Here is How You Get People to Remember Your Messages

You’ve done a good job of looking at all the possible messages you could try to use to persuade someone you’ve narrowed it down to your top five.

You’re comfortable with them.

But here’s the problem we haven’t addressed yet.

If the people you’re speaking to don’t remember your messages two seconds later how they can act on it.

How are you actually going to persuade them unless you’re just taking a vote.

The second you finish.

If you really want to persuade people to take an action to support a new initiative approve a budget buy from you.

Become a new client.

You’ve got to package your messages in a way that’s actually memorable.

This is the biggest problem so many speakers have now it’s related to that problem I told you about earlier of doing the data dump when you dumped way too much data.

Nobody remembers anything but even if you’ve narrowed your messages down to the top five doesn’t guarantee people will remember your messages.

Let me give you the easy way the lazy man the lazy woman’s way of doing it tell a story just tell a story involving a real conversation you had about a real problem with a real person where it was how the conflict was resolved how you felt about it.

All of us tell stories all the time and that’s what human beings do when they want to see something visualize it taste it touch it realize it really share with another human being.

That’s what makes it easier for people to absorb it.

So when someone says T.J. we’ve got a whole bunch of beginners here some of them are really fearful I’m not sure you’re the good fit because you just seem so comfortable and articulate You’re a natural born speaker so.

Well actually not.

I was very shy as a kid but it took me a long time to get comfortable and I am comfortable in part because I’ve had a lot of failures and a lot of mistakes.

My worst experience ever speaking was more than 20 years ago I was on a political talk radio show in South Florida.

And I’ll never forget I had advocated for a particular candidate who was currently in office and I said up and the host got very angry with me.

He pulled the microphone right out of my hand.

So Mr. Walker I have more respect for a Klansman than I do for you.

I looked a little shocked surprised but I thought well I’m already a tough media consultant presentation coach persuasion coach I’m not going to let him intimidate me.

I’m pulling the microphone back.

So you haven’t met Mr. St..

What I really think before I could say anything else.

He reaches under the console.

It’s a talk radio show.

No one can see it.

He’s in a big chair looking down him on this tiny little chair like a little child looking up.

He reaches under the console of the table where all the microphones are.

He pulls a gun on me.

Talk radio.

Nobody can see it.

Now do you see my point.

Mr. Walker

you know what I said at that moment not much.

In fact it was my worst speaking moment ever.

But here’s the thing I didn’t let that one awful media experience persuade me to never do anything in the media again or never speak.

I like speaking I like speaking in the media helping other people be persuasive when they’re speaking in the media and giving presentations.

And I just tried to learn from it.

In fact I went back to that studio that radio station a few weeks later and went back many times on other people’s shows I even guest hosted other shows on that radio station.

Now I stayed away from that guy that one host.

I think he is a lunatic.

But I didn’t let it bother me.

I just tried to learn from it.

Now the good news is every interview I’ve ever done since every speech I’ve ever given since.

Piece of cake nobody pulled a gun on me.

So I try to learn from my mistakes.

OK what can I just do there.

A client surfaced a point where they want someone that is a trainer that their people can relate to many of whom may be awful speakers beginners uncomfortable and I can’t just say well you know I’ve been an uncomfortable speaker too.

I wanted to illustrate that message with a story.

The story had a character me another character Mr. Sick the talk show host had a setting the talk radio station had some dialogue conversation had a problem he had a gun he had feeling emotion a scare and had a resolution.

Yeah I did lousy there but I learned from it and went back and kept doing it because I have a passion for.

So the story takes less than 90 seconds to tell but it’s more memorable sometimes I bump into clients 10 15 years later they’ll say Hey D.J. had the guns pointed at you lately.

And by the way I didn’t get shot.

No blood out.

So that’s the beauty of stories is it forms memories.

Now this is not a course on storytelling or even public speaking.

I’ve got a lot of other courses on you to me if you want to go deeper in that but just remember telling somebody a message in a straightforward way doesn’t stick.

It doesn’t work.

You’ve got to package it with a story.

And the more can involve an actual conversation you had with a customer client Prospect colleague the better people say to me all that well T.J. can I just make it up.

You could but that’s a lot harder.

The easiest thing and I want to make life easy for you.

The easiest thing is just to relive an actual conversation with a real person that makes the point you’re trying to get across.

Do that it’s going to be easier for you.

Guess who else it’s easier for the person you’re trying to persuade.