Page 16 - How To Sell Yourself

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Selling Yourself
THERE ARE THREE things we all need to sell ourselves:
• Competence. • Likability.
• Luck.
The first two will almost always deliver the third. But having competence and likability isn’t enough. Most of us already have them. What’s needed, and what this book will emphasize, is the audience’s perception that you’re competent and likable. It isn’t about faking it, or fooling the audience. The con man and profes- sional liar already know how to do it. They’re the ones who helped the stand-up comic create the line “Sincerity: once you learn how to fake it, you’ve got it made.” Real people like you and me need to learn some basic techniques that will let us be our real selves in the presentation situation.
And therein lies the root of the problem: being ourselves.
In 1977, there was a best-seller called The Book of Lists. In it, there was a category titled “The Fourteen Worst Human Fears.” Number one? “Speaking before a group.” “Death” was six.
Fear
Lack of familiarity with the formal speaking situation, dis- comfort, and the thought, “They’re all looking at me and I’m go- ing to make a fool of myself,” all conspire to cause us to take on a
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