Like America's #1 Speech Coach, You Can Hook Right-Fit Prospects With This Formula

This is my creed: A book is the number one marketing tool for an agency owner or strategic consultant.

Speaking about the book is the number one selling strategy for filling your pipeline with right-fit client prospects.

Take a tip from the woman who is arguably America's #1 speech coach, Hall of Fame keynote speaker Patricia Fripp, the first female president of the National Speaker's Association (see the end of the article on why I make this argument).

A speech coach who has helped me tremendously, Fripp, and I have often discussed the Hollywood formula for developing successful stories with emotion.

Advances in neuropsychology prove prospects make decisions with the emotional, not the logical, part of their brain.

You want to reach the emotional part of the brain.,

And, after all, Holywood is the emotion picture capital of the world.

In 2022, it was my honor to publish Fripp's book, Deliver Unforgettable Presentations, coauthored by Darren Lacroix and Mark Brown. The subtitle is "How To Speak To Be Remembered And Repeated In-Person, Online, And Onstage."

Frippism #1: Speeches, like book chapters, need hooks.

“The first thirty seconds of your presentation needs to arouse interest in your subject,” says Fripp.

Frippism#2: Stories, just like Hollywood films, should grab you from the get-go.

“What you are doing is creating your own once-upon-a-time story, told with some basic Hollywood elements,” says Fripp.

She offers this formula for a grabber story:

Once Upon A Time. “Share an average day in the life of the hero,” says Fripp. “The hero or protagonist in your story is not necessarily a heroic character; just the person through whose eyes we see the story. Help your audience personally relate to your hero’s situation at the beginning of your story. The audience can better relate to the hero when they understand some of the backstory.”

Something Happens. “Then, something happens,” says Fripp. “Every story has a beginning. This is the inciting incident that propels the hero into a challenge that leads to a lesson learned.”

The Challenge. “How did the hero handle the challenge?” asks Fripp. “What was the result of the something that happened? Did they step up and embrace it?”

Then Something Else. “The hero faces another challenge, and the suspense in the story builds,” says Fripp. “Next, something else happens. If it all comes easy, then that is a boring story.”

Climax. "What are the happily-ever-after and the result of the hero’s handling of the challenge?” asks Fripp. “What is the result of the something else?  Tell the audience if the hero won or lost and what they learned in the process.”

A final piece of advice from Fripp is that there should be a moral to the story, a reason for telling it to start your presentation.

“Your story has to connect directly and be relevant to the premise of your presentation,” says Fripp. “Otherwise, your audience is left thinking, ‘So what?’”

When her business was mostly keynote speaking, Meetings and Conventions magazine named Fripp: “One of the 10 most electrifying speakers in North America.”

As a presentation skills expert, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance wrote, “Learning presentation skills from Patricia Fripp is one of the best ways to invest in you.”

What success stories can you tell about clients you have helped on a journey from problem to success? How did listening to your wisdom help them succeed?

Discuss.