Terri Sjodin Speaker Biography
Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, Top Sales Trainer & Consultant
Terri Sjodin is the Principal and Founder of Sjodin Communications. She is one of America’s most highly sought after female speakers and has trained and motivated thousands of people from all over the world. Her unique specialization is advancing the persuasive presentation skills of professionals. More than thirty years after launching her company, Sjodin Communications, from a spare room in her home, she has built an impressive client list that includes Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, national sales teams, industry associations, and even members of Congress. Terri is a popular LinkedIn instructor and the author of several books, including Scrappy, the New York Times Best Seller, Small Message, Big Impact, and her newest book, Presentation Ready, which is based on her multi-year, three-phase research study.
Speaker Hall of Fame
In July of 2012, Terri was inducted into the NSA Speaker Hall of Fame. Admission into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is a lifetime award for speaking excellence and professionalism. Inductees are evaluated by their peers through a rigorous and demanding process. Each candidate must excel in seven categories: material, style, experience, delivery, image, professionalism and communication.
Awards and Honors
In June of 2007, Terri was named one of the top five Women in Business by the Orange County Business Journal at the distinguished WIB awards. This award is presented in recognition of exceptional professional accomplishments, including business success, contributions to industry, and the Orange County community.
Media
Beyond her success as an entrepreneur and author, Terri is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows throughout the country appearing on The Today Show, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, and many major network affiliates from ABC, CBS, and NBC, FOX, cable and radio.
Certified Speaking Professional
In August of 1999, Terri received the prestigious CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation. Less than 12% of the 5,000 speakers who belong to the International Federation for Professional Speakers hold this professional designation.
Philanthropy
Terri serves on the Orange County Board of Trustees for Olive Crest. Olive Crest is dedicated to preventing child abuse, to treating and educating at-risk children and to preserving the family one life at a time.
Education and Career
Terri graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Speech Communication. Before forming her own company, Terri was a top sales producer with both The Achievement Group and Resource Dynamics.
Advisor
Her combination of academic communication theory, field research, and practical street sales experience collected during thousands of coast-to-coast business presentations cast Terri in the leading role of advising today’s professionals on becoming more polished, persuasive presenters and adapting to the changing marketplace.
High Content Speaker
Terri is a “high content” speaker – Her approach is fresh, real-world, and her style is sassy and practical. Each presentation is loaded with street-worthy ideas, methods, and tips that men and women can use immediately to get results. Many consider Terri to be today’s sales professionals’ speech coach.
Terri Sjodin Speaking Topics
Presentation Ready: Exploring the Art of Presenting Persuasively
Most people want to improve their presentations but don’t know where to start -- and that can be costly. That is where this program can help. In this session, Terri shares the results from her multiyear research project on the state of sales presentations, which identified 12 common mistakes that may cost an individual the win, the deal, or the opportunity, and shows how to avoid them. Why focus on mistakes? Because you can’t improve what you don’t recognize as a problem. The solutions will ultimately help you course-correct faster and gain greater confidence for future presentations. The audience will gain an understanding of: • The 12 most common mistakes people make when presenting • The 3 benchmarks for crafting an effective presentation: Case, Creativity and Delivery • How to make your messaging persuasive rather than just informative • How to communicate more effectively, whether in person, virtual or hybrid • How to avoid “strange” body language and gesturing • How to channel fear and anxiety to work for you vs. against you when you’re speaking one-on-one or one-on-one hundred The focus will be on developing verbal communication skills for greater impact with listeners.
Building Your Persuasive Case
Has your sales presentation become far too informative versus persuasive? You are not alone. In this session, Terri will address one of the highest ranked mistakes participants self-identified in The State of Sales Presentations research study: Being Overly Informative Versus Persuasive. She will show you specific method for developing logical persuasive arguments in the body of your presentations, including how-tos for identifying your most compelling talking points. This is a roll-up-your-shirt-sleeves interactive session.
The Scrappy Advantage… It’s About Choosing to Play Big!
In today’s competitive market, it takes more than just showing up, more than persistence, more than just having a dream to reach your goals. Sometimes you have to get a little scrappy and creative to earn the right to be heard! In this special session, attendees will get a sneak peek into Terri Sjodin’s book, Scrappy: A Little Book About Choosing to Play Big (Penguin Random House August 2016). The American Heritage Dictionary defines “scrappy” as “…full of fighting-spirit.” The impetus of a scrappy mindset might begin when a person (insert you) has a specific goal with a specific challenge to circumvent, most likely within a certain time frame. Terri will share research, interview material and incredible stories from a variety of people from different industries who have pulled off seemingly impossible wins or achieved crazy, fun goals. This session will give you tactical ideas to help you execute on your vision of what you can accomplish…once you decide to get scrappy.
Terri Sjodin Books
Presentation Ready: Improve Your Sales Presentation Outcomes and Avoid the Twelve Most Common Mistakes
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Scrappy: A Little Book About Choosing to Play Big
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Small Message, Big Impact: How to Put the Power of the Elevator Speech Effect to Work for You
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NEW SALES SPEAK – The 9 Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
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Terri Sjodin Articles
Terri Sjodin Speaker Testimonials
You clearly validated our decision to select you for this event. We are looking forward to also working with you for follow-up training sessions with some of our selected salespeople. We believe that you can help our near-great salespeople move to the next level.
- | Erv Hall, Senior Vice President, Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation
Your presentation received rave reviews from everyone that attended, and drew comments such as "inspiring", "engaging", and "stimulating". Your material encompassed many important aspects that both Mentor and Mentee can benefit from in both their professional and personal lives.
- | Sheryl Skulley, Manager, Employee Programs, Northwest Airlines, Inc.
I see a lot of need for the delivery of this message in the era of mega-mergers! Most importantly, I appreciate the way that you were so flexible and easy to work with. Thank you again for making our program a huge success!
- | Melia A. Carter, Director, Ameritech
your presentation was outstanding! You had the absolute attention of 160 people (loan representatives) notorious for being difficult to keep in meetings. The difference being, you offered a fast paced menu of "meat and potatoes" we all needed to hear. Keep it rolling, you've got a message the business world really needs.
- | Byron Wallace, Vice President Regional Manager, Norwest Mortgage Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
