Sales Development Training – Three Keys to a Great Presentation

No sales development training program would be complete without talking about how to do a great presentation. You can do everything else correctly, but if you fail on the presentation, the chances of making the sale reduce dramatically. If you examine all of the best sales presentations, you will discover that they all have three keys in common. They use audience participation. They tell stories throughout the presentation. They also handle the objections within the presentation itself.

The first key to a great sales presentation is to use audience participation. People have short attention spans. No one wants to sit through a full presentation and just listen to a sales person talk. They want to feel like they are a part of the presentation. When creating your presentation, make sure you find ways to incorporate the audience into the presentation.

One way you can have audience participation is to survey the audience. First, identify some of the most common situations that people who do not have your product or service experience. Then, ask the audience if they have ever found themselves in one of these situations. Doing this provides two benefits. It allows the audience to participate, which increases the effectiveness of your sales presentation. It also shows the prospect the need for your product or service.

The second key to a great sales presentation is to tell stories throughout the presentation. There is a saying “‘facts tell but stories sell.”‘ This is very true in sales. You can explain the features and benefits in your presentation. However, you will do a more effective job if you share stories that explain how the features and benefits relate to the client. Telling a story allows your audience to picture themselves in the story and identify the benefits that are important to them. In addition, people easily forget facts and figures, but they remember stories.

For example, if you sell truck leasing, instead of just explaining the differences between you and your competitors, tell a story. You can say “‘I have a customer with needs very similar to yours and they were able to use our truck maintenance service when they had a problem in Omaha. We were able to make a service call and get them back on the road quickly and they met their deliveries on time.”‘ Incorporating simple stories in your sales presentation is a great way to convey ideas and concepts.

The third key is to handle objections within the presentation. Many sales professionals encounter a number of objections at the end of the presentation. Often, this is because those objections were not handled at the beginning of the presentation. If the objections were covered as a part of the sales presentation, they would not come up because the presentation itself would handle them.

If you know you constantly get an objection to price because your product cost more than similar products, you should handle that objection as part of your presentation. You can have a point in your presentation where you illustrate what similar products cost and what your products cost. This way the prospect can appreciate the difference in price and you can create value. Because you brought up a common objective, you appear more reasonable and authentic to your buyer.

Your presentation is one of the keys to selling business. If you follow the principles here you will have success in keeping your audience engaged in your presentation. You will also be able to transition smoothly into the next step of the sales process which is to gain agreement.

Being Present – Improving Your Life With Mindfulness Practice

Whenever I start to talk about mindfulness practice with my clients, I tend get a lot of blank stares or resistance. Generally, I think people picture a Buddhist monk engaged in seated meditation for hours or weeks on end. Actually, mindfulness is a very simple practice that is easily integrated into our everyday lives. You can even do it while you’re washing dishes!

What is Mindfulness practice?

A great definition is provided by well-known researcher and founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is paying attention on purpose in the moment without grasping onto judgment. That is, intentionally noticing present experience without labeling it as good or bad. Simple, yes. Easy, no.

It takes a lot of practice to pay attention to the moment. Our minds naturally wander. For instance, how often do you actually pay attention to the experience of washing the dishes or for that matter, playing with your children? Never? You wouldn’t be alone. We’re raised to multitask in our current day society. You wash dishes while going over your day, talking to your kids or partner, planning for tomorrow, etc. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to really experience washing the dishes. Feel the temperature of the water. Notice the smell and feel of the soap running over your hands. See the bubbles. Hear the sound of the running water or the clink of the dishes. What emotions arise? What thoughts come up?

Why bother with mindfulness practice?

