Car dealers are missing a trick when it comes to attracting buyers and so missing out on potential sales, according to a web management company specialising in the sector. (Update from May 2010, now WITH VIDEO!...)
2 CommentsOrganisations looking for candidates to fill sales positions could find the costs and time spent finding the right person 'cut dramatically' with the introduction of video-based applications via the web, according to the founder of a new website. (Update from July 2010).
2 CommentsEarn it. Learn about it. Or win it. Oliver Webster of Personal Projector Ltd is here to shine a very bright light or two on your clunky old presentation and projection problems...
7 CommentsAs we attempt to eliminate travel time and costs associated with face-to-face meetings, many businesspeople are turning to online meetings and collaboration for the purpose of making presentations, conducting quick ad hoc multi-media introductions, contract negotiations and post-sales training and follow-up.
3 CommentsMaking a professional presentation has never been easier thanks to the new, entirely cable-free, ultra-portable MPro150 projector. Manufacturer 3M is billing the product as the ‘ultimate personal electronics device for the business, IT and creative professional’.
0 CommentsA new ‘must have’ sales and marketing tool is emerging on the business scene. According to Bournemouth-based production company Contrast Design, virtual sales presentations (VSPs) can help promote your company more effectively than anything else.
0 CommentsWebcasting events dramatically reduce your carbon footprint compared with conferences, according to a new report.
0 CommentsCan you remember a time before Velcro – how did we get by without it in the automotive or exhibition industries or, indeed, simply to do up our trainers? A similar breakthrough moment may have arrived with the launch this month of the oddly named YUPOTako.
0 CommentsAccording to Britain’s top business professionals, the humble biscuit plays an integral role in influencing company directors, entrepreneurs and budget holders in boardrooms across Britain.
0 CommentsA US inventor has come up with a way to shape floating foam clouds into cartoon characters, corporate logos and other symbols.
0 CommentsIn a competitive pitch, should you ideally present first, last or somewhere in the middle of the running order… or doesn’t it matter where your turn comes? You certainly don’t want to be in the middle, is the answer from academics who have been studying the issue.
0 CommentsAt last, scientific research confirms what presentations experts have been saying all along: the way many sales people use PowerPoint can kill a presentation stone dead. A new Australian study suggests that PowerPoint is being used in the most ineffective way possible.
0 CommentsYou’re a professional sales person, so you’re an accomplished public speaker. Right? Well, not necessarily. People’s number one fear is anxiety about public speaking – above death, snakes and heights.
0 CommentsAward-winning cartoonist and caricaturist, Simon Ellinas has set his sights on bringing his unique brand of fun to the corporate world, by taking a lighter look at the realities of day-to-day business.
0 CommentsHow do the world’s best speakers get across their message? Jacki Rose offers her own tips on creating and delivering an engaging sales presentation.
People are always telling me how they sat through a boring presentation or even that they gave a boring presentation – you know it’s bad when you are the speaker and you are bored by your own presentation!
We are in the middle of an epidemic and it’s called PowerPoint. Most businesses think they have to use it because it’s ‘professional’.
When marketing manager at Profile Analysis, Alexandra Miller asked for some advice on good and bad presentations from the members of the Modernselling.com group on LinkedIn, she appeared to have hit on an issue close to the heart of many businesspeople.
The new sound of the business jungle or a gathering of headless chickens? Nobody seems quite certain about Twitter. One thing’s for sure: it’s not just bird brains flocking to the latest social networking phenomenon. Jeremy Spiller explains what to do when you have something to crow about.
With the UK in the grip of Twitter fever, after Stephen Fry’s now legendary tweets while stuck in a lift, now would seem a good time to offer a few tips on how to get started with Twitter.
For those who are not quite sure what all the commotion is about, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which asks participants one simple question: ‘What are you doing?’ You can post information on what you’re doing, watching, reading, listening to or, even, thinking but all answers must be within 140 characters. Your posts can be sent via mobile phone text, instant message, or the web.
‘Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter's success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple,’ according to the sites founders, who sum up the concept like this: ‘In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens – from breaking world news to updates from friends.’
Here are ten tips on how to get started.
Exhibitions and trade shows are expensive undertakings but, handled properly, they remain an excellent way to generate leads, launch products, entertain clients and raise awareness. However, they are complex events to manage and, to obtain maximum return on investment (ROI), every step in the process needs to be handled professionally.
Without proper focus, exhibitions can become budget-eating monsters that turn into nothing more than a ‘jolly’ for the sales team. Handled correctly, they represent the ultimate 3D shop window for your company.
Here is editor Nick de Cent's step-by-step guide to planning a successful exhibition. Each step is equally important and success depends on getting them all right; after all, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
So, you’ve decided that exhibiting at events is the way forward for your company when it comes to lead generation? Or perhaps you have a new product or service that actually needs demonstrating? You do have a genuine need to appear at the event, don’t you? You haven’t just been sold some cheap space without considering how to fill and work it properly?
To repeat: exhibitions are expensive undertakings. Choosing the right event is key: if you don’t get it right, you’re wasting your money. Check the list of available shows in any of the trade directories, online (try a Google search) or, for overseas events, enlist the services of your trade association or UKTI*. Where there is a selection of established and credible events, choose one that coincides with your own plans.
If not, go with the event that attracts the largest number of visitors and senior buyers from your target market. Any reputable exhibition organiser will happily supply a sales brochure, including a breakdown of audited visitorship figures. (Watch out for a declining trend.)
Bullet points are lazy and kill a presentation says M62's Nicholas Oulton.
1. Know what you are selling: yourself or the solution?
2. Know who or what the competition is.
3. Know what you are asking for.
4. Understand the argument for doing it.
5. Make it as simple as possible.
6. Prove you can deliver it.
7. Make the value message memorable.
8. Eliminate text: use graphics.
9. Make sure that your slides don't make sense.
10. Ask for the order.