Business comunication class

1. EXTRAORDINARY
BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Martin Groß, 22.03.2019

2. LEARNING GOALS
After this course you will…
✓ have improved your storytelling about your business as well as your business presentation
✓ understand cultural specifics when presenting to a German audience
✓ know about criteria, e.g. structure, engagement, storytelling that make presentations excellent

3. EXPECTATIONS

4. Agenda
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
How to make your business communication memorable
Golden Circle of Communication | Storytelling
Presenting in Germany
Tips & Tricks | Target Group Analysis | German Cultural Specifics
Improvement Space
Evaluation of your Presentations| Improvement Time including Consultancy
Body Language
Introduction to Authentic Body Lanaguage
Part 5
Exercising Presentations
Training “The Pitch”

5. Reflections
Share your experience in Germany up until now.
Focus on what is relevant for your company presentation.
➢ What surprised you?
➢ Do you feel that you need to adopt your behavior in
German business context?
➢ Any major takeaways?

6. How to make your business
communication memorable
The “Golden Circle” of Communication
Introduction to the Art of Storytelling

7. The “Golden Circle” of Communication
HOW
WHAT
WHY
Outside-In /
Conventional
Inside-Out /
Memorable
WHY
Purpose, cause or belief
Very few organizations know why they do what they
do. Why is not about making money. It’s the very
reason your organization exists.
HOW
How do you do what you do?
Some organizations know how they do it. These are
the things that make them special or set them apart
from their competition.
WHAT
Every organization on the planet knows what they
do. These are products they sell or services they
deliver.

8. The “Golden Circle” of Communication
HOW
WHAT
WHY
WHY
• Your Vision
• With the “Why” comes trust
• Make it authentic
Examples:
“Everything we do, we believe in challenging the
status quo and continuously developing new
solutions that make the world a better place.”
“We are contributing to the sustainable development
of humankind.”

9. The “Golden Circle” of Communication
HOW
WHAT
WHY
HOW
• Specific action taken to implement your WHY
• Your Value Proposition / Problem Description
• Target Customer
Examples:
“The way to challenge the status quo is to make our
products beautifully designed, simple to use and
user friendly”
“The way to contribute to sustainable development is
to provide infrastructure solutions that are
affordable, durable and are produced in an
environmentally friendly way”

10. The “Golden Circle” of Communication
HOW
WHAT
WHY
WHAT
• Specific Product, Service, Offer
Examples:
“We make great computers.”
“We make steel beams”

11. Martin‘s Why-How-What
I believe to create a world in
which everyone learns more,
becomes more and inspires
more to create the
Extraordinary.
My services and solutions are
highly energetic, crystal clear
and inspiring.
I run transformation
progragrams for people,
teams and organizations.
WHY HOW WHAT

12. Exercise
Write down your Why, your How and your What for your business.
10 minutes
To find your WHY you may ask yourself:
 Why do I get out of bed every
morning?
 What is it that I believe to create
with my company?
 If you have an answer, ask yourself
‘why is that important?‘ and refine
your answer
To find your HOW you may ask yourself:
 What makes your business hard to
copy for others?
 What makes you unique?
 What kind of problem are you
solving?
To find your WHAT you may ask yourself:
 What is your concrete service or
offering?

13. Professional Presentation – by Martin Groß 5/1/2017
Coffee Break
15min

14. Amygdala the “Bouncer“
STORYTELLING

15. Amygdala the “Bouncer“

16. The Hero’s Journey
Ordinary World
Special World
Status Quo
1. Call to Action
2. Assistance
3. Departure
4. Trials
5. Approach
6. Crisis
7. Treasure
8. Result
9. Return
10. New Life
11. Resolution

17. Storytelling combines the heart with the head
Storytelling combines the heart with the head and makes messages stick
Conventional Rhetoric = Head Heart = Story

18. Stories are self-reinforcing
Out-
come
Story
Action
Agile is new, everywhere and
you got to have it. Everyone
does it.
I want agile development,
I think it‘s required,
I start informing myself
I believe agile is
the way to go,
I start piloting it.
I tell others.
 Our entire life builds up around stories about
ourselves: Who we were, who we are, who we want
to be.
 We owe everything that we are to our behaviors and
attitudes, which are massively influenced by the
stories we tell about us and others.
 Which means in return that stories define who we
are. Stories about us define our reality.
 The question is: are we telling limiting or
empowering stories about us, who we want to be,
our workplace or our products?
 Empowering stories, will positively reinforce the
validity of the story on an emotional level,
causing trust, loyalty, believe, and positive
perception.

19. The ROI of Storytelling
 Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in Build
to Last: increased financial results
for companies that let their purpose
(story) drive what they do.
These companies outperform the
general market 15:1 and
comparison companies 6:1
 John Kotter and James Heskett in
Corporate Culture and Performance:
revenue growth that is 4 times
faster and share price growth that
is 12 times faster.
 Storytelling is not about selling
things – it’s about creating
connections, sharing experiences,
and inspire people to take
action.
 Storytelling should not be crammed
in a box alongside digital tools like
banner ads or landing pages. The
power of storytelling cannot be used
to measure sales in percentages
like conversions. Storytelling is
about emotional connections.
versus

20. Storytelling framework
What do our
customers
want?
What
stands in
their way?
How can we
be their
guides?
What is the plan?
How can we help
remove barriers,
solve problems?
What action do
we/they need to
take? What does success look
like? What does
life/business look like if our
customer lives this story?
That results in…
What will our customers be
missing if they don’t live
this story? What will we be
missing?

