Kyle Slaymaker Of The Slaymaker Method On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be your authentic self-This is the single most important aspect to speaking and life in general. People will gravitate towards those who they like, who they know, and who they trust. If you are anything other than real, your audience and followers will see through it in a heartbeat.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kyle Slaymaker.

Labeled a disruptor in his industry, Kyle Slaymaker is considered one of the foremost authorities when it comes to business and sales. Founder of The Slaymaker Method, this Iraq War Veteran is a 2X bestselling author who has been featured in dozens of publications, interviews, and podcasts.His books have been ordered and read around the world and has spoken on multiple platforms about what it takes to ethically get ahead in sales and business! When he is not working he spends his time with his wife and three kids!

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Certainly! I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish Country. My parents are divorced and I have 2 sisters and a little brother who I unfortunately lost back in 2019 when he was 22. I was born and raised here, aside from a 4-year stint in the Navy in San Diego. There are definitely worse duty stations to have!

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

The biggest trajectory shifts have always come at the hands of my wife. It never fails. She got me started in sales after I spent five years in a job that made me completely miserable and she was the driving force behind me going into business and sales coaching. Without her, where I would be would be anyone’s guess!

I had spent years in sales and we were laying in bed when she asked me how much I thought I have sold over the years. I estimated that the number was probably close to $20,000,000 when I took into consideration contract length and value and everything I have sold over the years. She told me she was incredibly proud of me and that maybe I should think about teaching others how to sell as a business since I was already teaching everyone I knew how to sell like I did. The rest is history!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

This is really a toss up. I could choose from a plethora of different things. One of the most profound will always be when I got a call from Gerhard Gschwandtner, the founder of Selling Power magazine. He had heard about me and wanted to put me in the magazine and a video interview. It was completely out of the blue but it was such a huge moment for me. For one, it was validation that I was meant to be doing what I set out to do. I will forever be in the debt of Gerhard and am both privileged and honored to have been given that opportunity by somebody who I respect a great deal.

Another would be when I had been asked to speak in front of a group of about 80 people last year at the last minute. I was incredibly pleased to do it and it was one of the best times I had. While it was not the largest crowd I have ever spoken in front of, it was still a very powerful experience. When I walked into the room I heard somebody exclaim to his friend “Oh my god. Is that Kyle Slaymaker? What is he doing here?!” It was another “aha” moment when I realized that people were paying attention and, most importantly, I was positively impacting their lives. That feeling is one that is greater than any commission check.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Oh, this is easy! Many years ago, before I got into sales and long before I did any real public speaking, I took a course in college on public speaking. It was a fun course but I was due to present a speech. I did it on one of my favorite athletes. I had this huge presentation set up, it was going to floor the other students and professor. I just knew it. As luck would have it, I saved the presentation in the wrong format and we couldn’t use the visual aids. I was left standing there with a very limited outline as most of what I was going to say was to be guided to me by the presentation I had so painstakingly set up. I did the entire presentation without visual aid on my limited outline.

The takeaway from this was that I had to be ready and capable to think on my feet. Sometimes, stuff happens out of your control and you need to be able to roll with it. You need to be able to still captivate your audience. This is something that is incredibly easy to do when you get the hang of it!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Oh, wow. Another great and thought-provoking question! I already mentioned my wife and Gerhard but this is a laundry list of people who have helped get me to where I am! To be completely honest, I’m grateful, and I mean incredibly grateful, to everyone who has helped along the way.

A generalized answer is going to be everyone who ever gave me a hand-up. Anyone who saw what I was doing, trusted the quality and myself so much that they asked me to speak to their team, train their team, or help them skyrocket their business. I have learned such a great deal from each and every one of my clients that I would feel bad if I didn’t credit all of them.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Please know that everyone has a story to tell. Even you, the reader. And also know that there are people who not only want to hear your story, but need to hear your story. I want you to think of public speaking, and your life, like this: If telling your story impacts just one person, just one, is it not worth that initial fear of speaking in front of people?

I took this mindset into my business coaching and sales training career and it has worked phenomenally. I make it a mission to be sure that I leave the place that hired me better than when I first walked through their door. It is one of my company’s core values.

When you adopt this attitude, you will start to see just how important you and your story is. Go out there and don’t be afraid to let it out and start making an impact!

