How to start your sales presentation

What’s the best way to start a sales presentation?

Start with a success story about how you helped one of your clients.

The big mistake is to start with a story about your company, founder and vision statement. Your prospects don’t care about any part of that. Instead, start with a story about how you helped a client achieve success.

Describe the initial condition or prospect’s challenge. Tell how you helped them and then talk about the results.

Example:

One of my clients was on a losing streak. He was making presentations to clients and getting shut out. After I coached the CEO on his presentation he closed the next deal which meant a $10M deal in his pocket.

I tell this success story in many of my presentation skills coaching presentations. It’s a powerful start.

  
More questions and answers about public speaking at Questions About Public Speaking



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Corruption Implied by These Words

"Thank you doesn't butter my bread."

“What are we going to do?”

"The question is difficult to solve, but possible"

"You need a weightier argument,"

"We'll sort it out."

These phrases are part of a list that the Kremlin has instructed Russian government officials to avoid using. The reason is that these phrases are a few of the ones that have been used to extract bribes and gifts. (As reported in the Guardian)

The Kremlin is hoping to reduce the amount of corruption within the Russian government. Cutting down on corruption seems like a good idea. By identifying key words that have been traditionally associated with corruption the Russians are shining a light on this problem.  By banning the use of these phrases they are stigmatizing the words and hence the practice.

Those seem like a good start because that’s exactly how society tackles problems with diversity and other social issues.

Language and the choice of analogies shape our thinking – particularly regarding immoral, illegal or questionable activities.

Business announces “down sizing” instead of firings.

The mafia called killers “button men”.

The military reports dead civilians as “collateral damage.”

We’ve heard a lot of vague terms, deceptive analogies and implied messages. If you use any of these techniques your audience might start squirming and wondering “where are the skeletons?”

Yes, that’s another analogy. It means, “What are you hiding?”

If you want your audience to trust you – speak clearly. Avoid jargon and innuendo – unless you’re looking for a bribe. "Dogovorimsya!"*

* That’s Russian for “We’ll sort it out.”

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Superior Presentations 66: Start Your Presentation on Time

From George Torok

Start Your Presentation on Time

Respect your audience and especially their time. Develop the habit of starting your meetings and presentations on time. Do that and people will notice. They'll be more willing to attend your meetings and they will make the effort to arrive on time.

They will also be in a better mind set when they notice you starting on time. If you want to annoy your audience, start late.

Announce the times (start and end) and provide directions

If it's your meeting, clearly advise all invitees exactly what time it will start. One trick to convince people of your intentions is to state an odd time - e.g. 9:03, 1:07, 3:36.

If your presentation is the main feature and there are some things happening before you go then it's a good idea to state that upfront. Imagine attending a concert only to be forced to endure unannounced warm-up bands for hours before the main act (a la Justin Bieber).

If your meeting is in a conference center or hotel, ensure that there are clear directions from the main entrances to your meeting room. Check with the venue staff.

Plan to arrive early

You get there early. If you haven't been to this location before be sure to double check the directions and the map. Allow for travel delays and the potential for bad directions.

If you are travelling out of town to deliver an important presentation, you might want to arrive the night before.

Check the room and test your equipment

Visit the presentation room before anyone arrives. Get into the room and get comfortable with it. This is easy to do if you arrived the day before your presentation. At least plan to arrive one hour before the program begins so you can get into the empty room.

Start even if...

At the promised time start your presentation. If you've checked the room and your equipment then you are ready to go. If you've clearly communicated the start time and directions then most of your audience will be ready. Someone will always be late.

To help get people into their seats and ready as the time to start draws near, announce "Five minutes to start", "Two minutes to start" and even "We're starting in 30 seconds."

If your equipment fails just before your presentation - start! Start on time and that means you need to have a Plan B opening while the crew is fixing the equipment problem. Don't make the audience suffer because of your equipment failure or lack of preparation.