21. Your Business Story
Develop one compelling story to be told about your business.
When you build the story think about
what do you want them to know,
what do you want them to feel and
what do you want them to do?
Take real examples, use customer anecdotes and quotes, draw mental pictures,
turn facts into quotes.
15 minutes

22. Professional Presentation – by Martin Groß 5/1/2017
LUNCH

23. Part 2
Presenting in Germany
Tips and Tricks for Excellent Presentations
Target Group Analysis & Engaging an Audience
German Cultural Specifics
Criteria for Excellent Presentations

24. Tips and Tricks for Excellent Presentations
✓ Include only necessary information
✓ Keep it simple - simple explanations and simple graphics - reinforce specific points with data, don't jam
your slides
✓ Lead with your main point - bottom line up front
✓ Reduce time spent on company history - rather focus on specific problem you can solve for potential
clients
✓ Let yourself, not your slides, shine - focus on what you say and how you say it
✓ Tailor your presentation to your audience (adapt your storytelling, adapt e.g. cover slide)
✓ Let your personality show - authenticity is key
✓ Keep your energy up - your vibe will translate to your audience
✓ Rehearse - Practice, it's just like sports, mastery takes time

25. Target Group Analysis
What kind of information to collect:
People profile:
Gender, age, experience, functional expertise, role in the company, level of influence
Characteristics such as Thinker, Networker, Analyzer, Rationalist, Feeler, Planner, Doer, Synthesizer, Generalist
What is their goal when listening to you?
Company profile:
Size, revenue, supply chain, customer profile, problems/issues, potential, future strategy, etc.
Identify similarities, competitive advantages, common ground
How to collect information:
Research online (Xing, Linked-In, Google, company homepage)
Use small talk during initial encounter or lunch/dinner spaces
Ask in your network if anyone has made experience with the target audience yet

26. Engaging an Audience
✓ Start and end strong
✓ Know your strengths as a presenter – what presentation persona are you?
✓ Use Storytelling
✓ Ask a strategic question if applicable
✓ Cater to personal characteristics
✓ Embrace the rule of three - boil your presentation down to three major points (memorable messages)
✓ Be aware of your body language - natural, fearless, smiling, positive
✓ Again: practice, practice, practice

27. German Cultural Specifics
 “Germans are Humans, too” 
 Don’t worry, Germans are nice, polite, and interested
 Small talk on the way to the meeting room, business talk as soon as everyone settled in the meeting room
 Separation of private and business spheres
 Bottom-line first – what do you want? Can be done with a short story
 Be precise, short, focus on business value added / your contribution to their business
 Include concrete numbers (e.g. price, volumes, delivery time, etc.)
 Mention references (amount of suppliers or customers, major clients you work with)
 Include agenda in the beginning
 Don’t use too many colors in your presentation materials (deemed unprofessional)
 Structure your presentation well (e.g. Golden Circle)

28. Part 3
Improvement Space
Self-Evaluation of your Presentations
Improvement Time including Consultancy

29. Self-Evaluation of your Presentations
Criteria for excellent presentation – rate your presentation on the flipcharts using post-its
Appealing but simple slide layout
Avoid Fancy Fonts
Contrasting colors for text and background
Use of photos, charts, graphs
Avoid excessive use of slide transitions and animations
Short and precise (limited numbers of slides), no jammed slides
Use of Storytelling
Start with Why
Messages tailored to audience

30. Professional Presentation – by Martin Groß 5/1/2017
Use the time to improve your presentation!
You can come in front to me or call me to your place to look over your presentation, answer
questions and provide ideas for improvement!

31. Professional Presentation – by Martin Groß 5/2/2017
Coffee Break
15min

32. Part 4
Body Language
Key to authentic presentations

33. Body Language Training
Facial Expression Gestures
Breathing
Body Postures Handshakes
Movement Eye Contact Pointing

34. Becoming a better Speaker
75% of all people suffer from some kind of public speaking anxiety
 Stop trying to be someone else
 Zoom in, zoom out
 Don’t look for approval. Focus on contributing
 Practice. A lot.
 Watch Ted Talks
 Video yourself speaking
 Know your content cold

35. Part 5
Exercising Presentations
The Pitch

36. Training a Company Pitch
ATTENTION INTEREST DESIRE ACTION
Who are you?
What’s your vision &
what do you do?
What’s your USP?
Clear description of
your core benefit in
1-2 sentences.
How do your
customer benefit
from your product?
Appeal to the
customer to take
action – close the
deal.
2 Minutes In pairs, take turns

37. Feedback and Open Points

38. Wrap-Up &
Closing

39. LEARNING GOALS
After this course you will…
✓ have improved your storytelling about your business as well as your business presentation
✓ understand cultural specifics when presenting to a German audience
✓ know about criteria, e.g. structure, engagement, storytelling that make presentations excellent

40. Agenda
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
How to make your business communication memorable
Golden Circle of Communication | Storytelling
Presenting in Germany
Tips & Tricks | Target Group Analysis | German Cultural Specifics
Improvement Space
Evaluation of your Presentations| Improvement Time including Consultancy
Body Language
Introduction to Authentic Body Lanaguage
Part 5
Exercising Presentations
Training “The Pitch”

41. Professional Presentation – by Martin Groß 5/2/2017
THANK YOU

42. Contact Information
Martin Groß
martin@theextraordinary.de
+49 (0) 176 32246761
www.theextraordinary.de