth.
Jingling keys or chains, gripping the lectern, twisting your ring
Adjusting your clothing or hair, licking your lips, bobbing your head.
Fidgeting with a pen, touching your face and wrapping your arms around your body.
These habits have a way of distracting the audience. Worse, it may ruin your credibility.
Failing To Maintain Eye Contact
This also a bad public speaking habit that businessmen must avoid.
It is a mortal sin in public speaking to fail to keep sustained, meaningful eye contact with the audience.
Lack of eye contact can mean disinterest, insincerity, detachment, shiftiness, insecurity, and worse, arrogance.
Not Rehearsing
This is a bad public speaking habit to avoid.
If you want to learn how to overcome the fear of public speaking, confidence is key.
This is why you should not ignore the importance of preparing and rehearsing.
Otherwise, what your audience will hear may be an unrefined run-through of your presentation.
Not Being Inspiring Enough
Try to avoid this bad public speaking habit.
If your audience finds you boring and not inspiring enough.
Then, how can you expect them to act on your calls to action?
It is a fact the people make decisions based on emotions first, and the facts second.
Thus, before feeding your audience with facts and figures.
However, appeal to their emotions first.
These include surprise, joy, excitement, hope, and love, among others.
Failing To Craft A Powerful Opening
This also a bad public speaking habit for successful businessmen to avoid.
Being a good public speaker involves mastering the craft of making a strong opening.
The beginning is generally considered as the most important aspect of any task.
Sadly, a lot of speakers waste their opportunity to clinch a good first impression.
By spending their first minute on the microphone rambling pointlessly.
Conclusion On Public Speaking Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs
As a budding entrepreneur, you want your business to grow.
Knowing how to improve your speaking skills is important if you want to be a successful entrepreneur.
While it is not easy to achieve, the good news is that the skill can be learned.
Like most skills, you can develop good communication skills through hard work and practice.
If you had a fear of speaking in front of a big crowd before, once you have become a better speaker, you will not only overcome your fear and learn to tolerate it.
You may even begin to enjoy the experience.
This is because you have conquered the source of your fear.
When this happens, success in business will follow suit.
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