If there's one thing I can talk about for hours, it's YourPCM. I absolutely love the SaaS CRM I've created and am very passionate when doing demonstrations, and highlighting the features and benefits of it to UK small business owners I meet out networking ...
I'm not stressing about it, but I am determined to improve next time, and even more so the time after that!
That's my funnel ... I do a sixty-second intro at a Zoom networking event, I meet lots of people (especially if it's speed networking) and some want to talk further about YourPCM. I send them a Calendly link, and they book a demo. If they like it they'll have a free trial, and at the end of 7 days of playing with it, they'll decide if they want to use it or not.
"Many do decide they want to subscribe so I know my funnel works!"
But I also do face-to-face networking with Collaborate MK, the group set up by the awesome Tim Lee during lockdown that moved from purely online networking with the Milton Keynes business community to a combination of online and face-to-face meetings at venues in and around the Milton Keynes area. Although I prefer to network on Zoom (keeps my costs down, means I can wear my pyjama bottoms and can secretly vape or nip to the loo), I have a need to physically interact with other human beings from time to time. Collaborate MK is perfect for this.
My best friend, ace business coach Kirsty Parris of Andromeda Business Consulting, was supposed to do a 5-minute talk at Collaborate MK's Olney meeting last night and as she was a bit off-colour, asked me if I could do it instead. I immediately said yes. An opportunity to talk about YourPCM in front of 25 people? Yes please.
So, when she called and said Tim had ok'd it, I spent the afternoon mulling over what I was going to say and practising it in my head multiple times. I couldn't go into too much detail as it was only 5 minutes so I had to be quite generalist about CRMs, YourPCM, and why they need to subscribe.
"All was well when I stood up to talk!"
I was confident in my subject matter and was waxing lyrical about the problem with mainstream CRMs and how YourPCM could help UK small business owners to not only grow, but thrive. I had planned out what I was going to say, in the order I was going to say it, but then something strange happened ... I got muddled up, and talked about something I was going to save for the end. But it was the middle, and that really threw me.
I actually started shaking a little inside. I don't think anyone saw me doing it, but yeah, I'm always terrified when I'm in front of an audience. I know I hide it quite well because I've been doing little speeches about a range of subjects for years and no one has ever mentioned it, but yeah ... terrified now and shaking inside ... because I'd messed up the order of my talk.
And then my brain stopped for a moment and I couldn't remember what I was going to say. "Oh dear" I blurted out, "I think I'm losing the plot. What was I going to say next?" I couldn't remember, so I thought it best to stop there and thank the audience for listening and said, "Right, I'm going to shut up now, if you'd like to arrange a demonstration you can visit yourpcm.uk and hit the Calendly link, or maybe even fill out the form and start your own fully featured 7-day free trial".
That's what I think I said ... the words could have been in a completely different order than that because I was still terrified and shaking inside. I could have been talking Chinese for all I remember. Anyway, it was done and I sat down.
"I still got a couple of 121s arranged from my talk, so it couldn't have all been bad!"
Audience members, my peers in the business community, knew exactly what I was talking about when I said, "Mainstream CRMs have to be all things to all people, all around the world and are stuffed full of features, functions and integrations you'll never use, but still have to pay for" so they wanted to know more about YourPCM.
However, I consider what happened last night good practice and a solid learning experience. I've done 10-minute presentations at BNI about YourPCM, but I did have the benefit of a slide projector and knew everyone in the room very well. This talk was shorter and without any tech support, and with people I didn't know very well.
I'm not stressing about it, but I am determined to improve next time, and even more so the time after that. I have no problem standing up and talking about YourPCM, what I have the problem with is mixing up the order of what I want to talk about and 'losing the plot' about how to get it on track again. That's when the inner shaking starts and the gobbledegook starts tumbling out of my mouth.
"Next time, I'm going to have some bullet points handy!"
Just a Notes page on my iPhone (or maybe a laminated card I can keep in my handbag for when I need it) that I can quickly refer to. I know what I want to say, I just need to remember to say it in the right order.
Oh well, we live and learn, don't we? I'll do better next time.
Love, light and logic ...
STEFFI LEWIS
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Foodie, sci-fi nut, cat lover, brain aneurysm & cancer survivor, countryside dweller, SaaS entrepreneur, developer and networker.
Published my first website in 1993 for the Open University and am highly experienced with Windows Servers, SQL Server, HTML, Classic ASP, JavaScript, and CSS.
I've also worked as a professional photographer in Los Angeles, USA and been a vision mixer and producer for live television in my time.
I live in a village north of Milton Keynes with my two cats, Baggins and Gimley, and a large planted aquarium full of unruly tropical fish.
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