Tag: presentation skills

21 Step Marketing System Checklist

Published on January 11, 2018 by Adrienne McLean

By scheduling in regular marketing, this will help with keeping your business front of mind with your prospects. If your business is front of mind, when the time is right, the prospect will discuss with you their needs & business can be done.

Have you got a regular process to follow to implement your marketing regularly?

Here’s a checklist to do to consider your current marketing efforts. It’s a bit like doing an audit – checking what is currently done and what needs work on. Perhaps if you want some help – schedule in a time with me for a free 30 minute phone call to discuss. Here to help – Adrienne McLean – The Speakers Practice.
BooK here – 30 min Consultation – Free!

21 Step Marketing System Checklist

1

 Do you know who your “Ideal Clients” are? Yes/ No

2

 Have you a clearly defined target market? Yes/ No

3

 Have you developed your personal brand ? Yes/ No

4

 Are the problems your target market face clearly understood for your topic? Yes/ No

5

 Do you have a clearly defined #1 big result? Yes/ No

6

 Are you clear about the benefits your product brings? Yes/ No

7

 Can you confidently “Talk About What You Do” Yes/ No

8

 Do you clearly display your creditials? Yes/ No

9

 Have you clearly defined your products? Yes/ No

10

 Do you have a clearly defined Keeping in Touch Strategy? Yes/ No

11

 Have you any blogs, eBooks, Books, CDs, DVDs, online training? Yes/ No

12

 Are you confident with your Pricing? Yes/ No

13

 Do you have successful sales conversations? Yes/ No

14

 Have you a clearly defined Networking Strategy? Yes/ No

15

 Have you a clearly defined Direct Outreach Strategy? Yes/ No

16

 Have you a clearly defined Referral Strategy ? Yes/ No

17

 Have you a clearly defined Speaking Strategy ? Yes/ No

18

 Have you a clearly defined Writing Strategy? Yes/ No

19

 Have you a clearly defined Web Strategy? Yes/ No

20

 Are you implementing Strategies Networking, Direct Outreach & Referrals? Yes/ No

21

 Are you implementing atleast one of Strategies Speaking, Writing & Digital Marketing (Social Media/ Pay for Click Advertising)? Yes/ No

Perhaps if you want some help – schedule in a time with me for a free 30 minute phone call to discuss. Here to help – Adrienne McLean – The Speakers Practice.
BooK here – 30 min Consultation – Free!

The Speakers Practice – Presentation Skills workshop for Professionals

Published on December 11, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

What would you get out of  The Speakers Practice – Presentation Skills Workshop for Professionals ?

A fabulous day was spent with Professionals who were keen to work on their presentation skills. The SpeakersTrainingCamp formula is followed – taking rather nervous attendees through a process of developing their presentation skills and building confidence to speak in front of a group.

What did they like most about the workshop?

  1. Helped me to speak naturally and from the heart
  2. very relaxed , comfortable atmosphere bringing out people’s openness
  3. Good to get feedback from everyone in the group
  4. Having a solid structure for a presentation
  5. Gaining confidence via constructive feedback
  6. Practical tips
  7. Safe and supportive people and feedback to get better
  8. Opportunity to practise
  9. Indepth knowledge
  10. Good facility

What were the most important things they learnt?

  • How to structure a presentation
  • being natural when delivering a presentation – speaking from the heart
  • being in control of the situation
  • Good valuable tips
  • The GRABM concept
  • Importance of body language
  • Controlling nerves and the exercises to help with nervousness
  • Importance of posture and breathing
  • Feeling more confident to deliver a message

A testimonial to summarise the day –

“Adrienne opened doors for me that have been closed for a long time. Her course has initiated a process that I can confidently build on helping me personally and with my work in architecture.”

Rob Geoghegar,  Architect

The Speakers Practice – Presentation Skills workshop for Professionals will be available quarterly – check in with The Speakers Practice for the next workshop.

