What does Mattson Do?

We give presentations on how to give presentations.

Our mission:

Improve Communities by Improving Communication Skills

How do we do this?

We teach people public speaking and presentation skills

We train people how to give speeches and sharpen presentation skills

We teach sales people to sell using presentations

We train sales people to sell using presentations

We teach people to raise funds and recruit volunteers using presentations

We train people to raise funds and recruit volunteers using presentations

We teach professionals to share their ideas and work using presentation skills

We train professional to share their ideas and work using presentation skills

We teach professionals to motivate people using presentation skills

We train professionals to motivate people using presentation skills

We teach professionals to manage people using presentation skills

We train professionals to manage people using presentation skills

We teach professionals to lead using presentation skills

We train professionals to lead using presentation skills

More specifically, we do this by…

Publishing speaking and presentation tips on our website

Producing useful tools such as books and booklets

Producing Workshops

Giving talks to groups who invite us

Persuasive Speaking and Sales Presentations

Convince Anyone to do Anything!

Wouldn’t it be valuable if you could convince anyone to do anything? Does it sound suspicious to you? It could be if you were unethical. However, we can do just that— convince anyone to do anything.

There is an old saying, you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. This saying is so true. I am not advocating fooling people into doing something for you. However, I can show you how to convince anyone to do anything. This idea sounds shady, doesn’t it? It can be. However, I advocate you be ethical when persuading someone to do something. What do I mean by ethical persuasion? You must make sure there is a benefit to the person(s) to do what you are asking; if there isn’t, then don’t ask them, it is unethical.

When I ask students or clients what they think about persuasion, most have a negative connotation. We are often talked into doing things we don’t want to do. Have you ever gone to look at a car and five hours later you are driving home in the new car thinking, “what have I done?” Have you ever walked out of a home electronics store with a home entertainment center thinking, “but I just went in to look at new televisions!” We often buy things and have cognitive dissonance (buyer’s remorse) immediately after buying. This is because we were talked into doing something we really didn’t want to do. When I ask students and clients if they believe salespeople lie, a huge majority--over 80% of them—said, yes. With this belief that salespeople lie, and that persuasion is a form of selling, it is no wonder why most people have a negative connotation about persuasion. Convincing anyone to do anything doesn’t have to leave them with a feeling of uneasiness or cognitive dissonance. It can be a good and powerful thing. Here is the main principle for ethical persuasion.

Consider the following story— the story is my personal version and experience similar to a story from Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People: I love to fish. I am an avid salmon fisherman and go fishing during the season most every weekend. In fact, I caught a 75-pound King Salmon recently (I had to slip that in somewhere). It is also known by my friends that I like to enjoy an occasional Miller Genuine Draft beer. Combining these two interests, I have the makings of a nice Saturday morning.

Picture this, it is Saturday morning, I am carrying my fishing gear, an 18-pack of Miller Genuine Draft beer and some lunch onto the boat. The water is calm, and the sun is just starting to rise silhouetting Mount Rainier. I arrive on the other side of Puget Sound near my favorite fishing area. I stop the boat, rig up my fishing rod, reach into the cooler for a cold Miller Genuine Draft beer, open it up and put it on my hook. I place the fishing rod over the side of the boat, lower the hook, with the Miller on it, into the water. I kick back, enjoy the sunrise and wait for a fish to bite my bait. What? You say I won’t catch a fish with the Miller on the hook? Why not? I like Miller. Why shouldn’t the fish like Miller? They don’t, you say? What should I do then? Of course, you say to put what the fish want on the hook. Bingo! As silly as this sounds, there is a point here. In order to persuade the fish to bite my hook, I have to find out what the fish want, and put that on the hook. Does this make sense?

How many times do we try to persuade someone by putting the can of Miller on the hook? In other words, how many times do we ask someone to do something by telling him/her how it will benefit us?

For instance, we tell our children, “Clean up your room. If you don’t, people will come over and think I didn’t teach you anything, or you don’t mind.” We say, “you take out the garbage, I cooked the dinner and cleaned the kitchen.” We also might say, “Do your homework, or your teacher will think we are bad parents.” “Let’s go to see The Aviator, all my friends at work saw it and said it was an excellent movie. I want to discuss it with them.” “Let’s go for Mexican food, I really have a craving for it and I am really hungry.” “Would you close the door, I am cold.” “I don’t know why you don’t help me around the house, I worked hard all day.”

Are you getting the picture? When we try to persuade someone to do something, we are usually putting the Miller beer can on the hook. In other words, we are telling people why it is a benefit to us for them to do what we ask. We want people to do things (action) so we can enjoy the Miller (our benefit). See, there is no benefit to the person we are trying to persuade in the above examples— only to us. Why should they do what we ask? What’s in it for them?

Again, here is the secret. When you ask people to do something, make sure it is for their benefit. I can’t say this enough, if they don’t benefit from what you ask them to do, don’t ask them to do it; it is unethical. I repeat this four times in classes and seminars because it is so powerful and important. Let me say it one more time for effect. If they don’t benefit from what you ask them to do, don’t ask them to do it; it is unethical. We are all looking for the can of Miller beer. It is so simple--as in catching fish--to find out what the audience wants. So, find out what the people want; then, make sure they get it. Remember this one big principle--sometimes it sounds harsh—most people do not care what you want. What do they care about? Yes, you got it—themselves.

Here is how it works:

Find a benefit for the others, for example, “Please clean up your room right now, then you will have an extra hour to spend at the mall.” “Would you please close the door, it will lower the electric bill and leave us money for the expanded cable you want.” “I know you worked hard all day too, would you help me clean up right now, so you can get more time to rest tonight.” “Let’s go to a Mexican restaurant tonight, I remember you saying you had a craving for it last time we went out.” Does this make sense? We are looking for the benefit to the fish. Now there is a little more complexity here. One complexity is motives. I will talk about motives another time though. We do have to find out what motivates the audience. Many people will say, “this sounds like manipulation.” It can be; however it isn’t. It is unethical and manipulative if you are the only one to benefit from persuading someone. However, with this approach, it is ethical because we are providing a benefit to the audience.

Therefore, think in terms of the other person(s). Try to find out what interests them, or what they like, or what they want. Don’t assume they want what you want—the Miller. Ask questions, listen to their responses, and try to help them get what they want. Chances are everyone can get what s/he wants. Look out for the other rather than yourself and things will fall into place. If you can find a benefit for the audience to do what you want them to do, then you can convince anyone to do anything.

Persuasive Speaking and Sales Presentations

Wouldn’t it be valuable if you could convince anyone to do anything? Does it sound suspicious to you? It could be if you were unethical. However, we can do just that — convince anyone to do anything.

Visual Aids: Dazzling or Destructive?

A picture is worth a thousand words. This old maxim is very true. Good visual aids can drive your point home and make it memorable. Visual aids can also be a disaster and distract from your presentation as we will see later.

Visual aids are extra powerful with an International audience. Sometimes understanding gets lost in language or articulation; however, visual aids can instantly clear up these misunderstandings. Using visual aids properly are vital to any presentation.

Informative Presentation Tips

Before you start to write the speech answer these questions:

• What is the occasion of your presentation?
• Who is in the audience?
• Why were you asked to speak?
• What does the audience expect?
• What does the audience need to know from you?
• What are the physical supplies and technology needed?

Delivering the Professional Introduction

The Speech of Introduction:

• State the Topic
• Present the Speaker’s Credibility
• Welcome the Speaker
• Say the Speaker’s name
• Applause