Presentations: personality or PowerPoint?

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.

Miller, who works for the company that created the automated field sales force reporting and analysis tool i-snapshot, asked: ‘What are your experiences of sales presentations? What tips do you sales experts have? I've been on the receiving end to some truly awful drivel, and some really engaging stuff.’

Not what you say, the way that you say it

Assistant manager at royal jewellers Asprey, James Newall feels it is the way people present – their technique – which matters more than the content: ‘A good presenter can make grouting tiles sound interesting. A bad presenter can make England winning the World Cup seem like watching paint dry!’

He added: ‘When I've spoken to friends and colleagues about good and bad presentations, it is noticeable that it generally comes down to the same basic points: preparation, knowing your subject and speaking clearly and confidently.  Physical tools (projections, flip charts) should only really be used to clarify or record points. People engage more with a personality than a projection.’

His advice is that companies like Maynard Leigh and Partners With You can ‘offer valuable guidance on how to maximise your message’.

TOPIC

Trainer Paul Parish specialises in ‘helping business people to sell more by saying less’. He highlights one of the key factors in delivering a compelling presentation as ‘purpose’.

He asks: ‘What is the desired outcome? How would you like the views, beliefs or motivations of your audience to change?’, adding: ‘ After you have finished - the swiftest and most elegant route to that, will give you your best presentation. ‘

Parish trains people using what he refers to as a simple TOPIC plan to get the best presentations:

• Theme;
• Outcome;
• Provoke;
• Inspire; and
• Change.

His advice: ‘Start with the end in mind.... You can't go wrong (most of the time!).’ he also recommends Achieve Consulting as an organisation able to offer ‘valuable guidance on how to maximise your message’.

Audience reaction

Managing Director at STA (Stephen Talbot Advertising), Chris Furness agrees with Parish but also places emphasis on getting a reaction during a presentation, in order to:

• make sure people are taking in what is said; and
• help personalise the presentation as much as possible to the prospect.

He explains: ‘It helps probe the real needs of the customer plus, getting someone to talk about their own business/ opinion/experience is great rapport builder. The trick then is not to forget the objective of your presentation by letting the audience ramble on for hours, but to subtly tailor the message to their situation.‘

Audience: engaged...

He adds: ‘Having sat through many presentations by media reps, I find a lot using PowerPoint to repeat facts and features parrot fashion instead of using bullet points or images to highlight benefits and get reaction. Even in the most pre-qualified and well-researched prospect meetings, I find a two-way dialogue is crucial to future success. ‘

Less is more

Describing Parish’s TOPIC plan as ‘right on the money’, freelance sales consultant Jason Morris is also a fan of the old adage 'Less is more'.

He says: ‘People only remember a small percentage of a presentation so you need to get your point over quickly. We also inherently think “what's in it for me” so a one-size-fits-all rather than a client-focused presentation is not effective. (You would be surprised how many of these I've sat through.)

Crashed and burned

LiaiseOnline owner Jon Davey bravely offers this cautionary tale for would-be presenters: ‘I was asked to give a presentation a couple of years back at Memcom. I thought “ OK, I'm on right after lunch, people will be sleepy, so let's wake them up with a new PowePoint slide every 30 seconds.... That'll do the trick and keep my designer busy!”

‘After the presentation, I didn't need telling that mine was the poorest of the lot. There were some seasoned pros in the room and I was quite obviously swimming in the wrong pond

... or embarrassed?

‘These were all organisations with big memberships who were great at admin and keeping the status quo but really not as enthusiastic about online marketing as I was. And, like a Muppet, I'd assumed a level of knowledge in the audience when, in fact, they were there to learn about this new-fangled web stuff. Crashed and burned!’

A salutary lesson in understanding your audience tailoring your content and delivery style accordingly. Davey appears to have learnt the lesson, adding:  ‘Anything I do now is “less is more” – three slides for 30 minutes or even NO SLIDES. Technology can sometimes get in the way of a good chat!’

PowerPointless

The last word is probably best to trainer Parish who created his TOPIC plan in response to the way we work with the ubiquitous PowerPoint.

He explains: ‘ I created it to get past that crazy thing we all do with PowerPoint slides which is write the presentation and create the slides at the same time. Thus, instead of creating a gripping visual presentation, we create autocue cards for the whole room to see. PowerPointless!’

Click to read our article: Top Ten Tips for Creating the Perfect Sales Presentation.

My Question / Comment Is...