 

                                                                                                                     

Video Can Help Real Estate Agents Clinch Deals!

Published on October 27, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

A deal in real estate is not like a deal in toothpaste. deals with toothpaste make you two dollars richer. A deal in real estate makes up hundreds or thousands, and even, a million dollars. So if using video as a marketing medium help clinch a single deal, you will make a lot of money!

There are no two ways about it, video is the way of the present and the future! If you want to generate online traffic anywhere, using videos will increase conversion and retention rates and improve sales leads.

However using video on websites is not the only thing a real estate business needs to do to generate sales. You also have to be a little bit creative and understand the aspects of making a professionally made video to maximise your chances of success. But first, I will look at what the power of video purely a medium has done for businesses.

Video as a medium

Here are some facts about online videos in business

1. StacksandStack.com reported that visitors were 144% more likely to purchase after they saw a video on their website.

2. Visitors who watch videos are said to stay on the website for twice as long and visit twice as many pages.

3. Unbounce reports that sales conversion rates increase by 80% if a company uses an online video to market a product on their website

4. According to Kismetrics, leads are 64 to 85% more likely to purchase from a small business after seeing a video online.

There are more than 300 hours of video that is uploaded to YouTube a minute. In the near future, video will comprise of more than 70% web traffic. Companies are using video today, knowing just how well it increases online traffic, conversion of sales and retention of customers.

Professional Tips

You may need the help of a professional company to help you with generating a top notch quality video. If you decide to market in real estate using a handheld smartphone then you need to get back to the drawing board. A professional filming company will think of techniques that enhance the quality of your video. Aspects of filmmaking such as:

Lighting
Camera positioning and angles
Close-ups
Filters and aspect ratios
They are just some filmmaking concepts that professional filmmakers consider, including many more aspects and variables. This may seem minute and seems like perfectionism, but the more you consider these aspects in an online video, the greater your competitive advantage becomes.

Another thing real estate agents can do is the overall direction of how a video will be made. Make some strategic decisions in the video that matches up with the brand image that you like to present. Since Real Estate companies are formal, you may want to use real estate agents themselves wearing their formal attire. As opposed to getting an average-looking person with casual attire talking about real estate. That said, if the real estate company’s brand image is casual and creative, the average-looking bloke talking about real estate may be a great idea!

Also, try to get good shots of the houses, It may be best to take several shots from the houses at several different angles and cut out all the bad and mediocre looking ones.

Finally, make sure that you include your company logo either at the beginning or end of the video so viewers can contact you and remember who you are. It is always a good thing if you get customers to associate your brand with something of high quality or any other positive attributes.

The Creative Side

This is what may really get you a ton of competitive advantage. Think of making a video as a way to generate a unique selling proposition. Being tactically creative allows people to:

1. Have a unique selling proposition

2. Have a competitive advantage

3. Have a vision

The best way to achieve a unique selling proposition is to come up with creative ideas. Ask yourself “How are real estate agents marketing their products and how can I be different from them while still keeping consistent with my brand image?”

If you find that Real Estate agents are marketing in a similar way then this is liquid gold. Find out about what motivates consumers to purchase a house (like newlywed couples wanting to start a family, or buyers wanting independence) or what demotivates consumers (such as the rising prices in metropolitan areas) and address these attitudes in a way that speaks to them.

When you want to make a video, using that knowledge, brainstorm some ideas. This is the opportunity to be a creative as you like! You may never know what good or bad ideas come out! This is the time when you can come up with bad ideas because this is the time, creatively, that you can discard these ideas and suffer no consequences. At the end of brainstorming, it gives you a clear direction with a creative idea and you have obtained a vision, ready to be turned into a reality.

Conclusion

So there you have it! By understanding how video positively impacts upon sales and knowing how to professionally create a video with a creative idea will dramatically increase your chances at clenching that all-important deal.