The benefits are nearly endless. According to another well-known expert and author of numerous books including The Mindful Brain, Dan Siegel, M.D., research indicates that meditation or mindfulness practice has significant effects on the body, mind and even relationships. Dr. Herbert Benson, author of the Relaxation Response and president of the Mind/Body Institute at Harvard reports that scientific evidence shows that the relaxed state achieved through meditation can lower blood pressure, heart rate and respiration. It reduces anxiety, anger, hostility and depression. It alleviates insomnia, premenstrual syndrome, hot flashes and infertility. It has also been used successfully to treat individuals with chronic pain. It increases emotional balance and mental flexibility, which helps to overcome emotional pain, compulsions and addictions. It improves concentration and mental clarity. It enhances insight and empathy. It improves our intuitive ability and provides us with a heightened sense of connectedness to others and the world. Relationships improve when we are able to be more present with people and less caught up in fantasy, projection or negative emotions that get in the way of successful communication. Researchers have also found that meditators report increased life satisfaction and optimism. All that without a pill? Who wouldn’t want to try it?

How is Mindfulness Practice done?

Mindfulness is a state of mind rather than a specific activity. There are many paths to mindfulness. It is important to choose a method that works for you! In order for it to work it has to be enjoyable (or at least something you’re willing to practice). It has to fit into your schedule. It has to be something you can do. Don’t take an ashtanga vinyasa yoga class if you’re out of shape and have never taken a basic yoga class. Don’t sign up for a week long meditation retreat if you’ve never meditated five minutes. Start small.

Yoga, Tai chi, Chi Gong, and various forms of Meditation are wonderful options to begin to train your mind to pay attention. But, Mindfulness doesn’t have to be a formal practice. There are endless opportunities to practice mindfulness throughout your day. You can wash dishes, go for a walk, play with your kids, be with your partner, take a bath, eat a meal, etc. The point is to pay attention, notice when your mind wanders, and gently bring your attention back to the experience of the moment. It’s as simple as that.

How to Create a Compelling Presentation

How many conferences and events have you been to where you have been preached at by someone in a pinstripe suit, drowning you with countless volumes of PowerPoint slides? Most people that stand up at a conference are brilliant at what they do – they are truly experts in their field and have more knowledge than they could be possibly share with you the audience in half a lifetime, let alone their current allocated time slot. Many (not all) of these speakers haven’t got a clue about engaging and connecting with you and as a result they are totally forgettable. When asked afterwards who you remember, the chances are the most you’ll remember will be the fact that they all wore pinstripes.

When I started speaking publicly I was what I call a competent corporate presenter – meaning I had a strong voice, spoke with authority and got my message across in an effective and professional’ manner. I use the word ‘professional’ here in an ironic way, as I believed that I was presenting professionally because I looked and sounded the part – I wore the corporate mask of professionalism. I had a serious tone to my voice, had plenty of facts to pass on and had a grown up expression on my face.

Therein lies the issue – the Corporate Mask – this is where professional people stand on stage and present as they have been conditioned to do so, having seen colleagues and peers get ‘through it’ by using “Pinstripes @ PowerPoint”.

By contrast the memorable presenters and speakers are having fun, they are enjoying themselves and are carrying the audience with them. Hiding behind vast reams of data, facts and statistics does not connect with the audience – however telling stories that relate to the important messages, reinforce the message and potentially inject some levity into the room will make most speeches and speakers memorable.

You can use Google to get some top tips for using PowerPoint – my strong advice is to avoid using PowerPoint at all. If there are any acts and figures then use a hand out afterwards to remind everyone of the key points mentioned. Nearly all presenters and speakers that use PowerPoint are guided by the slides, thereby making their speeches stilted and lacking in flow – without it they become more natural and expert in their delivery.

Also, why is it that when someone delivers wearing the “corporate mask” you rarely see them smile? Is it because smiling doesn’t look professional and serious? Yet without a smile on stage the presenters look grumpy and angry, as though they do not want to be there. Try using some simple anchoring techniques and positive associations in the mind to make you smile more. There are many tricks you can play on yourself whilst presenting that are not visible to the audience but will make you feel relaxed and smile – I’ll let your imagination go wild now as these triggers need to be personal and have a positive effect on you.

Pinstripes & PowerPoint with a grumpy looking face will turn off the audience before you have even opened your mouth. Start with a smile, warm up before you go out, have loads of energy and speak from the heart not from the head, this will make you truly memorable for all the right reasons.