Leadership, Communication, Presentation & Sales Development Blog: Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public

Leadership, Communication, Presentation & Sales Development Blog

Showing posts with label Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

PRESENTATION SKILLS - SIMPLE NUMBERS TO IMPROVE YOUR MESSAGES

A good way to remember and apply principles of effective presentations is to connect them to numbers.

For example, you should always have 1 major idea that you leave with your audience. A good way to do this while preparing is to ask yourself and then answer this question... “What one action do I want my audience to apply as a result of this presentation?”

You may have other ideas you want the audience to remember, but thinking of one action you want them to take will help you focus on what is really important.

Include 2 appeals in a persuasive presentation: logical and emotional. One without the other will limit your impact on your audience. To appeal to their emotions, tell a story. Make them feel what you are talking about. To appeal to their intellect, include a relevant statistic or testimony of an expert on the topic you are advocating.

In organizing any part of your presentation, think of doing so in 3's. The human mind responds well to the number three. This number is a part of our culture. Three little pigs, Goldilocks and the three bears. Three blind mice. “Ready, aim, fire.” We have morning, noon, and night. There is strike three in baseball, not strike four, etc.

Having three main points is a good idea, and if you have several slides or statistics, think about organizing them in groups of three. Usually three pieces of evidence are enough to make your case.

Practicing your presentation 3 times is comfortable for most people. More than three and you might lose interest and/or memorize parts of the presentation, taking away from the spontaneity you should seek.

If you are creating a list on a slide, the “5 by 5 rule” is a good model to follow–no more than five lines on a slide and 5 words on a line. That helps you choose a font that everyone can see and the slide looks clean and not “busy.” More importantly, each line will act as a prompt to keep you and your audiences on track. This is much better than reading lots of text at the audience (like most presenters do), which detracts from the person presenting. And, typically audiences can read and digest information much better than when a presenter lectures at them. For those who lecture at their audiences, it is far more effective to simply email the presentation slides with too much content to the audience!

Pay attention to your 6th sense as you speak. Intuitively you may think of an example, or a reference to some current event that fits your content. Some people's best ideas come to them as they speak. Don’t fear to include this thought because you did not practice that material. Go with your sixth sense, your intuition, and you may add one of your best ideas in the presentation. This is always worth the risk because a small amount of risk can result in great outcomes!

When answering questions from your audience, keep your answers as concise as possible. You may be able to answer with a “yes” or “no,” but even if it is an open-ended question, practice limiting your answer to 30 seconds. If an answer is longer, the audience members who have no interest in that answer will quickly stop listening. Perhaps volunteer to talk to that person in more detail after the presentation, but remember the number 30 when answering questions - that’s seconds, not minutes!

Patrick Rothfuss said, “I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.” However, if your number relates to a speaking principle that will make you a more effective speaker, then numbers do matter!

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public by effectivecommunication.com.au

Thursday, September 1, 2016

SALES SKILLS - 5 WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR SALES PROCESS

Too many times we get bogged down with the prospective client

Sure, the reasons can be many, but it doesn’t matter. Anytime things bog down, it eats into your time and your earnings.

Below are 5 things we can do right now to accelerate the process:

1. Skip the presentation and ask more questions

Don’t focus your time on crafting your PowerPoint and your talking points. Take that time and spend it developing more questions. More importantly, think through how you will follow up each question with another question.

2. Be prepared to ask tough questions early on to verify if there is potential

Consider these three questions: What is your timeline for making a decision? How have you made decisions like this in the past? What is the outcome you’re looking to achieve?

3. Follow up fast

Don’t think for a moment your prospect is thinking about you, because they’re not. During each phase of the selling process, the faster you follow up, the greater your potential for closing the sale.

4. Take the small order if that’s what it takes to move them forward

Sure, we all want to land the big sale, but if the big sale is not there, grab the small one and use it as a springboard to move up to the next sale.

5. Skip the formality of a scheduled meeting and make it happen anytime, anywhere

Don’t allow yourself to believe because you’ve always sold sitting across a desk that you need to continue doing so. Make it happen with a video or audio call instead. Your prospect many times will appreciate this, as they tend to be faster and less intrusive on their schedule.

Bonus Item: Make sure each time you’re talking with a prospect, you have in your mind the expectation of closing a sale. If your attitude is not focused on making a sale, the best you’ll ever get is bread crumbs.

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public by effectivecommunication.com.au

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

COMMUNICATION - HOW TO AVOID YOUR IDEAS BEING TABLED

Most people in business get what they deserve!

If they do a good job of presenting their idea, they get what they deserve. If they do a poor job, they also get what they deserve.

Do you believe you get what you deserve during meetings?

If not, or if during your meetings little post action occurs, then perhaps you are ignoring the the top 5 reasons Executives and Decision Makers table an issue.

1. Poor Preparation

One Exec said, "I can always tell when someone isn't prepared. They stumble when I ask them questions. They also don't seem to anticipate that I will need proof."

Another Exec said, "I loathe when people waste my time and aren't prepared."

Think about the last time you tried to sell an Exec or Decision Maker an idea. How long did you spend preparing? Did you do more than throw a few slides together? Did you sit down ahead of time and try to figure what questions will be asked or what analyses might be requested?

2. Faulty Strategy

A Director of Innovations at a technology company said, "I am all about big ideas, but I have to follow your argument. You can't be jumping all over the place, leaving me to figure it."

When you meet with an Executive or Decision Maker, are they able to easily follow your logic?

Do all of your points lead to the same conclusion?

3. Lack of Clarity

Steve Jobs once said, "Decisions are easy when ideas are simply explained, but you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."

Some of us over-talk an issue. We use a lot of acronyms. Our sentences are very complicated with lots of phrases and clauses. We often make up words. Nouns are turned into verbs and vice versa.

Ask yourself, "Is your argument clear and simple?"

4. Dubious Benefits

EC has worked with Executives and Decision Makers who interrupt presenters right up front if the benefits to a proposal aren't apparent nor relevant to their priorities.

One of these Exec's famous line is "Yeah, so what! Why should I care?"

People reporting to this Executive know that they must link ideas to things that are top of mind for the Exec. The presenter cannot speak in generalities.

Do you support any benefits with metrics? Are the metrics tied to what is important to the Executive?

5. Lack of Confidence

"Unconfident people scare me. I wonder why they are in charge." This is a comment we at EC hear frequently from clients who are Executives and Decision Makers.

People who show they are nervous rarely get a positive result.

One Executive said, "Act like you belong." Executives just want to have a CONVERSATION.

Confident speakers look people in the eye. They don't read from their notes or slides. They don't rush.

Having a carefully thought out message is, of course, important, but give the same amount of attention to how you will deliver it.

Getting what you want and deserve from a meeting doesn't happen by accident. It should never be left to chance. Avoid being disappointed by paying attention to what Executives and Decision Makers feel is important in a CONVERSATION!