 

Nelson Cumming is an enthusiastic business blogger with AdrienneMcLean.com with a keen interest in Marketing and PR.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at

The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact for sales presentations, pitching to Investors, promotional presentations etc.

Adrienne has been training presenting to camera programs since 2012 and has been coached by Lou Bortone – US Video Marketing Expert.

You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

Branding strategies – Gunnar Habitz – Business Success Strategies.

Published on October 25, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

Branding is the way the prospects and clients see your business. Your branding is the face of the business. In this video & podcast, Gunnar Habitz details the important parts that go together to make a brand successful.

Gunnar Habitz has twenty years ICT experience in sales, marketing and consulting roles with a technical flavour covering various computing solutions sold to commercial and consumer segments. Originally from Switzerland with solid experience in the European market, Gunnar moved to Sydney in 2016 and completed a leadership program at the Australian Institute of Management and now offers his skills in the  areas software, services and solutions.

 Some of the questions Gunnar answers here on the topic of Branding strategies for growth are : 

  1. When looking at branding a business or a product, what are the essential steps?
  2. Why does changing a brand help with sales growth?
  3. What are your recommendations to a business who are looking for massive change?
  4. What are the signs of a successful brand?
  5. What is a strategy that has really helped you grow your business?

Here are some links that Gunnar recommends for checking out –

1) www.habitz.ch (my own website)
2) www.cloudrecover.com.au (my employee who changed the branding strategy totally in 2015)
3) www.livinglines.com.au (brand development expert Susan Jones)
4) www.intrix.com.au (reseller Intrix who transitioned to a managed service provider)
5) www.cowanprospecting.com (Matt Cowan Prospecting, I mentioned that I found him only due to his LinkedIn article)

The Business Success Strategies is a 30 minute interview with successful business people who have been able to achieve amazing results with growing a business.

Business Success Strategies is an always have something to offer event  sponsored by The Speakers Practice and ADrienneMcLean.com. The Speakers Practice offers programs to help SME professionals to market their business by speaking. AdrienneMcLean.com helps SME professionals to market themselves using the international marketing system BookYourselfSolid – a marketing system designed for service professionals to get you more clients.

Adrienne McLean helps business professionals with marketing and business development along with promoting their business. You can contact Adrienne McLean on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

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Perfect Speech for Perfect PR

Published on October 3, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

In PR, the value of words is invaluable. That sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it’s true. A great speech can build positive relationships with stakeholders and potential consumers, which is at the heart of public relations.

To become better apt for your next presentation, here are a couple of tips to help you become a better speaker.

  1. The Rule of Threes
  2. Know the Purpose of the Speech
  3. Use Humour, anecdotes and analogies
  4. Slang, Jargon, Formality or Informality

The Rule of Threes

The rule of threes is an excellent way to structure your speech. Personally, I love it, it just works for me and it also works for the audience. It’s simple, highlight three areas of the speech you will be discussing and elaborate on that. This rule works especially well if the third point is either slightly longer or has a nice little twist to it. The audience will believe will pay more attention as you save the best until last.

Purpose of the Speech

Purpose of  the speech will determine the tone an mood of your speech. If you are promoting your business to existing consumers at a convention, you are more likely to apply everyday language and incorporate humour. However, if the company is in the middle of a crisis, you better not joke. Knowing the purpose of your speech will get the best result out of people as you are giving them the information they want presented in a way that they like to hear it.

Humour in your Speech

Humour anecdotes and analogies are ways to stimulate the audience or to simplify high minded ideas to them. Just make sure that the jokes are actually funny and your anecdotes and analogies are accurate and don’t go off on a tangent. Read a joke book or look up online for analogies that best fit for your speech. If you practice this long enough, soon you will be like a duck to water.

Slang and Jargon

Slang and jargon in your speech is entirely determined by how knowledgeable your audience is.

