How many of you would love to have more winning sales pitches that win more business? How many experience some pain when you pitch business face-to-face, over the phone, in writing or in presentations? Do you ever cause some pain for your prospects or customers as a result of those pitches? Looks like lots of hands going up for all three questions … great! So, read on for 10 Best Practices for winning more business and reducing the pain you feel … and cause … when you pitch business. They’re all simple – just not easy – and they all do work.
Presentations
Painless Presentations
Do you ever experience pain in creating and delivering important workplace presentations? Do your audiences experience pain listening to those presentations? If you answered ‘yes’, read on for a brief overview of Presentation Best Practices. They can help you present with more confidence … and less pain for you and for them.
Make Your Slides Work
Your PowerPoint Tool Kit should be getting full by now, but let’s add 10 more tips about what to do and say when you’re using these Best-in-Class slides you’ve just created. How you use them may have more impact on your audience and presentation results than what is on them.
- Make sure the room lighting works for both your slides and the audience. A dimly lit room will help them fall asleep faster than your content or delivery. If possible, only turn off the lights closest to the screen that would wash out the image. If the room isn’t wired that way, try removing the bulbs from those fixtures closest to the screen. Knowing the room logistics up front should give you enough time to minimize this problem.
- Consider not having a title slide on at the beginning of the presentation. The visual impact of a blank screen focuses attention on you during your all-important introduction. As you transition into your first Sub-Point, then bring on the slides. Plus, no title slide can minimize the audience expectation that this will be another dose of Death by PowerPoint from the time they walk in the room.
One picture is worth a thousand bullets
Several recent articles have discussed some PowerPoint Best Practices to help you avoid inflicting ‘Death by PowerPoint’ on your audiences. You may have even added a few new or different tools to your Presenter Tool Kit as a result. Here’s another one.
Yes … a picture is worth a thousand words – or, in the case of PowerPoint – a thousand bullet points. And a great picture is worth even more. We humans are visual learners. Much of what is stored in our long-term memory got in there through visual stimulus. Of the three levels of communication – words, tone of voice and visual – the most effective and memorable is the visual – your slides, if you use them properly. Ironically, the least effective slides have only words, yet most presentations include slide after slide of bullet points. Pictures and charts are more effective, but used much less. Go figure.
Outlaw Death by PowerPoint!
PowerPoint doesn’t cause ‘Death by PowerPoint’ in the hands of inept presenters any more than cars cause traffic accidents or guns kill people. The blame lies with the users. PowerPoint is an excellent tool when used properly. That said, it’s wide variety of features make it easier for inept presenters to design bad slides: The … Read more
Visualize Your Content
How you use speaker support slides to reinforce and support your message has a direct impact on accomplishing your audience-centric outcomes. PowerPoint – or other similar software packages – has the capacity to provide you with efficient, effective and attractive slides. But, how and why presenters use this great tool makes all the difference.
So, let’s add a few new or different tools to your Presenter Tool Kit and share PowerPoint Best Practices. To get us in the mood, let’s discuss Worse Practices first.
Surviving the Q&A
We recently discussed some effective strategies for handling audience questions – you can choose to hold them until the end, invite them anytime or try one of the hybrid strategies described in detail. So, someone asks a question. Now what do you do? Here are some Best Practices to help you survive and thrive during Q&A.
- Look directly at the questioner and listen intently for the concept or main idea behind the question. This helps you deal with the actual question, not the first few words. Wait patiently until the person finishes.
- Don’t jump in with your answer. Make sure you know what the question is all about. If you’re not sure, ask for clarification.
- Don’t thank them for the question or indicate, “That’s a good question.” These contrived attempts at courtesy don’t accomplish anything except taking time away from your answers.
End Strong with a Power Close
Audience-Centric presentations should end, not just stop. And they should end strong. Previously, we discussed the critically important Introduction and shared Best Practices for ‘Telling ‘em what you’re gonna say.’ Now, we focus on ‘Telling ‘em what you said.
While the audience may be influenced most by what they hear first, they remember most what they hear last. So, a powerful ending can ‘close the sale’. You can quickly restate your Main Point in terms of audience-centric value, remind them of the Sub-Points you shared to ‘prove’ your Main Point and let them know what’s next.
Just as with your Introduction, that’s a lot of important work to do in a very short time, so every word must count here, too. What follows are some Best Practices for your Power Close:
Stuck Behind the Podium?
A client recently asked what to do when forced to deliver a presentation from behind a podium. I’ve been in that situation a few times and I don’t like it. Even if it makes some sense because of lighting requirements or microphone limitations, I still don’t like it. If you’re ever faced with that situation, … Read more
Handling Audience Questions
It’s time to consider Best-in-Class strategies for handling audience questions. What they ask and how you respond can make or break your credibility, impact your confidence and influence your outcomes.
Recalling your thorough planning process, you should be able to anticipate 90% of the questions 90% of the audience will ask 90% of the time. Not bad odds for sure. Your Sub-Points can even be phrased as questions.