Ep. 185 Your Next Step

Hey there, Marc Brown. When you're done speaking, what is the best next step for your audience?

That's a good question. And today we're going to answer that question. And the answers you get might be a bit of a surprise. Let's talk about that.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation? Ahas, let's dive right in.

Hey there, Mark Brown. As we say, you have an awesome responsibility. When you're on stage, you have an awesome responsibility. You have your stories, the work you did to become unforgettable. You practice, you got feedback. You tweaked it, you tweaked it, you tweaked it. And today it's a new day, it's a new audience. They haven't heard this before. You get them all excited about your subject and then you go home.

Been there.

That's what you're brought in to do. But I honestly believe you have a responsibility to give people a logical next step. So my idea is, whatever it is we do, we should believe that we're getting people excited about a subject that we can't teach. Everything in an hour or even 90 minutes. If you can, there's a different problem. However, if you can't, I believe it's our responsibility to give people that logical next step if they want to learn more. If we got them excited and we gave them new insights, we gave them some hope that they could master this, they could overcome this obstacle. But I need more. I need more. Mark, your thoughts?

Well, you know, first of all, I'm glad you mentioned that I need more peace. Yes, it's correct. You're correct. We cannot possibly teach any audience everything we know in a 45 to 90 minute keynote presentation. One of the responsibilities I abdicated early on in my career is giving the audience a reason to ask for more and to want more. And we often get, particularly when we're new, we get so caught up in the idea of going to work so hard on this presentation. I'm going to wow them and really give them my best and it's done. I would say, oh, man, it worked great. They love me. Wow. I can go back and tell my family and Friends, I nailed it, which is good. But think about this. Sometimes we find ourselves as audience members who are wondering, what more can I learn? What more can you offer? Is there something else I can do? And that question becomes even greatly magnified if you offer a really valid and stirring call to action. So my first thought would be this, Darren, for the audience to be considering their next steps, that depends on the power of your call to action. Hmm.

So what is your call to action? What is that next step? Now, honestly, if you have different keynotes, so I have better stories, better business, I have unforgettable presentations, and I have 17 minutes to your dream. Each one of them is gonna have a different next step. So 17 minutes to your dream. The logical thing might be, buy my book, take my book home, learn more that I couldn't cover, deliver unforgettable presentations. That's a different book. It's a book. So for you, you've got to take the time to see, in our opinion, if you want to be unf. Unforgettable, one of the ways. Now, there's many ways to be unforgettable, good and bad. One of the ways to be good unforgettable is that you help them solve a problem. You literally help them overcome a challenge, or you gave them that inspiration, or they overcome a challenge because of what you taught them. But sometimes we can't fully do that in that one hour. So back in the day, when I was talking about humor in business, before I had my own book, I used to recommend and tell the story of the Judy Carter book and how I learned how to be funnier and how this book was a direct impact on my career, on my life, on me being funnier. So picture this. Mark. Mark, I'm going to walk you through a little exercise. You've heard me do this before. Just answer this for our listeners. If you are speaking and I'm in a room with a hundred people, I tell the Judy Carter book story. I'm in front of a group of presenters who wish they were funnier, too. How many of them, Mark, do you think would write down, get the book. Judy Carter book, stand up comedy, the book. How many? Just number out of 100 out of 100?

I don't know. Maybe 30%. I'm not sure. 30 people.

Okay.

They're serious. I don't know. I really don't know. It could be 10 depending on who the audience is.

So if they're hungry and eager. So you're saying, oh, they're hungry. Well, I'm assuming Hungry and eager to learn the subject. Write it down. So now, mark, let's say 30 is the number of that 30 who wrote it down. How many of them do you feel, honestly, would actually go buy the book?

Oh, that's tricky, because from my experience, I know I'll go to an event, we'll write these notes down, we'll fill a book up, we'll go home, we'll put it down for a second, and that second becomes a week, a month or more. So the 30 who wrote it down there may have a very small percentage of those who go by the book. It could be seven, I don't know.

Yeah, and my guess would be even fewer than that. Like you said, they intend to take that next step that you recommended. They believe it, they want it, but then they don't actually go do it. So let's say we'll use your number. 7 out of 100 actually go get the book. So, Mark, do you think I help those people continue their journey because I recommended that?