Say we were selling TVs. If you were pitching televisions to IT professionals, you might talk about the technological processes  on how the TV functions. For a bunch of consumers, you might only need to say that the TV lasts longer, has a bigger screen and has better picture quality.

Finally you need to practice your speech. There is a massive disconnect if you constantly look at your notes. You can condense your speech into bullet points and make it whatever you say come naturally. Even though it may be harder for inexperienced people to publically speak without palm cards, maintain eye contact is the key for audiences to understand and enjoy you and what you wrote. You speak to the audience, not to the ground.

All of these tips will hopefully help you in both writing and constructing a speech from start to finish

Nelson Cumming is an enthusiastic business blogger with AdrienneMcLean.com with a keen interest in Marketing and PR.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at

The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact for sales presentations, pitching to Investors, promotional presentations etc.

Adrienne has been training presenting to camera programs since 2012 and has been coached by Lou Bortone – US Video Marketing Expert.

You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

How our approach helps Business Owners

Published on September 26, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

As Business Owners, confidently delivering relevant messages with quality, professional delivery will help you to build Trust with Potential clients , get their attention and get them interested to see how you can help them.

A confident presence will give you that big break you are looking for. Right now, you have the opportunity to develop those skills, practice them in front of an audience and then book those networking and speaking engagements that will assist you to generate sales leads.

I am the Founder of The Speakers Practice , we specialise in helping clients to confidently market and present themselves. We also assist with promotional tools eg business presentations, video, writing, podcasts and social media. We are the first company in Australasia to present the top-rating programs – BookYourselfSolid® and the SpeakersTrainingCamp® program.

During the time of being in a corporate role and working for small business, the importance of leadership , continuous improvement , marketing and product development was focused on. Delivering presentations in a confident manner and getting the message across was essential.

Today, The Speakers Practice works with business owners and professionals helping with learning and developing marketing skills using the powerful marketing system BookYourselfSolid®, Presentation skills one-on-one, in front of a group and in front of a camera. By developing these skills, the owners and staff confidently present their ideas and the end result is building business by building connections.

Email me on Adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on Mobile 0414 367 960

Specialties: Marketing Skills, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills training.Video Marketing, Understanding of Product Development and Continuous Improvement, Facilitation, Leadership.

When communication skills are vital !

Published on September 20, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

Screen Shot 2017-09-20 at 1.26.05 PMRecently, I watched a documentary called Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room and I realised how much a PR intervention may have saved thousands of investors out or pocket and billions of dollars in unassailable debt. In a perfect world, a crisis communication plan early on could have turned Enron into a small company, but into it’s eyeballs in corruption and debt.

Except in real life, for Enron, making money by any means necessary was the name of the game.

Every company that has been caught by the media for corruption has gone through the stages of the issues life cycle. The four stages are

  1. The potential stage: The moment in a business in which something bad might occur.
  2. Emerging stage: The moments in which a triggering event causes a major issue and begins to fester
  3. Current Stage: When the issue develops into something a company cannot control
  4. Crisis stage: When the media gains a lot of traction on the company’s major issues and a made aware to the public, negatively impacting upon a company
  5. Dormant Stage: When the crisis loses traction with the media, depending on how well the crisis is handled determines how long this issue lingers on in the company.

The entire story of Enron is quite complex, here’s a short overview:

Enron was a major energy company founded by Ken Ley and hired Jeffery Skilling and Andrew Fastow to manage the books and the organisation

Enron managed to influence various state governments to deregulate the energy industry. During the time of deregulation, Enron hid all of it’s debt through mark-to-market accounting (failed ventures were seen as assets in Enron’s books), market manipulation and making companies solely to purchase Enron’s debt. The corporate culture at Enron was to make money for the company by any means necessary. They bribed auditors Arthur Anderson to stay quiet on the issue and it was speculated they bribed banks and lawyers. Enron also encouraged citizens to put their retirement funds into the company knowing that the company was a sinking ship.

