Sales Presentation Perfection - 7 Essential Actions For Success

Recently, I was traveling in the Mediterranean and attended a lecture on ancient Rome delivered by a bright and articulate American professor. He began with an apology, immediately setting his audience up for disappointment--a promise he kept. He went on to explain that he wasn't very good at the technology--which he proved throughout his talk. And worse still, as soon as he launched into his presentation, he seemed to have forgotten its title and focused instead on the American senate and the need for checks and balances. Nobody cared.

That presenter turned out to be the poster child for getting it all wrong. And what a shame, when it's so easy to get it right.

Everyone who delivers a sales presentation is nervous at some time. Even if you routinely present, when you know that this one is important, adrenaline flows, mouths dry up and presenters worry that their mind will simply go blank. Why wonder if you've got it all right when following these 7 action steps will ensure that you do?

ACTION STEP 1

Refine your message.

Why it's Important

Your audience will--if you are lucky--remember two or three important things from your presentation. The most important thing you want them to remember is your message. Even if they forget all the numbers you recite, the percentages you emphasize or the lists you highlight, you want them to remember the main thing they need to know about you--and that's your message. So refine it, clarify it, and begin with it before you mention a word of content.

ACTION STEP 2

Review your slides and limit your topics to three or four main concepts that support your message. Organize content around those main topics.

Why it's Important

The listening ear cannot go back and review what you said a few minutes ago and it's easy for an audience to get lost when they listen to a speaker--especially if yours is only one of several presentations they will hear that day. Make it easy for your audience to remember your content by limiting the topics you talk about. They'll think you are smart, clear and wonderful to work with if you eliminate tangents, ditch the minutiae and simplify your talk.

ACTION STEP 3

Choose your topics carefully so they address the needs of your audience.

Why it's Important

We all know that people buy from people they like, and while everyone in your audience does not have buying power, they do have veto power. Keep in mind that every audience includes four types of listeners; your goal is to connect with each of them so they like you better than your competitors. Your message should speak to the executive--that is, your message must make it clear why you are best suited to provide the best the marketplace has to offer. Your topics should speak to the other three types of listeners: the numbers cruncher, the techie and the implementor.

ACTION STEP 4

Use a visual metaphor on your slides to reinforce your message.

Why it's Important

When you use compelling graphics and engaging images your audience remembers your message more easily.

ACTION STEP 5

Eliminate as much text as possible from your slides.

Why it's Important

When you read from the screen, you lose contact with your audience. You need to make good, solid eye contact with every person in the room as you speak, and you can't do that when you are glued to a screen. Don't worry that you'll forget something. This is your stuff and you know you could talk for hours about it. What's more, if you do forget something, nobody in the audience will ever know.

ACTION STEP 6

Create handouts that are reader-friendly, well organized and look like real documents.

Why it's Important

Handouts that look like documents--not like printed PowerPoint slides--give you the professional edge you want. A well written handout is the proof that what you said in your terrific presentation is valid and true. Your handout should be distributed right before the Q and A and should include all the detail, graphs, charts and illustrations you took off the slides.

ACTION STEP 7

Hire a coach.

Why it's Important

Even Tiger Woods uses a coach. The good ones always do, because they know a coach can help you kick it up a notch. A good coach can make the difference between ordinary and great. The fact is, it's hard, if not impossible, to see yourself as others see you. If this presentation is important, you want a professional's eye checking you out and providing the feedback that will polish your performance--turning you into the likable, memorable, easy-to-hear presenter you know you can be.

A presentation is a performance. And like any performance, there's a difference between an amateur show and a professional one. Take the 7 essential action steps that help you win the sale. They'll make you look good and that's a winning presentation.

Author, consultant, trainer and coach, Fern Lebo is also president of FrontRunner Communications, adjunct faculty at Auburn University and a frequent keynote speaker. A respected communications expert, Lebo focuses on presentation and writing for sales. For nearly 20 years, she has helped Fortune 500 companies create and deploy star sales performers. Whether it's reinventing a sales presentation, discovering how to write strategically, or improving presentation delivery, Lebo's clients learn the secrets that set them apart; they master the professional techniques they need to achieve outstanding success. Find out more at http://FRcommunications.com

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Presentation Power - The Courage to Be Brilliant

If you are in sales, you present. Sometimes it's a one-on-one across a desk. Sometimes it means standing at the front of a big room before a discerning audience that has assembled to decide who wins the sale. But no matter the arena, no matter the product or service you offer, your goal is to capture your listeners from the very first word and have them happily follow you right through to the end--and buy.


You can do what you always do--thank your audience for allowing you this opportunity, tell them you're so happy to be there to inform them about whatever it is you are selling, introduce them to your team, tell them about your company, and make your pitch. Or you can open with power, have the courage to be brilliant--and win the sale.