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

After 70 YouTube videos, countless podcasts, in person talks, and virtual, it seems like my life would become monotonous. Nothing could be further from the truth. I use the mindset I described in your previous question. I make it my life’s work to change people’s lives. Be it personally or professionally, that is what drives me. Yes, the money is fantastic and I love it, but truth be told, when somebody messages me or comes up to me and says “Wow, what you said was so true and it really helped,” it gives me all the fuel my fire will ever need.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

Thank you, I appreciate that! I have a bunch of stuff in the works! I am currently working on the release of my third book, Slaying The Sale, and am currently booking out all the way to the end of 2023. It is truly an honor to be able to have these opportunities and I’m looking forward to them. I know the latest 2023 engagement I have, and this is not to say I don’t have availability this year, is looking to be about a 3-hour appearance, so I’m super excited about the challenge that presents!

I also am a partner in a company that is about to release an app that we are super excited about that looks like it will revolutionize how consumers find and gain access to small business products around them and wherever they are, so that is super exciting to look forward to! I believe the app will be out by the time this article is published so be sure to download Izitin and get your favorite local businesses to put their stuff on! The best part, of course, is that it is free!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

One of my all-time favorite quotes that I live my life by, and I mean truly live my life by, came from the man who penned the book that changed EVERYTHING for me. Matthew McConaughey wrote in Greenlights:

“Knowing who we are is hard. Eliminate who we’re not first, and we’ll find ourselves where we need to be.”

Powerful stuff, huh? It is so true. We spend so much time thinking of what we want to be instead of who we are. Look at it like this: How many of you can say they are living their childhood dream or doing what they truly want to do? How many are out there fulfilling their actual purpose? Seldomly, that answer is a true ton.

The real stuff is that most people aren’t and it is because they truly don’t know exactly who they are. When I realized who I wasn’t, which I did after reading Greenlights, my path became much more clear, much more profitable, and much more impactful to the world around me.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

1. Be your authentic self-This is the single most important aspect to speaking and life in general. People will gravitate towards those who they like, who they know, and who they trust. If you are anything other than real, your audience and followers will see through it in a heartbeat.
2. Be honest- Equally important as number one, don’t lie to your audience. Ever. I don’t care if it is on stage, on a podcast, or on social media, don’t ever lie. These people are trusting you enough to actually listen to what you have to say, and that should be taken incredibly seriously.
3. Be confident- So often you see people getting nervous on stage and in interviews. You quite literally can not fail. You’re still going to walk away with family and friends. You are still going to be loved by your spouse or partner and your kids. So understand that the absolute worst thing that can happen on stage is that you stumble a bit. That’s it. It really is that simple. Keeping that in mind, walk out there with the confidence knowing you absolutely can not fail.
4. Place yourself behind others- Understand that every speech you give, every talk, every appearance, is being done so you can impact an audience. You have one goal when you start speaking. That is to change and impact the lives of the people that are in front of you. It is not to make money. It is not to get famous. It is to help. Understand this, and you will go incredibly far.
5. Learn from your audience- One of the greatest lessons I learned is that while I have a stories to share with my audience, my audience has stories of their own. Stories that can impact me. Stories that can shape me and teach me. Take the time to interact with your audience when it is all said and done. Listen to their thoughts and let those thoughts and stories guide you in your own journey.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Practice makes perfect, right?! This is actually very true, though I am not sure if anyone would say they are a perfect speaker. Even at this stage of my career, the more I find myself speaking front of people and audiences, the better and more at ease I become. Whether it is a one-on-one zoom motivational session or a large crowd and everything in between, each time gets just a tiny bit easier. If you really want to put yourself out there, go get yourself on some podcasts. They are incredibly easy to get on and is a great first step in public speaking!

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Always with the thought provoking questions! Honestly, it would be to do exactly what I am doing. Helping people overcome their hurdles and fears and getting where they truly want to be in life, be it personally or professionally. I revel in a business owner coming to me and saying how much of an impact I made on their business and I get just as much enjoyment and satisfaction out of somebody coming up and saying “Man, your posts are so inspiring to me, I actually started working towards my dreams!” So something in that fashion, where I can influence and impact on a much greater scale. There is more than enough success and happiness to go around, so why shouldn’t everyone be able to be this happy?

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Easily Matthew McConaughey. I mentioned in the question about a life quote how impactful Greenlights was and still is for me. So much so that I require every client I work with to read it. The results are always a resounding non-surprise. The book is life changing. Mr. McConaughey is a true treasure to this world and one of the greatest storytellers of this generation, perhaps even all time. His philosophies are fantastic, and he seems to be an incredibly amazing person.

I would love to just be able to get a few minutes of his time and talk to him about Greenlights and living life the way he does. A true gift to our world.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

I am on all of the platforms!

FB: My business page is The Slaymaker Method while my personal and more accessible and utilized is a public page www.facebook.com/kyle.slaymaker.54

Instagarm and TikTok are both The Slaymaker Method!

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Of course! The please was all mine! I appreciate the honor!