Of course it's going to help them to grow as well. You're helping them in some way, but we don't always see that. I mean, it's a human thing. I mean, look, when I was competing in Toastmasters Contest and I did not win, I got an offer from a world champion to help me, and I said yes. The very next day, we began to work together. And of course, as you know, a year later, I was a world champion. And as you also know, I found out that offer was made to eight people on the day of the contest. And I was the only one who said yes. Which still to this day, blows my mind. So the long answer is yes. By offering it and then writing it down, then going and buying the book and acting upon it, you have indirectly helped them to further their career, just as David helped me with mine. But not all of us say yes.

Yeah. And I believe I've helped them more because they've continued their journey.

Exactly.

There's more to learn, so I'm helping them for everyone. Listen. Listen carefully. Understand this, because this is a huge challenge that Mark and I see out there now. Same hundred people, same audience, same hunger. One difference this time, Mark. I actually have the Judy Carter books with me in the back of the room.

Oh. Instantly available. That will change the equation. If I see it physically, they're available in the moment, I'm much more likely to make that decision right there, right then, and buy the book. Why? How do I know that? Because I've been both the purchaser and the provider in similar situations. Yes.

And with your numbers, just what, what would your guesstimate be? How many people would take home the book? Same scenario, 30 wrote it down, but now it's there.

Now it's there. It's more likely that 30 will actually buy it, not just 7 because they're there. It's available in the moment. That number is 30 or 50 or 17. At least it's there available at that time immediately.

So I would say my ballpark guess would be 20, 21. Like three times as many would get it. Some people still wouldn't, even though they wrote it. I'm gonna get it. Still gonna be those procrastinators. So Mark, here's the question. Because I lugged the books there, I bought them from the publisher at a discount because almost any book that helped you, you could contact the publisher and if you bought at least 10, you could probably get a discount on it and they'd be thrilled because then you become a distribution arm. So do you think that I've helped those people more? I've helped more people because I made it convenient?

Yes.

And do you think I deserve something because I took the time to do that?

Well, if you become in essence an agent of the individual who wrote the book, you did say you lugged the books there. You bought him a bulk at a discount. But you are investing of your time and your effort to help them. And they're those who would say, you know what, you should get a finders for your commission for doing what you did.

Right.

That's a logical progression.

I would buy them at a bulk cost. I would have them here. Here's my point. You're helping, not hawking. A lot of people put, well, they're a product hawker. And I know in some people's minds I am a bad person, especially in Toastmasters, because what I did and when I came in, I would have. In the old days, when you were allowed to have product in the back of the room, I would have product there, I'd have my books and things like that. I missed an opportunity to do exactly what I said where I recommended that Judy Carter book so often. In fact, Mark, I think you know this story. After a couple years of telling that story, Judy Carter called me up and said, are you Darren Lacroix?

Yes.

She says, who the heck are you? Now, I had never. The Internet wasn't out back then, Email wasn't out back then when I actually had that part of my journey. So I never thought I could actually say hello to her or call her office or send her an email. So it didn't dawn on me because that was such in the 92 era of my life, but it made such an impact and I helped her sell more books. But I also look at it that I helped more people because I told the story. So if you don't have any product or any next steps yet, I still believe it's our responsibility to let people know what they could learn from. If you like storytelling, we always talk about Donald Miller's book, building your story brand. Kendra hall, who we've had on this podcast.

Yeah.

Stories that as a. Stories that stick. Great book. In fact, I spoke, Mark, on that to a group of CEOs. I went in and I spoke about better stories, better business, and they asked me, do you have any books you would recommend? Now I don't have a storytelling book, so I actually recommended Kendra Halls and they bought it for everyone to continue their journey. But I didn't get anything from that. I just recommended it. But I knew I got paid well for that speech, but I knew I was helping them. And the reason we bring this up is sometimes when you have your own book, you can promote somebody else's, but when you have your own book, it becomes the next step apology. You can be all enthusiastic. I wanna help you with better stories, better. And by the way, I have a book in the back of the room if you want. You don't have to get it. And then we're apologizing for offering a next step. I think it's our responsibility. And quite honestly, Mark, sorry I'm going off script here, but I believe we have to believe in that next step because it's got to come through us. We have to be enthusiastic. I heard it from Dan Kennedy, a great marketer. You have to believe that if they don't follow up on your next step, you let them down.