It's not as hard as you might think. Yes, it takes originality and intelligence--but you've got that in spades, right? So, here's what to do.

First, decide on your message.

Your message is the most important thing you want your audience to remember if--at the moment you began your pitch--the world were to come to an abrupt end. It's the key thing that gives your audience a reason to buy. To articulate your message, describe in one or two simple sentences what it is you are selling, its key benefits and why it is better than anything else in the marketplace. Polish it, refine it and make your message shine.

Next, identify the theme of your message.

Is it about change? Innovation? Technology? Financial savings? Improving something? Simplifying something? Magic? Whatever it is, you will use that theme to drive your presentation.

Finally, create an opening that leads to the theme of your message.

I've listed a variety of interesting ways to open below, and whether you choose from my list or invent an opening of your own, the point of your opening must be clear and lead directly to your message. If you're really clever about it, your opening leads to a message whose theme you can use throughout your presentation. When you can do that, you'll not only wow them from the start, your audience will be engaged throughout your delivery.

At the end of your presentation, restate your message, then tie it all together by returning to your opening.

So let's summarize. Begin with an intriguing opening that leads to a clear and compelling message. State your message. Deliver your content keeping your theme in mind and referring to it from time to time. End by restating your message and returning to your opening--which is now a clever close.

Here are a few ideas for brilliant openings. Begin with:

* a personal story
* a quote from a famous person
* a quote from your CEO
* a magic trick
* a musical introduction
* a story from the news
* a reference to a topic of national interest
* a game or contest
* a demonstration
* a reference to a story with great emotional impact
* a mind-reading act.

You won't differentiate yourself from the competition by sounding like everyone else. To grab your audience from the very first word, you'll need a memorable approach, a dynamic style, and the courage to be different. That's brilliant!

Author, consultant, trainer and coach, Fern Lebo is also president of FrontRunner Communications, adjunct faculty at Auburn University and a frequent keynote speaker. A respected communications expert, Lebo focuses on presentation and writing for sales. For nearly 20 years, she has helped Fortune 500 companies create and deploy star sales performers. Whether it's reinventing a sales presentation, discovering how to write strategically, or improving presentation delivery, Lebo's clients learn the secrets that set them apart; they master the professional techniques they need to achieve outstanding success. Find out more at http://FRcommunications.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fern_Lebo

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What Should a Metrics PPT Presentation Have?

Metrics, also known as standards that can be measured, are used to keep track of the effectiveness of the company's objectives and goals. Even for the decision making process, the results of metrics are considered before coming up with plans and decisions for the company. The use of metrics PPT presentation would aid all members in the management system to fully indentify what is going on in the company, how well it is going, how you can tell if the company is doing it well, and how you let other people know you are doing it well.

The presentation for all kinds of metrics must be simple and relevant to the business issues. Since there are various metrics, like efficiency metrics, performance metrics, strategic needs metrics, mission effectiveness metrics, security metrics, and more, they must all be presented in an interesting and persuasive way. There are some companies or managers who are first timers in considering these metrics-related issues in their operation system. The PowerPoint presentation is easy to manipulate and deliver since all you have to do is play the slides automatically or manually. If the type of metrics is new or it is the first time to be incorporated in the system, the management must be impressed with the presentation in order to get that much-needed approval.

The metrics to be presented must be worthwhile for the entire business operation so metric guidelines are vital. First thing you need to include in the presentation is quantifiable information, such as numbers. These numerical figures can be in the forms of percentages and averages. Of course, metrics present a way of measuring so relevant data must also appear in numbers, and thus, should be measurable. In this way, your presentation of the metrics would be reliable and tangible. Second, the metrics presentation must give the appropriate reason why it is useful in keeping track of performance and resource allocation. The presentation must show the audience why metrics are important to performance check on employees as well as the distribution of resources. Remember, the management must be convinced on the effectiveness of the presentation. And the third is the presentation should include pointers on how metrics can be readily acquired from multiple processes.

This tool in measuring things inside the business firm will be worthwhile and a reliable way of troubleshooting any management inefficiencies. In the typical PowerPoint presentation, you may include animations as well to make your audience get the feel of what is being discussed or presented during corporate meetings. You can also make your presentation show how measurement can evaluate everything that is going on in the company's performance, as well as the quality and efficiency of their employees.

Since the business world is fast-paced and is constantly changing, management teams and other people responsible in keeping track of the ins and outs of the enterprise must make use of every material provided by the technology, like PowerPoint. This technology tool can make everyone's job easier and more presentable. Metrics PPT presentations must be designed according to the information needed and must be useful in providing solutions to company problems.

If you are interested in metrics ppt, check this web-site to learn more about dashboard ppt.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller

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