In 2000, Enron’s stock was selling at more than $90 per share, By the December 2001, Enron’s stock was 26 cents per share, went from 84 billion dollars to bankruptcy in 21 days and citizens lost their retirement money. Arthur Anderson also failed due to corruption and major Enron employees were sent to jail for fraud and other white collar crimes.

Using case studies like this can help anyone working in crisis communication if a similar situation like this arises. Now as a crisis communicator, the easiest and best way to resolve an issue is at it’s earliest possible stage.

The Potential Stage

The Potential stage happened when states were deregulating the industry. This freed Enron to be more flexible with their business practices and increase the likelihood of corruption. Having a trusted professional would have helped by informing Enron of the potential long term consequences of corruption that can come from market deregulation. That way they are aware of the potential situation and may have been more vigilant against potential corruption.

The Emerging Stage

The triggering event was, when Jeffery Skilling became CEO and began implementing mark-to-market accounting. This was what started the cascade of imaginary numbers, artificially inflated stock prices and market manipulations to cover their losses.

The emerging stage is more difficult to pinpoint. The emerging stages would have occoured when Enron hit insurmountable debt. The emerging stage is when an issue starts to spin out of control and it takes a lot of PR in an attempt to stop it. At this stage, there is no chance of Enron (or any company) escaping the damage.

A crisis communicator could have mitigated it by advising Enron to declare bankruptcy and have a PR campaign detailing how and why the bankruptcy occurred and methods of repayment from investors. This may have gotten Enron staff members indicted for white collar crimes, but they whould have been able to reduce the level of bankruptcy and saved workers their retirement money. People may have looked back on Enron far less negatively than people do today.

The Crisis Stage

The crisis stage started when skilling retired from Enron two months before the financial collapse and the crisis peaked when Enron became officially bankrupt. It was at this stage when Enron decided to handle it by constantly denying any wrongdoing and avoiding the situation they set themselves up for instead of admitting outright that what they did was business malpractice.

It is for this reason that people still talk about Enron today. It is also the reason why the dormant stage of the company lingered on for many years. Had a crisis communicator come across and intervened, they could have easily mitigated the damage. The saddest thing is that it could have happened at any time over the ten years the company were active in the deregulated energy market

So, as a crisis communicator, think about these 5 stages of crisis management from the communication viewpoint. It’s an  interesting consideration. 

Nelson Cumming is an enthusiastic business blogger with AdrienneMcLean.com with a keen interest in Marketing and PR.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact for sales presentations, pitching to Investors, promotional presentations etc.

Adrienne has been training presenting to camera programs since 2012 and has been coached by Lou Bortone – US Video Marketing Expert.

 You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

The Importance of Communication when the Business is attempting to adapt to Change.

Published on August 6, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

Let’s get you out of your comfort zone. Instead of talking business, let’s start with a little philosophy. A man called  Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher said “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”

Change cannot be avoided. Yes, you can resist it for awhile, but change is like going on a train: You can hop along for the ride or it will pass you by. Skip too many trains and you will never get to your destination. This kind of philosophy applies to a business when undergoing change.

A lot of times it is hard to move into new waters but here are a couple of tips to help your business through change for the better.

1. Understand the Big Picture

Instead of losing yourself on where you want the business right now, start thinking about where you want the business to be several years down the track. That is your map, the place you want to be.

Your vision is the map and the change are the directions. While the directions may look daunting, you will understand that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully that will motivate you to keep going.

2. Be Positive

If you have a negative attitude, you tend to worry about failure. If you are negative about the change, you have already failed. If you have a negative attitude, your employees may become Mr. Sad, Mr. Angry or Little Miss Trouble themselves.

People don’t like working with others if they have a negative attitude and they will resist change, making it more likely that your change initiatives will not succeed.

Maintaining a positive attitude to change leads to the likelihood that employees will be more accepting of that change. Fearing change is normal, but accepting that fear is key and finding positivity within yourself is likely to influence your employees towards the changes you set out to make.

