Why is Public Speaking an Important Business Skill?
/Public speaking is one of the best ways to build relationships with your customers, network, and partners. A strong public speaker has the ability to get their message out there and generate more leads for their business just with a clear and compelling presentation.
As the world continues to evolve, public speaking has become an increasingly valuable and essential business skill. Today’s public speakers might find themselves recording videos for social media, hosting webinars, or even scheduling a large conference. The importance of public speaking cannot be stressed enough.
In this article, you will learn eight reasons why public speaking is important for any business professional.
8 Reasons Why Public Speaking is an Important Business Skill
1. Public Speaking Can Help You Advance Your Career
If you’re looking to move up in your career, public speaking can be a great way to showcase your skills and expertise to a large group of people. Not only can this help you grow your business, but it can also help build your personal brand as an expert in your field. If you’re known for being a great speaker, people will be more likely to seek you out for future speaking events.
As you continue to speak at different events, internally and externally, your level of influence in your field compounds over time. More and more people will think of you when discussing your field of expertise. Subsequently, key personnel or your target clients who value your input or need your services will be more trusting of your brand, as you will have already established credibility with them.
2. Allows You to Demonstrate Your Knowledge
When you give a presentation or a speech, you position yourself as an expert to your audience. Not only does this help you build trust, you have the ability to show the audience that you know how to help them with their challenges. If people see that you know what you’re talking about, they’ll be more likely to cooperate or do business with you.
Additionally, sharing your knowledge can help you establish yourself as a thought leader. Thought leaders are respected for their knowledge and expertise, as they pave the way towards newer innovative practices. Often this garners a large following of people, boosting your credibility even higher.
3. Gives You an Edge During Interviews
If you’re looking for a new job or to be promoted in your current company, public speaking can give you an edge during the interview process. Many employers will ask questions about your ability to communicate and present information. If you have experience with public speaking, you’ll be able to answer these questions effectively with confidence. You can show the hiring manager your sense of initiative and passion for your field.
Being a good public speaker can also help you stand out from the other candidates. If you present yourself well during your interview, utilising the same techniques used in public speaking, you will leave a more memorable impression on the hiring manager. This could be the difference between getting the job and being passed over to someone else.
4. Boosts Your Leadership and Management Skills
As a leader, you need to be able to convey your ideas quickly and clearly to your team every day. Failure to do so can lead to problems in the workplace such as miscommunications within the team, issues in current projects, and lower employee morale. Public speaking can help you hone your communication skills, allowing you to effectively convey your message as well as inspire and motivate your team. With practice, your communication skills and your leadership skills will grow stronger, since both are intrinsically linked.
Public speaking can also help you develop your problem-solving skills. When you’re in front of a group of people, you need to be able to think on your feet, come up with solutions quickly, and communicate them effectively to your team. This skill can also be helpful in other areas of your life, such as dealing with challenging customers or difficult situations at work. Since your leadership and communication skills grow stronger in tandem, you will have already learned how to effectively hold everyone’s attention. You will be able to open a space for a safe discussion where everyone can contribute to solving the issues at hand until a solution is found that is agreeable to everyone.
5. Helps You Generate More Leads and Sales
Whether you are a business professional or a sales director, strong public speaking skills can help you to generate more leads and close more deals. When you give sales presentations, you have an amazing opportunity to share your product or service with a large group of people and demonstrate how it can help them solve a problem they’re facing or achieve a goal they want to reach. When you are able to present with confidence, your audience will find you and what you’re offering to be more trustworthy. This is because the confidence you radiate will show them that you truly believe in the effectiveness of your product or service. They will be reassured that your business will be able to handle their challenges and that they will receive good service.
6. Persuades More People to Accept Your Proposals
Often you might find yourself giving a proposal to potential clients or potential partners. By honing your skills as a public speaker, you will find that the skills you learn from your public speaking training can help you present your proposal with confidence. Whether you’re trying to get a new client or close a deal, you need to be able to sell your ideas. Public speaking can be a great way to do this.
When you are giving a presentation, you have the chance to pitch your proposal at the end of your presentation. You can frame your presentation around a specific problem or opportunity and share your proposal at the end as the best solution. Not only are you more likely to keep your audience engaged with your presentation, but you are also more likely to persuade them to accept your offer.
7. Provides More Chances to Grow Your Network
Public speaking can also help you grow your professional network. When you give presentations, you have the chance to meet new people and make valuable business connections. If you can build relationships with the right people, it can open up new opportunities for your business. You can form partnerships that eventually lead to business collaboration.
Additionally, public speaking can help you build relationships with potential customers. When you give a speech or presentation, people will get to know you and your business. Since people build their relationships with businesses as if they were people, your presentation helps them solidify that relationship. Subsequently, strong presentation skills can make them more likely to continue to do business with you, thus continuing that client-business relationship.
8. Helps You Make a Greater Impact on Others
Finally, public speaking can help you make a more significant impact with your audience. When you give presentations, you have the chance to share your ideas and vision with a large group of people. Your message can help inspire others to achieve their goals and reach their potential.
You have the ability to show your audience how to tackle complex challenges and offer solutions. Your presentation might inspire youths to follow your stead.
Advance Your Career With Public Speaking Training
Now that you understand why public speaking is important for your personal and business growth, you can begin to look for professional public speaking training to build upon your foundations so you may present with confidence. Ever since the beginning of human language, public speaking has been so important in how we interact with each other. And today, thousands of years later, it is still essential as we focus more on our soft skills to adapt and connect to our audience.
If you want to discuss your organisation’s (corporate, NGOs, Associations and Universities) Public speaking or Presentation skills needs, I offer free 30-minute consultations through my site. I’d love to meet you.