What skills you need to win in Life or Business? (with a powerful Case Study and Quick Wins)

Before we dive into the topic, I want to start with a powerful example that will set the tone for our discussion.

Imagine this: You own a coffee shop, and you want to sell the most Coffees, what would you do to help you win?”

Well, before you comment, let's discuss some powerful Universal Principles on Presentation, Influencing and Communication Skills. All I meant by Universal Principles is that these principles exist and work everywhere, just like gravity's principles.

Proven Principles:

Principle 1:

You Must Have an Audience – you will need other people’s involvement to influence and sell them your coffee. It doesn't matter if it's single person, or hundreds or even thousands of people, but for Influencing process to take place –there must be other parties involved.

(Now you have the audience, so what do we do next),

Principle 2:

You Must Get their Attention and Engage them.

Now this is the best part, the most challenging thing on this planet today is how easily can you influence someone, how easily can you get someone into your Sales Funnel, How easily can you inspire people to take out their credit cards and make a purchase, isn’t it?

But why is it a challenge and why so much of money is spent today on Marketing. The reason is simple – We live in the age of information. Apart from Oil and Money, Information or Data is one of the highest forms of currency. And with so much information thrown at people on a daily basis via the Social Media, Television and tons of marketing campaigns, people are a lot more sceptical to buy something.

Let’s dive in a little more on the 2nd principle on getting your audience attention and engaging them.

The best way to ultimately get someone's attention is to create a reputation or a rapport or a brand so that people automatically know who you are and what you have to offer.

Human beings formulate emotions based on how we feel about certain things, When something is in line with our beliefs and values, it positively impacts us. That’s the Law.

Case Study on Starbucks:

Let me take you through an interesting Case Study on How Starbucks established themselves as a brand – Starbucks wanted to sell the concept of Creating a Unique and Relaxing Experience for working professionals and their need for a soothing workspace. From the entrance to the different instore designs, the Internet capability till the last sip of the coffee, they started giving unique experiences to their customers.

With that, Starbucks also focused on highlighting individuals and communities, and this way they kept getting their audience attention and engagement.

The bottom line is when Individuals or Companies focus meticulously on building rapport and the way the experiences are delivered - the net result is you have brought your audience to a beautiful new place.

Quick Wins and Powerful Tips:

Now here are some quick wins, takeaways, tricks, hacks that you can apply to get your audience attentions and engage them:

1. Humour - Humor, if used in right way and at right time, it is extremely powerful, it creates instant connection, it lowers resistance with your audience and most importantly it helps to gain attention to the people who are not listening to you.

2. Asking Questions – Asking Questions is a very powerful persuasion tool as it gets your audience involved, it also create rapport, credibility and alleviates distractions.

3. Social Validation – Using Social Proof is a great way to grab attention. In this digital age, before buying anything, all of us love to check the ratings of product or restaurant or services on Google or any Social Media Platform, Why, because when people see that a majority of other people are thinking or acting in a certain way, they assume first that it must be right or it must be correct.

4. Use Slogans or Quotes or One Liners to put a hook in your audience mind – here is an example - one of the most defining moments in Apple’s history was when Steve Jobs introduced the 1st generation iPods

He famously pitched it with the slogan: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

After that iPod not only became a bestseller, but was named the “gadget of the 21st century,” and it revolutionised how people consumed and experienced music.

The bottom line – the True Masters in every industry knows the importance of mastering the Presentation, Communication and Influencing Skills.

I strongly believe that in the biggest battle of your professional and personal life, it all comes down to how to communicate in that moment.

See you on the other side,

Cheers, Rohit!