DOES YOUR PITCH PRESENTATION CONTAIN THIS QUESTION TO GIVE YOU THE WINNING EDGE?

PRESENTATION - IS YOUR AUDIENCE REALLY LISTENING TO YOU?

LEADERSHIP - 5 THINGS LEADERS SHOULD NEVER SAY

PRESENTATION SKILLS - HOW TO GAIN EXECUTIVE INTEREST

When making a proposal to Executives including CEO's, CIO's, CTO's or CFO's, it is necessary to remember their focus is on solving problems and making the company successful.
 
Executives are not interested in how an issue was resolved, but that it is no longer a problem.
 
Executives are very busy people. How you open or position your presentation or meeting is critical. Right from the get-go, your ideas must be clearly expressed. As you continue, remember clarity and conciseness. If you say something well, it gets heard.
 
Start by setting some context. Obviously, Executives go from meeting to meeting. In a few sentences, provide background, even if you have sent an Executive Summary ahead of time. "Last month, you asked me to research options to a key component in our manufacturing process due to rising costs. There are three possibilities."
State you recommendation.
 
Executives typically have a breath of knowledge, but they don't have your depth. They look to you for suggestions. From the perspective of the Executive, what is important for the individual to know about the issue? "Of the three choices, I strongly recommend XXX over the other two."
 
The more vivid your language, the more readily the Executive will pay attention. Strong adjectives and adverbs are just the thing to make an Executive see how important dealing with a situation is. "We need to act immediately since sales have sky rocketed and the supply of our current component is low."
 
Stress commercial benefits and outcomes. Executives focus on things like the bottom line, market share and return on investment. If the Executive considers your option, the individual will want to see the commercial benefits and outcomes. Be aware that they are not easily swayed with platitudes. If you can quantify or add metrics, it will help to win them over. "With this new component, I believe we will save 1.4 million in the next sixteen months. Our engineers tell us that the initial results are positive. The component has been reliable in 5/6 tests."
 
Prove your points. A lot rests on an Executive making the right decision. The challenge you have as a presenter is to sort through all that you know and elevate your ideas to the Executive level. It is always a temptation to go into too much detail. Be sure to keep it high level. As you move further into the conversation, define the risks and the opportunities. A chart of the pros and cons will help to clarify at a glance, assuming your chart or visual does not look like an eye chart.
 
Specific examples are also important. In fact, some experts say they are mandatory when trying to influence.
 
Be prepared for push-back. Too much is at stake for an Executive to make a mistake. Anticipate that there will be questions. Figure what their decision rests on and you will know the bulk of the questions. Always answer succinctly. If they want more information, they will ask a follow-up question. Have at the ready hidden slides or handouts.
 
Summarise. You have undoubtedly heard the old axiom, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you have told them."
 
Never leave without a strong summation. If there are actions you need to take, be sure to list them. If there are actions the Executive must take, specifically state what they are and by when. Get confirmation that you are both in agreement.
Consciously deliver your message.
 
Keep your focus on the Executive at all times. Do not be intimidated. They want you to be successful. Demonstrate your confidence by looking the person in the eye, by pausing often to let your points sink in and by leaning into the table (when seated).
 
Use your hands to punctuate your ideas. Look, act and sound like you belong!
 
If you follow the pointers listed above, you will get your ideas across. You will better inform, influence and persuade Executives.

COMMUNICATION - TURN QUESTIONS INTO OPPORTUNITIES

SALES - 10 REASONS WHY LEADERSHIP IN SALES IS IMPORTANT

Sales is leadership and leadership is sales!!!
 
The impact both sales and leadership have on each other is undeniable
 
A question we at EffectiveCommunication.com.au are asked oftentimes is why is leadership so important in sales.
 
Here are 10 quick reasons why:
 
1. People want to be around leaders. If you are going to sell effectively, your clients must see you as a leader.
 
2. Demonstrating leadership commands respect. Clients will only refer you to others if they respect you.
 
3. True leadership results from having integrity. Clients will only deal with salespeople they can trust.
 
4. Being a leader changes how you look at things.  When you are demonstrating leadership, you see things differently and in turn are more capable of truly understanding how to help your clients.
 