You know you have succeeded with change if the employees turn into Mr. Happy and Little Miss Sunshine

3. Communicate to others

It’s very easy for a boss or an owner to be locked up in a room and send a form email to employees about the changes you intend to make and hope the change occurs outside the confines of the office.

Form letters are good at making sure everyone gets that message, but it can be bad for the lack of two-way communication. Make sure people can ask questions about your change initiatives and make sure you can answer them. Talk to other people who have undergone a similar process and what they have experienced.

With the flow of information, people become more informed and therefore make better decisions. While change is being implemented, it can make the process easier when everyone is informs and on the same path.

4. Don’t Give Up!

Determination is a great quality in business. If you follow step 1 in the guide and look at the big picture, not giving up is an invaluable tool to change not only in business but in life.

For example, if I wanted to lose weight and gain abs, I know that if I exercise regularly, perform abdominal exercises with a healthy diet, I can achieve that in about 4-6 months. However, if I quit after the first exercise session, I will never get the abs I want.

Similarly, in business, if you know the right strategy to achieve your business goals, you have to know that the change is not always going to be easy. As a matter of fact, it might suck. However, if you have determination, you will have a better chance to get through the hardest parts of the change and you may be able to achieve your business goals.

The Bottom Line

I believe that the attitudes towards business (and corporate culture in general) come from a top-down approach. What the CEO thinks, feels and acts will seep down all the way to the bottom of the employee working totem pole.

That is why these tips are about attitude and organization. If the times are a changin’ and you can adapt to it in your mind and your actions, your coworkers will likely go through the change in the workplace a lot easier than a company who fear change and believe it is the enemy.

Nelson Cumming is an enthusiastic business blogger with AdrienneMcLean.com with a keen interest in Marketing and PR.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact for sales presentations, pitching to Investors, promotional presentations etc.

Adrienne has been training presenting to camera programs since 2012 and has been coached by Lou Bortone – US Video Marketing Expert.

 You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

What are Investors looking for in Pitches?

Published on May 1, 2017 by Adrienne McLean

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Entrepreneurs and Startups have such great ideas, they are highly skilled in so many ways and they are wanting to change the world. There is the reality that it takes funding to change the great idea into reality.

So it becomes really important for the Entrepreneur to be successful when going through the pitching process with getting the necessary funding they need to make their dream into reality.

The delivery of the Pitch becomes the interface between the Entrepreneur and the Investor looking for great ideas that the Investor can make a good return on.

What are the important elements of the Pitch ?

1. Clarity – The individual delivering the pitch needs to have absolute clarity over each segment of the business proposal. Being able to articulate easily the design, formation and undertakings of the business is sound preparation for putting together a pitch.

2. Pitching Requirements – The Pitch must give all the information that the Investor needs to make an informed decision – to atleast talk further with the Entrepreneur if not make an offer.

The areas that need addressing are:
Identifying the problem the business is addressing?
What is the solution?
How big is the market?
How the business is going to make profit?
What is the business model?
Is there Proprietary Technology?
Who is the competition?
Marketing Plan- How are sales going to be achieved?
Team – Who is needed and on the team?
Money milestones – what are you going to spend and achieve?

3. The Delivery of the Pitch is important – if the Entrepreneur doesn’t display passion about his own product – then why would anyone else?  Preparation, practice, easy to read slides and a polished performance are all going to have a significant impact on the success (or not) of the pitch.

Overview:

The whole package is important – information, delivery and clarity. Speaking to Investors and getting them to commit capital to your business idea is challenging but will reap great rewards – especially if you are prepared and have a polished presentation.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact for sales presentations, pitching to Investors, promotional presentations etc.

Adrienne has been training presenting to camera programs since 2012 and has been coached by Lou Bortone – US Video Marketing Expert.

 You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.

Interview techniques for getting that Job!