Right.

And when you can have that mindset, it's going to come out of you, it's going to come through you, that you're sincerely believing. Whether you get the money for this or not. It's not about them. It's about the journey of the person sitting in front of you. You get them excited and jacked up. You need to let them know where to go to get more. Otherwise they might go search themselves and not really have the best resource.

Mark, I'm chuckling because I cannot remember what you told me years ago. He said, buddy, you're doing your audience a disservice by not letting them know what's available after your talk. And of course, that was years ago. I didn't really get that because I had zero marketing experience. You've been doing it for several years. But I vividly recall you're saying you're doing your audience a disservice. That is a heavy statement, but we want to turn that on you right now, regardless of your speaking journey. Perhaps you're new and this may sound a bit intimidating. Please, that's not our intent. But think about this. What else could you be offering either your own product or service or that of someone who has served you that you are failing to notify your audience of, thereby doing them a disservice? I simply challenge you to think about the possibilities of other ways, additional means to. Of helping your audience and solving their problem. As Darren said earlier, we have to ask ourselves, what problem do we solve for our audience? We get to think of ourselves as solving their problems. And in Darren's case, he realized that someone else's resource was a great way to help someone else's problem, to solve someone else's problem. If we can begin thinking that way, then our next step, our call to action, might be framed differently in our minds and indeed in our next presentation.

And I look at it, your book, your product, your coaching is an extension of you. So your keynote is a taste of you, but we need an extension of you. Again, this is just for the serious people. Not everybody's going to take you up on that. However, it's our responsibility if we get the privilege of the platform we need to. I believe it's our duty. Duty to let people know what the best logical next step is. And maybe it's signing up for your free newsletter because they're going to get articles from you. For me, they're going to get my top 10 speaking mistakes which took me years to figure out. So you're helping them. You're not hawking. You've got to get this in there. And at least if there's a program audio that you listen to that was part of your journey to get you there, if there's a book you read, that's the first logical. If it helped you, they're going to see it differently. And once you have your own book, your own courses, your own coaching, then okay, obviously sell and offer that. But think, offer, don't think, sell. I'm going to offer this. I'm going to put this in front of the hungry person and the serious person who wants more. I believe it's our responsibility, Mark.

And you could Even mention a podcast to listen to to help you become a more unforgettable presenter. Think offer not sale. Yeah. And bear in mind one perspective to take is what or who has helped me? What resource do I rely on? Believe it or not, many of us even quote our resources in our presentations when we mention other presenters, other experts who have served us. And if you know Darren Lacroix, his heart is as big as California and Texas combined. He also provides resources on his website of tools that he uses that have served him. And he makes them available to anybody who would like to learn and grow in the business of speaking as well. So the idea is, who has helped you, what has served you, what has helped you to grow? What can you pass on to other people? Here's the beauty of it. As part of your next step, call to action. You're showing to your audience that you care about their development, their growth and their excellence. Not only about getting my book, my recording, being my program in my coaching club or whatever that may be part of what you do, but when the audience understands you, you're making these resources available them to them for their growth, development and excellence. And it's easier for them to listen more closely to you and want to find out how can we connect with you more and learn more from you, become part of your community or even join a program that you have to offer? The mindset is that of service. And the result will be a growing community of individuals who have learned and improved because they interacted with you. And that goes beyond your unforgettable presentation.

You're helping them because you're giving them a valuable resource to continue their journey. What's cool is they're going to remember you recommended it. So when people read Judy Carter's book, they're going to remember me as the one who. I've even had some people bring it to me to sign Mark.

Book. So that's interesting.

Yeah. So for you, what is it? I believe if we're an expert or even an emerging expert, if you're just getting going, we should be studying who are the people and the other experts in our field. And we should know, hey, Mark Brown is a phenomenal coach. I experienced him. You're looking for a coach. I say go to Mark Brown, you know, because it's part of my journey and part of my transformation. So I honestly believe we have a responsibility to the audience. And what's cool is they go to Mark Brown, they get helped by Mark Brown's coaching, they're going to thank me for Recommending Mark Brown, which builds that rapport with that person. I really think people don't think about this enough. That's why I wanted to do an episode about that Mark.

