You are on a nominating committee for your national professional association and you say, “No, let’s don’t ask Jordan to be on our board. She’s already chairing several initiatives.”

You want to ask a prominent public personality to speak for free, but you know he’ll say no – so you don’t ask.

You are making a sales pitch and you lose your momentum because you’re sure your prospect has already made a decision to go another direction.

No. No. No. Your top secret sales tip: Don’t edit for the next guy.

As a past president of the National Speakers Association, N. TX Chapter, I’ve become known for this phrase: “Don’t edit for the next guy”! Board leadership would strike future potential board members from our list assuming he/she would say “no”. And I’d say…. you guessed it… “Don’t edit for the next guy”.

The operative word here is “assuming” – my least favorite word when it comes to communicating.

When you start assuming the speaker will say “no”, or the buyer will say “no”, or the future board member will say “no” you are shooting yourself in the foot.

You don’t know if you have not asked. Ask. Don’t edit for the next guy.

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Karen Cortell Reisman, M.S., author of 3 books and President of Speak For Yourself®, works with decision makers on how to speak with gravitas. It’s all in how you speak for yourself. Karen also speaks about her cousin, Albert Einstein, in a message about hope, resilience and brassieres.

#PresentationSkills #BusinessCommunication #OrganizationalCommunication

Karen Cortell Reisman, MS, Executive Communication Author & Speaker