Published on November 14, 2016 by Adrienne McLean

photo-1459499362902-55a20553e082Interviewing is one of the most stressful activities imaginable for many people.  It’s a long process – you have to find the right job to apply for, then go through quite a process to get your resume to the key people, get short listed and finally if you’re lucky get onto the interview list. So by the time of the interview , it can be quite emotionally challenging already before setting foot in the interview room. One thing is for sure, by feeling more confident with interviewing skills this will help.

Most people don’t feel confident because they are not adequately prepared.  Here are some easy tips to help you become more prepared and to nail every interview you go to.

1. Research the company

  • What does the company do?  What are their major products and services?
  • Who are their competitors?
  • What opportunities and challenges are ahead of them (and how you can help)?
  • What is the press is saying about them (a quick Google search or search in your local paper can tell you that).
  • What is the “word on the street” about them?
  • What is their financial position?


2. Research the interviewer

  • Do you know someone who works in the company?  Find out what you can about the interviewer and drop little hints throughout the conversation that shows you’ve done your research.
  • Look them up on Linkedin to familiarise yourself with their background.
  • See what Google has to say.
  • Look at their Facebook account (if it’s public).


3. Know how to answer their questions

  • Statistics show that people who “win” interviews take between 30 seconds to 2 minutes to answer a question.  Anything less than 30 seconds is not thorough enough, anything more – you’re waffling – no matter how interesting you might think you are, an interviewer loses attention (and patience) after about 2 minutes.
  • Prepare your answers in advance.  Get a list of Behavioral Based Interviewing questions from the Web (there are loads out there and most interviewers don’t put a lot of thought into their questions so you’ll find 80% of what they will ask you from one of these lists of questions), choose 10 questions that you might ask if you were interviewing you for the role and write out your answers. 
  • It’s very important to write your answers out so you can recite the details comfortably in a stressful situation.
  • It’s also important to answer these questions with real, live examples of what you’ve done in the past and not what you would do.
  • Know your strengths and your weaknesses and don’t try to spin your weaknesses into strengths.  There is nothing worse than drawing a blank to this question.  It’s one of the most common questions asked and being unprepared for it demonstrates a total lack of preparedness.
  • Don’t try to spin your weaknesses into strengths.  Very few people do this well, it’s trite and inauthentic.  After all, everyone has weaknesses, no one is perfect. 


4. Know how to ask your own questions

  • Companies find out as much or more about you by the questions you ask them than by how well you answer theirs.
  • Challenge yourself to ask questions no one else may have thought about.  Business related, thought provoking questions.  Pre prepare based on your research.
  • Ask the interviewer about their background, people love to talk about themselves.  It may also give you insight into the company culture.
  • Determine the qualities you want in a boss and ask them questions about how they would handle situations.  Interviewing is a 2 way conversation.


5. Don’t let nerves get the best of you!

  • Prepare the night before so you know what to wear, where you are going and where your notes are.
  • Make sure you’ve got the name(s) (spelled correctly!) of the people you’re meeting!
  • Show up early!
  • Make sure you ask for a glass of water (don’t bring your own bottle) so that you can stall or pause as you’re structuring your answers!


6. Make a great first impression

  • With a great smile, direct gaze and firm handshake.


7. Follow up

  • Ask for the job (even if you don’t want it, you can always turn it down later!)
  • Send both Email and Snail mail thank you notes.
  • Give detailed feedback to your recruiter including positives, negatives, your interest on a scale of 1 – 10 and how the opportunity compares to any others you may have in the pipeline.
  • Follow up with the company 1 day after they tell you when they will make their decision or take the next step.

Adrienne McLean DTM – SpeakersTrainingCamp International Instructor and the Founder of The Speakers Practice – Adrienne specialises at The Speakers Practice helping clients to confidently deliver presentations for maximum impact. You can contact Adrienne on adrienne@thespeakerspractice.com.au or ring on 0414 367 960.