Don't do what one Vice president of an IT company did at a presentation. Clearly she hadn't checked her equipment. When she was introduced she walked up to the stage with her laptop and handed it to the crew who were seeing her for the first time. They scrambled to hook up her laptop and ran into problems. Meanwhile the audience was waiting.

She watched the crew for a couple of minutes, remembered the audience and turned to us with an exasperated tone, "Talk amongst yourselves."

She clearly didn't demonstrate respect for the audience or the crew who got her equipment working in a few minutes.

Respect your audience and start your presentation on time.

 

George Torok

PS: Tell me how this tip helps you.

 
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Should you start with a joke?

Should I tell a joke when I start my presentation?

Ha, ha – don’t do that. Don’t start with a joke.

That is an antiquated piece of advice given to novice presenters by other novices.

I’ve seen it done and it was painful to witness.

There’s nothing wrong with making people laugh but you should avoid telling jokes. Maybe you heard a joke over coffee or while having drinks and it sounded funny – but don’t use it in your presentation.

Here’s why:

The traditional jokes told by comedians might have made the audience laugh but the comedian was a professional joke teller. You have no idea how much effort they put into rehearsing the joke so they could get the delivery just right. Most jokes die when the delivery is wrong.

You probably don’t have that experience so the joke will die and that’s a terrible way to start your presentation.

Also the joke probably doesn’t relate to your message. The audience will be wondering “What does that have to do with this?”

And most jokes poke fun at someone. It’s not a good way to start your presentation by putting someone down. There’s a good chance that you will offend some people in your audience with your insulting attitude.

More questions and answers about public speaking at Questions about Public Speaking 

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Superior Presentations 65: Omit Your Hard Luck Story

From George Torok

The audience doesn't care about your hard luck story - unless it's funny. Even if it is funny, don't tell a story unless it makes a point that supports your message.

The speaker began his presentation by telling us that he had crossed three time zones to speak to us this morning. I'm not sure if he was bragging or complaining. There seemed no point to his tale. It didn't relate to his topic. Perhaps he was explaining why his presentation might be substandard. Perhaps he simply wanted a little sympathy.

Curious, he was there to sell his product and he seemed to be groveling.

He continued to relate his travel story by admitting that he instructed the taxi to take him to the wrong hotel. Clearly he had not checked and confirmed details.

There was no point to this story so why did he tell it. Did he believe that this was a good opening? Did he think that he was establishing rapport with this story that illustrated his ineptitude?

It wasn't funny. Instead, it lowered his credibility while boring us right from the start.

Fortunately for him his product was way more interesting than he or his presentation. Yes, sometimes the audience is astute enough to see past the ineptitude of the presenter. But you can never count on that luck.

Recently I experienced my own travel frustrations on the way to a morning presentation. I planned to take the commuter train and arrive about 45 minutes before the start of my presentation.

Because of Murphy (what can go wrong will go wrong) my train was taken out of service and the next train was delayed by a medical emergency. I walked into the packed meeting room as the MC started to read my introduction and began my presentation at the scheduled time.

The audience didn't need to know about my journey. That wasn't why they were there. So I didn't mention the delay to them. I quietly talked with the organizer to dispel his anxiety.

The presentation went well. Part of the reason was that I focused on the audience and my intended message and not on the frustrations of the morning journey.

Sometimes a story from your journey might help your presentation but be sure it does before you tell it.

George Torok

PS: This incident also served as a reminder to have the phone number and email of the contact in my BlackBerry.

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Speak Like a Winner - book review

Speak Like a Winner

How to Be Twice the Speaker in Half the Time

By Akash Karia

This book about public speaking was a fresh approach to a topic that has been written about and spoken about by many. The book was an enjoyable and easy read that took less than two hours to digest. Don’t let those characteristics fool you. I was pleased at the number of powerful public speaking techniques that were thoughtfully covered and memorably reinforced.

The author, Akash Karia, thoughtfully analyzed four speeches from the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking. Three of the four were winners of the final round of the World Championship.

