How Winners Present

By Dave Stein, Author of How Winners Sell

As part of my work as a consultant, I've coached many salesreps, VPs, and even CEOs on their presentation skills.  I've seen the best and possibly the worst.

The best presenter in the world is not going to move a prospect closer to buying unless the presentation advances the execution of their sales strategy.  For me, effective planning  is the most important part of the presentation.

• Assess the situation. Who requested the presentation?  What is the current status of the sales campaign. Who will be attending from yours and the prospect's side? What are the names, titles, areas of responsibility, positive and negative "tripwires," and the current view of each attendee about you, your offering, and your company?  What level of person will be in your audience?  Operations or your prospect's board? Since there is value in what you are going to present, I strongly believe you have the right (and responsibility) to ask questions of your intended audience in advance of that presentation so you can be better prepared.
• There are two sets of objectives:  yours and your prospect's.  Specifically what are they?  Get agreement from your prospect in advance as to what their objectives are as well as the agenda that will be the platform for you to deliver what they need.
• What is your strategy for achieving the objectives? How will you be sure both you and the prospect leaves with what is expected? A presentation strategy statement might be, "We will overcome the concern the prospect has about our company's viability by having one of our investors attend the meeting and speak to their long-term financial commitment to our success." 
• What are the all the details that need to be attended to that will make this presentation successful?  Where, when?  Will we serve food?  Whose computer? How will the seating be arranged? Paper and pens with your company's logo? Handouts? What are the messages to be delivered that will support your strategy to win?   How will you know that everything has been completed and tested?  What is your backup plan?  Overhead transparencies?  Hard copies or not?  Rescheduling if there is bad weather? Who will be looking after all this? If you haven't thought about these details and something goes wrong, you've missed an opportunity.

Pre-event Activities

Winners call the attendees in advance of the presentation. 

With those whom you have met before, you can discuss the agenda and make sure they have nothing to add or change.  The effect of a phone call to someone you haven't previously met is powerful.

Here's an example:

"This is Dave Stein.  I understand you will be attending my presentation next Thursday.  I just want to introduce myself and to make sure I understand what your expectations are.  As it stands now, the agenda includes..."  When you then meet that person face-to-face, the ice is half-melted.  "It was great speaking with you on the phone.  Thanks so much for spending that time with me.  You'll see that your concerns will be directly addressed this morning.  Please, have a seat..."

Rehearsal

If you don't rehearse the presentation, especially if there is more than one presenter, you are asking to be perceived as disorganized and operating by the seat-of-your-pants.   Use one computer and one PowerPoint presentation.  Take the responsibility for merging each person's slides into a "master."  Many of the senior executives who attend your presentations will think it's amateurish when each presenter unplugs their computer from the projector, the next person plugs in theirs, switches to remote display mode, etc.  It breaks the momentum.  Invest the time to do it right.

Test everything. I've seen screen saver slide shows of the presenter's family pop up on their PC during a critical prospect presentation.  I've seen personal Instant Messenger pop-ups during presentations that were downright embarrassing.

Pre-meeting Introductions

If I am hosting the presentation, I like to meet the attendees at the door.  Shake their hand.  Look them in the eye.  Be genuinely glad they took the time to hear what you have to say.  Greet every single person. Offer them a refreshment, no matter what time of day it is. 

