The “Selling Yourself” Handbook 185
won,” “It’s a boy,” “You’re hired,” “Good job,” and “I’ll take it.”
And as an added bonus, remember this when you’re writing let-
ters, proposals, and memos. It works.
Be clear
Figure out how to say what you mean and mean what you say,
then do it. Make your sentences the most simple, direct, easy-to-
understand statements you can. Far too often people say to other
people, “That’s not what you said.” Often it was what was said,
but it wasn’t said the best possible way for understanding.
Edit yourself
When you think you’re finished preparing, cut, then cut some
more. Leave your audience wishing you’d said more rather than
wondering why you didn’t end half an hour earlier. Don’t be the
big snooze. Don’t try to tell them everything you know. They don’t
want to hear it.
Express yourself
Deliver the material in the most dynamic way you can. Stop
trying to impress an audience with your body of knowledge. Im-
press them with how beautifully you deliver your ideas.
Practice the rhythm of eye contact
Your mouth should never be moving while your eyes are look-
ing at the page, the floor, or the back wall. As the words flow out,
your eyes should be on your audience. Even speakers who know
and understand this important principle find that bad habits, fear
of losing their place, and fear of the pause cause them to look
down toward the paper as they approach the last words of a sen-
tence and to say the first word or two of the next sentence while
their eyes are still down. It takes a lot of practice to master this
technique because we’ve been doing it wrong for all the years we’ve
been speaking.