Mark Jeffries Visit to Speakers Corner: The Art of Business Influence

We were delighted former Merrill Lynch stockbroker turned TV presenter, author and Keynote Speaker, Mark Jeffries , came into Speakers Corner HQ to share with us practical tips to Sell without Selling.

Mark, who divides his time between the USA, Canada and Europe, shared with us his early days as a stockbroker. Joining Merrill Lynch on Black Monday, Mark spent over 6 years as a stockbroker before deciding to change careers.
His career transition into TV propelled him to stardom, hosting his own financial news TV show interviewing high ranking executives. Mark began to understand human behaviour and the power of delivering a memorable, effective message to engage audiences.

Now Mark has migrated into delivering keynotes and moderating panels, as well as of course utilising his TV experience interviewing a host of celebrities.

Mark was keen to pass on some tips and strategies he’d learnt which we were super keen to soak up and explore how we could use these in our own roles.

We started off by spending some time analysing human behaviour and comparing our own experiences when meeting colleagues, friends and clients. Furthermore, we started to understand why we have perhaps stronger relationships with those we have met face-to-face than those who we speak with over phone or email.

The reason for this, as Mark explained, was our ability to respond to the behaviour in front of us. When, for example, we suggest a range of speakers, we tend to hone in on the ones which elicited the positive body language responses rather than those which appeared to be less interesting.

Mark has coined the phrase L-WAR – the ultimate key to successful communication, which is broken down as:

• Listen
• Watch
• Anticipate
• Respond

This was expertly summed up by demonstrating our reactions when we’re at an event. It’s striking how many of us often forget the name of the person we’ve just met, especially when we’re exchanging business cards. We’re so keen to tell the person who we are, that we fail to register who they are.

But, in a light-hearted way, we started to discuss how to tip the likeability scales in our favour. We didn’t know nods per minute was a measurement tool, but Mark got us thinking how we can react to the person talking to us. We need to adjust our behaviour to suit the occasion, we should plan the words we want to say before we speak, and we need to watch how our new friend reacts to anticipate our next move.

It even comes down to the way we treat a business card, the small anecdotes we remember, the common ground we share and so on.

So. from now on, we'll be paying much closer attention to how we communicate with each other.