SCORE: Tip #3 - Outstanding Differentiators
Have you ever looked at a group of signatures? What did you notice? Mostly that they are different, right? Everyone recognizes this simple truth, that we all have a way of signing our name that is distinct from anyone else's. Our fingerprints, eyes, voices, and DNA are among our unique characteristics. That uniqueness is what makes it possible to track a criminal with their fingerprints or create a security device using an eye imprint.
What happens to that uniqueness when we stand up to give a presentation? All of a sudden we are "under the gun". We feel nervous or concerned about how we will look and sound to our audience, whether our presentation will be acceptable and get the results we are looking for from them. The natural tendency is to want to protect our position so we try to mimic other people who have been successful. The result is that we all start to look alike and sound alike. When the client tries to remember what was said or who said it nothing stands out, it is just one big sea of blue suits and words, words, and more words.
On the other hand we have all seen presenters who are all over the place, whose movements and voices and clothing are distracting. And we have seen presenters who stand perfectly still and speak without any voice inflection. What that tells us is, if we want to stand out from the crowd we have to find a way to differentiate ourselves in a manner that is both professional and appropriate and reflects who we are and not everyone else.
Tip #3: When we prepare our presentations we need to ask ourselves, "What differentiates us from our competition?"