And that's powerful too, because those who know us know we often mentioned Fripp as well, who's a mentor to us and has guided us for so many years. But that doesn't also negate the responsibility I have to create resources that I provide for audiences as well. Darren, you mentioned your books. You and I co authored the book Deliver Unforgettable Presentations, which is also linked to our podcast. But we do also provide services. I do coaching as well. We're part of a community called Stage Time University. So we have built and developed our content, our programs, our materials, our resources as well. You have an opportunity, a great opportunity, until you get to the point where your own material is available to at least be seen as someone who provides resources. At the same time, as you grow in your expertise and your confidence, you have experiences, you have knowledge, you have expertise that the world needs to hear. So what would hinder you from creating your valuable resources as well that you can provide and the way life operates, you may find someone else in your circle will begin to recommend your material when they present. And so the jury of us all continues.

So your next step is figuring out your next step for your audience. And Mark, they might be sitting here listening to us right now, thinking, well, what is our next step? Great question. After listening to this podcast, I would be letting you down if we didn't let you know about our upcoming event, Game Changers. So, Mark, think about this way too. I may be an expert in presentations, but Patricia Fripp has the best speech model. I'm not going to improve on that. I created a story model, taking one that I loved and adjusting it to my thought process. But as far as the Fripp speech model is, I use that. So I'm going to recommend that if somebody says, well, how do I structure my speech? Well, in the book, there's the Fripp speech model, but Patricia Fripp is the originator of that model. Why would I go reinvent it? Why not just recommend it and stay in my lane, where I do thrive, where I do separate myself, and I have my own unique philosophy. So Game Changers is coming up, depending on when you're listening to this, the end of March 2023, March 24th and 25th, check out stagetime live.com it's only for the serious people, but join us live in Las Vegas, sit with me at the feet of the other masters. Patricia Fripp will be there. Ford Sakes will be there. Ed Tate will be there. Mark will be there. Come spend some more time with us. If you're serious. I honestly believe it would be a game changer in your career and change, change your trajectory.

And I agree. Thankfully, Darren and I have become, over the last 25, 30 years, pretty well respected in our field. But we also learn from our associates who come to this event live and share new content knowledge, wisdom, expertise, regardless of your level of proficiency right now. You know, it isn't always easy to have new material every single time you start speak. We don't recommend that. But at Game Changers, we all do our best to provide new content as life changes, as the industry changes, as hybrid changes, as the world changes. To help you become a better presenter, our goal is to truly help you become proficient at delivering unforgettable presentations. And once a year, we get together. We teach, but we also learn. Come grow with us. Come see what you can become as we continue to grow as presenters in a world that desperately needs to hear your message.

Yeah. What is that perspective that you don't even know you need? Mark? I was talking to Ford. Everyone's talking about ChatGPT and AI AI and people are worried and people are freaking out. And Ford in one sentence said, AI is not going to replace people. AI will replace people who don't use AI.

The thought for you.

Yeah, there's a perspective. So we invite you for a next step to join us live in Las Vegas. And we hope that you create your next step and at least take it serious enough to offer to your audience, those who are serious, those who want more. And you can help them just by letting them know. Go to people who are the best and do what they do. Read the books that they read. I learned that early on. And that's what we're saying. You're the one in front of the audience. You're the expert. It is your responsibility to give them a next step. Mark Brown, take us home.

Well, friends, what's your next step? Darren says, determine your next step and your audience's next step, and that way you will be unforgettable. See you next week.

Join us next week we're going to be talking about your coming of age story. But before next week, go to stagetime live.com and save your seat. Live in Las Vegas or virtual, make.

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If you like this episode, please leave us a review. If you want to get more from Mark and Darren, check out stagetime University where they provide experienced presenters a proven path and world class feedback. To become the speaker everyone is talking about, go to stagetimeuniversity.com join us next week if you're going to take the time to prepare a presentation, make it unforgettable.