Yesterday, in part of the “The Five Biggest Mistakes Professionals Make When Speaking To Sell And How To Avoid Them,” I talked about the problems of delivering too much content.

Today is about…

Mistake #2: Delivering The Wrong Type of Content

I watched a presentation about Facebook marketing by someone who claimed to be an expert. I whispered to the person next to me halfway through it, “Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?” My seatmate shook his head “no.”

The speaker was getting into the nitty-gritty technical details about using the Facebook platform to generate leads. As a result, his talk was painfully dull and made me feel stupid. It didn’t make me want to invest in his service.

When speaking to an audience, drop the tech talk and geek speak. Your prospects don’t care about the nitty-gritty details about how something works; they are looking for solutions to their problems.

When you get into complicated details, you’re not showing your audience how smart you are; you’re putting them to sleep and, in some cases, pissing them off because they can’t follow what you’re saying.

I have a sizeable number of customers who sell cyber-security, and they are notorious for talking tech because that’s what they think is cool. However, this mistake isn’t limited to professionals who sell technology; lawyers, financial advisors, and healthcare providers are also guilty.

A related mistake is using insider language during your presentation.

I remember listening to the local sports talk station, and one of the personalities kept saying, “Let’s be 100.”

No one would accuse me of being the most “hep cat,” but it took me a while to figure out what the dude was talking about.

You probably already know, but for the sake of my less cool readers, I will translate:

It means “Let’s be 100% honest.”

We assume that everyone understands the terminology because we are knee-deep in our industries and know our products inside and out.

You want your content to be infotaining, meaning you entertainingly deliver valuable information. However, getting deep into details about your solution or using tech-talk does the opposite.

Okay, I’ve gotta bounce.

Kick butt, make mucho “DEEnero!”

Dave “Word Up” Dee