|
You have permission to publish this article in its entirety
electronically, in print, in your ebook, or on your web
site, free of charge as long as no changes to the content
are made and you include my byline, copyright, and resource
box. Please notify me of publication by sending an email
with a copy of your publication
to:
Thanks and enjoy!
Do Great Media Appearances: How to Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul®
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
A woman in my teleseminar presentation at the conference
called *How Did They Do That?: 8 Strategies for Today's
Business Success* said, *I'm bad at selling myself. I think
that the only thing I'm good at is selling myself short.*
Many of us are. But that can change. Here's how.
1. Tell stories with emotional zing.
The most poignant stories come from people with broken
hearts. Those who haven't suffered can be entertaining and
witty, but often even the funniest stuff comes from pain.
You can create drama with quiet intensity by downplaying the
emotion versus hyping it up.
Michael Meade told this story to his audience at the *A
Poetics of Peace* evening in San Francisco and it left us
silenced. I'm paraphrasing it to the best of my memory:
*I went back East to confront my mother. I got up my nerve
and planned to tell her about the mistakes she made raising
me. About how she had done wrong by me. In the middle of the
conversation she said to me. 'What makes you think you were
wanted?'
I felt my knees buckling. Somehow, I always knew this, but
it was never spoken. It was a kind of relief to finally hear
it.*
2. Don't puff up, calm down.
A well known movie director, who shall go nameless said, *I
may not be right. I may not know what I'm talking about. But
if I say something loud enough, with enough passion and
conviction enough times, people believe me.*
I don't deny that loud gets credit in our culture. Coupled
with passion and conviction it's pretty potent. But there is
another way. I call it quiet dignity. Speak more softly so
people have to lean in to hear you. Pause and wait for
interest in the middle of a sentence that you know people
will want you to finish. Say something starkly. Strip it
down to its essence. Make yourself like a tree that's lost
all it's leaves preparing for winter.
3. Be bold.
*The meek will inherit the earth, but they won't get stock
options.* I don't know who said it, but it's true. Be
humble, but for God's sake speak up. Especially for the
important things (stock options aside). You've just got to
get over yourself.
Make a pact with yourself that if you think it, you'll do
it. Start small. For example, when I saw a man hitting his
dog with unabashed fury, the dog cowering and yelping, I
said, *Please don't.* The man was startled, but he stopped.
Think of it this way. Do you want to live a life of regrets
or do you want to say, *I did it all in the little time I
had?*
I have fears about almost everything. If I'm driving in Big
Sur, I'm sure one of those boulders will come loose and
crush me flat in my car. But I won't die instantly, I'll
suffer for a long time and then, just when I've made peace
with dying someone will rescue my crumpled self. Stuff like
that.
I could fill a book with my heinous scenarios, both
professional and personal, but I look for the antidote to my
overly active imagination. Mark Twain noted, *My life has
been filled with terrible misfortunes, most of which never
happened.* Mine, too. What about yours?
Learn more about getting good press and self-promotion to
gain publicity for your business, product or cause in *Sell
Yourself Without Selling Your Soul®* (HarperCollins). Go to
http://prsecrets.com for your free excerpts today.
|
Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
|