The Presentation

• Don't start the presentation with a joke.  Leave that for professional speakers, where the audience has come to be entertained.  The fact is many professional speakers won't take a chance starting with a joke.  It's just too risky.
• If you get nervous when presenting, memorize the first three or four sentences of what you are going to say.  Say them over and over for practice.  Once you get past those sentences in your actual presentation, you'll feel comfortable since you are already well on your way...
• I mentioned messages above.  Make sure you have practiced delivering your messages and that anyone else presenting has done the same.  "...and that is another reason why we will enable your company to achieve or exceed your revenue targets for this year."
• Make sure you uncover as many objections as you can in advance of the presentation and then formulate responses for them.  In addition, think about any others that might come up.  Be prepared for those as well.
• Engage the audience as soon as possible.  One way to do that is to display the agenda (which, remember, has been agreed to in advance).  Ask if anything has changed since you last communicated with them.  Ask for changes, additions, or other comments about the agenda.  "So everyone agrees that this is the plan for this morning?  Great.  Then let's get started."
• Don't be distracted by body language.  There are skeptics in every audience.  There are also people who just don't like you or your style.  You're going to see them sitting there, with their arms folded, scowling. Sure, make eye contact, and smile at them, but don't make it your mission during this presentation to win them over.  (If everyone has their arms folded and is scowling, you've got a serious challenge on your hands.  See the chapters in HOW WINNERS SELL about qualification and executive presentations.)
• Never attack an audience member, no matter how belligerent they may be.  Deflect their aggressiveness by suggesting that the comments be taken off line.  Don't argue, and please don't think that the rest of the audience thinks this person is an idiot as well, and it is therefore your responsibility  to shut them up.  No matter how little a group may think of a person like that, they will most often take that person's side if they are attacked by an outsider--which is you. I made that mistake once in my early days.  Only once.
• Remove the loose change from your pockets.
• Drop the "ums," "ers," "ahs," and all other audible time fillers from your speech pattern.  You can do it.  It takes recognizing that you are diluting the impact of what you are saying, and a bit of practice. Rather, slow down and even pause if necessary. It's much more professional.  Plus silence can be used very effectively to accentuate key points.
• Practice in front of an audience, even a mirror, to avoid some patterns that show a lack of confidence and are distracting: rubbing your hands together, swaying back and forth or doing a kind of dance...two steps back, two steps up.  Hint: Putting one foot slightly in front of the other helps prevent swaying.
• Repeat questions you are asked preceded by "The question was...".  It shows you are listening and gives you time to formulate a response. 
• In case you haven't developed this skill, you should know that you can formulate exactly what you are going to say next even while you are speaking.  It takes practice, but it's worth the effort.  You can practice in your every day life. Your presentations will be much more coherent and considerably smoother. (Of course when you are listening you should not be thinking about what you are going to say next.)
• Employ humor if it comes naturally to you.  If it appears that you are trying hard to be funny, you won't be.
• Make sure you look in the mirror after your last bite of food prior to presenting.  That piece of spinach on your tooth doesn't do much for keeping the audience focused on your value proposition, or in their taking you very seriously.

• Respect the agreed-upon schedule.  If more questions are being asked than were anticipated and you see that you will run over, ask the audience whether they would like to hold questions and finish as planned, or whether they would be willing to extend the allotted time.  What you don't want is to run out of time near the end and not achieve yours or your audience's objectives.
• Momentum is important in a sales campaign.  It is also important in a presentation.  Design your presentation so that you start strong, maintain a level of interest and engagement from the audience, and then finish strong.  Once you've lost an attendee to boredom, it's hard to get them excited again.
• Everyone on your team should be present throughout the entire presentation and should all position themselves to face the audience if possible.  Your team members will discreetly observe the audience and make notes.  What did they like?  What didn't they?  All this is reviewed during the required post-presentation debriefing.
• If something bad happens, explain, apologize, and then get on with it. Keeping your cool in a situation like that will build audience confidence in you.
• Invest in a remote mouse or slide advance device.  You won't have to walk over to the computer each time you have to advance the slide.  It also will keep you from standing in front of the projector. Hint:  RF is much better than infrared.
• Check your spelling, use one font, two colors, six lines of text maximum per slide.
• Use animation sparingly in a business presentation.
• Stay away from clip art. It looks amateurish in a business setting.  Use photos instead.

Closing

What will you be closing for at the conclusion of your presentation?  It's your objective, and if you've done it all correctly, your strategy and supporting tactics will have gotten you to the point where you'll say, "So, if there are no other questions, can we all consider the question of my company's financial viability a non-issue?"  Or, "...with that being said, might I suggest that my team meet with your CFO and Chief RIsk Officer, and come back to you in a week with specifics on how we will provide you with the platform to achieve your ROE (Return on Equity) targets for the next five years?"

CEO Refresher: "A Best Book of 2004"

The following University Professional

Selling Programs are using

HOW WINNERS SELL:

• University of Akron, Fisher Institute for Professional Selling

• Ball State University, Miller College of Business

• Northern Illinois, Department of Marketing

• William Paterson University, Russ Berrie Inst. For Professional Selling

• University of Central Florida, Department of Marketing

• Kennesaw State University, Department of Marketing and Professional Sales

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Specializing in winning critical sales opportunities, Dave Stein is much in demand as a speaker, consultant, coach, and trainer. He has worked with companies small and large, from less than $5 million in sales to the Fortune 500, including IBM, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Invensys plc, Honeywell, Intermec, NEC, ALLTEL, Pitney Bowes, Matrikon, Siemens, Cardo, McGraw Hill, Convergys, Standard & Poor's, SunGard, Richardson Electronics, AMS, VSP, Convergys and Bayer. Read about the value Dave can deliver to you and your organization.

Dave is regularly quoted and references in leading business magazines, such as Fast Company, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, SellingPower, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.  See Dave's home page for more.

Get more information about having Dave Stein present at your next sales meeting, live or on the Web.

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