Toastmasters is an international non-profit organization that helps people become better public speakers.

I’ve read many books about public speaking that simply repeat the same tired ideas and sometimes outdated lessons. Akash promised in his introduction that this book would not waste time on fluff. I believe that he kept his promise. The book covered many powerful presentation techniques that took me years to learn. These are techniques that I teach my coaching and training clients.

The author introduces each public speaker, provides a speech excerpt, a link to a video of the speech, a few thought provoking questions for the reader and insights from the author.

This style of teaching seems to be engaging, entertaining and enduring.

This book is ideal for Toastmasters who hope to participate in the Toastmasters Annual Speech contests. They will see a comprehensive approach to public speaking success. They will also enjoy the excitement of the World Championship Speech Contest.

The winners of the Toastmasters World Championship tend to deliver inspirational and entertaining speeches. These speeches are only seven minutes in length. So this isn’t about delivering a training workshop or technical report. These speeches tend to be about one key message delivered in an entertaining way.

However, most presenters can learn effective presentation techniques from this book. A leadership speech must be engaging and inspirational. A sales presentation must persuade people to act. Even a technical presentation must build rapport, illustrate points and reassure the audience. The author points out that some techniques in these examples might appear exaggerated because of the size of the audience and setting. Individual presenters can certainly adapt a technique to fit their audience.

Although each presenter demonstrated similar techniques, they also flourished because of different individual strengths. The point is that you can learn from others and must thrive on your own unique strengths.

The four public speakers featured in this book are Craig Valentine, Darren LaCroix, Lisa  Panello and Jock Elliot.

If you are really serious about public speaking you can visit any or many of the five dozen Public Speaking blogs listed as resources.

I enjoyed reading this book and I’m happy to recommend it to novice and experienced public speakers.

View the book on Amazon

 

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Where to look when speaking to an audience?

Where should I look when I am delivering a speech?

You should look at the people to whom you are speaking.

If you are speaking to an audience of one, that’s easy. If your audience is more than one person then you will need to move your eyes from one person to another while speaking.

Don’t move your eyes too quickly or linger too long on one person.

Deliver a phrase while looking at one person then move your gaze to another for the next phrase or sentence. Look people directly in the eye.

That eye contact makes you appear more confident and truthful.

Do Not

Stare at a point on the back wall

Stare at the ceiling

Stare at the floor

Watch your slides

Constantly look at your notes

Rule of Thumb

Occasionally you might need to check your notes but maintain eye contact with your audience at least 80% of the time.

Be sure to make eye contact with every person in your audience during your presentation. Don’t make the mistake of looking only at the friendly people.

More questions and answers about Public speaking at Questions about Public Speaking

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What to do about a shaky voice?

How to stop your voice from shaking during public speaking?

First consider that no one is as familiar with your voice as you. The first time you heard your recorded voice you were probably surprised. You might even have said, “That’s not me.”

The reason I point that out is that you might notice your voice shaking but your audience might not. They just might not know how your voice should sound. You voice can sound different at different times of the day depending on your energy level, recent meal or emotional state.

Your voice shaking could signal that you are tensing up because of anxiety, anger or exhaustion. There might be other causes but these seem to be the most common.

If tension is the problem the solution is to relax. You can do that by pausing as soon as the shaking starts. Simply pause for a few seconds. Smile while doing that so your audience doesn’t suspect any difficulties.

To both extend the pause and relax your throat you could take a drink of water. It’s best to have a glass of room temperature water handy. Ice cold water isn’t good for your speaking voice.

Take a deep slow breath to help calm you. Roll your shoulders because tension in your shoulders could easily be transferred to your throat. You could slightly change your body stance because tension might have been setting in without you being aware.

When you start speaking again, speak slower. That also relaxes your throat and makes your voice sound deeper and hence more confident.

Get the answers to more questions about public speaking on the site Questions about Public Speaking

 



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