5. Being a leader creates confidence.  The level of confidence you have going into a sales call is going to determine the level of success you have.
 
6. Leaders are continually learning.  When you’re a leader, you are far more receptive to learn new things.  Sales requires keen insights on not just what is happening today, but also on what could happen tomorrow. Failing to continually learn will quickly put you behind the curve in being able to help your clients.
 
7. Leaders are less emotional and less likely to be swayed by fads. Leaders are not going to be impacted negatively by shifts in other people’s emotions or in passing fads.  Rather, they know how to deal with these types of issues in a constructive manner.
 
8. Leaders plan and are goal oriented. Clients want to deal with salespeople who are prepared.  Conversely, as a salesperson, when you plan and are goal oriented, you will be in a position to optimise your time and resources.
 
9. Leaders are able to get more accomplished from others. A salesperson’s success is driven by the team they have supporting them.  A salesperson who is seen as a leader is going to receive far more support from their client service team and others than the salesperson who is not seen as a leader.
 
10. Leaders are more successful.  At the end of the day, don’t you want to be as successful as you can?  Successful people are attracted to successful people.  The more you demonstrate leadership and success, the more you will find yourself dealing with equally successful people.

Finally, living a life as a leader is far more stimulating and exciting than living a life as a follower.
 
Would you prefer to be the one who takes pride in impacting others or would you rather be the one being impacted?
 
All the best when selling!!! 

SALES - 9 Factors That Influence Your Sales Results

1. Your competitor
2. The industry you sell in
3. Outside factors – economy / legal / etc.
4. Time
5. Your customer
6. Your customer’s customer
7. Your customer’s competitors
8. The products / services you sell
9. You

LEADERSHIP - 6 SKILLS EVERY LEADER MUST APPLY WHEN MENTORING OTHERS

“The mediocre leader tells. The good leader explains. The superior leader demonstrates. The great leader inspires.” - William Arthur Ward
 
When you are leading others it is important to keep your mentoree on track. Here are 6 important things you should know and practice:

1. Identify mentoring goals upfront

Leading is an exploration of potential and how to improve performance. Like all great explorers your mentoree will need to have some goals to keep them on track. Begin the mentoring by helping your mentoree define what they would like to achieve and set a few specific goals around this. This will help both you and your mentoree stay more focused and not wander too far off track.

2. Use questions to focus discussions

Rather than tell your mentoree how they should think and behave use questions to guide the discussion and their thinking. Questions are very powerful and you will make your mentoree think by using probing open questions. Don’t rely on closed questions such as those with a “yes” or “no” answer. Open questions are far more challenging.

3. Listen don’t lecture

You may be the fount of all wisdom but your role as a mentor is not to lecture your mentoree. Listen carefully to them and engage in conversation and discussion. The mentoree should be the focus of the mentoring session. By all means give advice but always try to draw ideas out of the mentoree themselves. The mentoree needs to have ownership of the ideas discussed.

4. Don’t do the work for the mentoree

As soon as the has discussed an issue with a leader, many leaders explain exactly what should be done and how it should be done in great detail. The explanations may be clear and accurate but the problem is that the leader does all the thinking. The aim of leading is to enable the mentoree to make decisions and work out the best path. Of course sometimes a leader will need to take off their mentoring hat and explain what to do. The problem arises when the leader does all the work of thinking things through. As a leader you are a guide but the mentoree is the explorer!

5. Keep raising the bar

As a successful leader you will want to challenge your mentoree to keep raising the bar. Guide them to improve what they are doing and encourage innovation and learning new and better ways of doing things.

6. Review progress and celebrate achievements

Finally take a little time in each mentoring session to review progress. Where there are improvements celebrate these successes with your mentoree and give positive feedback……..and don’t forget to celebrate your own success as a leader!!!


All the best with your leadership!

PRESENTATION SKILLS - WHAT INFLUENTIAL PRESENTERS ROUTINELY DO