Get comfortable talking about yourself and your business. When your passion, your 'why' can shine through you will garner more attention because unfortunately your products or services don't always speak for themselves. And if you are the brains of the operation and someone else needs to be out front doing the promoting, you will want to ensure they are modeling your company's mission and vision.
How are you incentivizing your PR or Lead of Sales to work and speak of the company as if it were their own?
GIVE THEM SKIN IN THE GAME
Make them an owner so they inherently have that passion. You can do this as part of their compensation package or create a sliding scale based on tenure. Example: 1% after 90 days, 3% after 1 year, and 5% after 3 years.
MAKE THEM YOUR SHADOW
Pay them to learn from you. Don't skimp and pay them partial during training, bring them on at their full capacity but have them shadow you. Show them what went into creating your business, your why, and your dreams for the future. Show them what you do every day and what you will do behind the scenes to support them and improve the company. You cannot just throw them out front and tell them what you what them to say without showing them what they will be saying to potential customers and business partners.
Chose your spokesperson, public relations, sales manager, or marketer carefully, they have the potential to ruin or boost your company's reputation. Start sow and don't overextend yourself or them.
However, if you are the founder of the company and visionary, you are nearly irreplaceable as the face and voice of the company. If public speaking is difficult for you or you have social anxiety developing the skills to be able to communicate your business' story will be invaluable.
TIPS
Write. Write your speeches, your mission statement, and your introductions. Write and rewrite, and you will be surprised what creativity will come, this will help you distill all that you want to say to what is most important. You don't want to lose potential customers or clients in rambling or too much information.
Use your imagination. Practice for your speech. Say it aloud or in your head as you go about your day, in the car, or in the shower. You might feel silly at first, but your brain will leave you with the muscle memory of what you want to say. The old adage is correct...practice makes perfect. As you practice you will find yourself rambling and know that you have to cut down. Consider what type of communication this is... a quick introduction at a chamber event or a new employee onboarding. How much detail do you need to give? Remember concise and clear will always leave room for questions. But if you are speaking at an employee training you will want to add in aspects like repeating important points and asking for comprehension. Write your bullet points down and freestyle from there. This may seem strange to you to talk to yourself as if you were in front of the room but it will help immensely, you will surprise yourself.
If you are still struggling to speak publicly there are professional services that can greatly increase your speaking style.
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