joisea.info

As presenters, we all want to be memorable. Memorable for being outstanding, not for doing a far-from-excellent job. In this article, highlight notes and observations I have made about the qualities of the memorable presenters I have heard over the years.

Memorable presenters have their own, unique style. They never try to be someone they aren’t. They are comfortable with themselves and within themselves.

Memorable presenters have sincere passion and enthusiasm for their topic(s). It is obvious when a speaker, even a competent one with all of the skills, is presenting a topic that he or she doesn’t care that much about.

Memorable presenters open and close with panache. Their openings grab your attention and ears immediately and their closings make you want to change your life or habits or take a risk the minute you leave the room.

Memorable presenters tell stories that embrace, enthrall, enchant and stay with you for days and weeks after the presentation. They have studied this art form and have well rehearsed stories that they have told hundreds of times to friends and family.

Memorable presenters share “knock your socks off” content. It is cutting edge, innovative, new, different and moving. Yes, it moves us to action!

Memorable presenters have a superb sense of time and timing. They are always on time. They don’t use up more time than they have been given. They also know how to pace and to pause at just the right moment.

Memorable presenters are in control. They control what is going on during the presentation. If there is a heckler or someone who is asking so many questions the presentation could get off track, they know how to handle the situation in a kind, yet firm, way.

Memorable presenters can also cope with the unexpected. I have witnessed the best when all the lights go out, when someone in the audience becomes ill, or when there is an overabundance of noise and activity. Many have humorous lines for these interruptions.

Memorable presenters do not give book reports. They know their subjects inside and out. Most of them have already lived through the risks, failures and successes, so are speaking first hand from true experience.

Memorable presenters don’t depend upon PowerPoint for their presentations. I am not suggesting that we never use this fine tool. I am just against becoming so enamored by all the bells and whistles that we let it take over our presentation.

Memorable presenters “walk their talk.” They are the same sincere person when you meet them off-stage as when they were on the platform.

Memorable presenters handle the Question & Answer portion of the presentation with knowledge, fairness, honesty and clarity. They will admit when they don’t know the answer to a question. They promise to find it and get back to you — and they do!

Memorable presenters have confidence and self-esteem, but are not arrogant, egotistical, or focused on themselves. They are there for us.

Memorable presenters bond with the listeners. They look us in the eye, they involve us, they answer our questions and they establish rapport with all of us.

They are our friends! If you can present so that your audience feels you are their friend, then I guarantee that you will be a memorable presenter!

Yes, minutes-not hours. Not days. Not all weekend. Not anymore. If you’re ready to connect with customers and prospects and share your solutions-here is the quick and easy way to design highly persuasive sales presentations.

Sales presenting is a critical part of professional business. If you’re good at it…you’re prepared. You’re also well ahead of the curve of folks who are suffering under these false assumptions:

A. I’m more creative ad-hoc

This is a scary belief. If you are telling yourself this fiction, watch out. If you hear it from a co-worker or teammate, challenge it.

Creativity is best when you’ve got a solid story structure and have rehearsed like wild.

B. I’m best when I wing it

Variation on a theme. Do not fall for this illusion. Winging it is a joke. Even if you’re a pro. Even if you’ve done it before. Even if you have a very attractive alternative for how to spend your time before your pitch.

Don’t fall for this kind of thinking. It can be a cover-up story you’re telling to yourself to avoid hard work.

C. I already pitched to this group before

Things change. People change. You’ve changed. If you’re going to be at the top of your game, approach your presentation with fresh eyes and new enthusiasm.

Relying on a dusted off presentation is a really bad idea.

O.K. Now that we got those out of the way, what are you going to do to create powerful sales presentation-fast?

Follow these 6 steps and you’ll be off to a great start.

1. Start With Targeting The Client’s Problems

Based in your research and understanding, identify the top problems your client faces. Start here. Show that you understand, know and are listening to your client’s true needs.

2. Prioritize Options

In traditional newspapers, articles were written with the most important facts and news first. Then, if the editor needed to cut the story, they would cut off the bottom-which contained less important information.

Approach your presentation planning the same way. Organize key concepts by importance. Then, if you need or want, you can skip the less important points based on time and client interest.

3. Highlight Benefits

Building your presentation on your client’s top priorities, structure your story. Using a presentation storyboard is the fastest and easiest way to plot your strategy, organize the time and highlight important benefits.

While your company may offer several types of services such as consulting, training and sales presenting-focus on the specific benefits that address your client’s issues.

Many sales presenters neglect to consider this point. They may find certain benefits more intriguing or important. But what you prefer is not crucial. Focus benefits to connect-the-dots with the problems your client wants to solve.

4. Engage and Interact

Old-school selling often encouraged sellers to: “tell, tell, tell.” Instead, organize your presentation to include times for the audience to interact. Plan your sales presentation with ample time for discussion, Q & A, and client interaction.

Hint: do this early on. The sooner you hear what is important to your client, the better. You’ll be able to adapt and flex your message to match the mood.

5. Personalize With Relevant Examples

Be the person everyone wants to listen to. Share your personal experience through short, powerful and relevant examples. This is where practice and rehearsal really pay off.

Work through your potential examples with your presentation coach. Practice sharing anecdotes. Speak briefly. Share your story with passion.

6. Finish With Clear Compelling Message

It’s often said that people remember the beginning and end of a sales presentation-more than anything else. End on a bang, people will recall you, your brand and your offer.

If you must make a decision to cut a section in order to end with impact, slice away. Take a surgical approach to send the strongest message in the shorter amount of time.

Using these 6 tips, you will be able to create persuasive sales presentations in minutes-not days.

An employee negotiating his/her salary may often feel a complete lack of bargaining power. If the employee lacks alternative jobs, and thus cannot make a credible threat to quit or take another job, it is easy to feel that the offer made by the employer is a take it or leave it offer which the employee cannot influence at all.

The employee or job seeker can however take advantage of the laws of human nature to increase his/her leverage when negotiating the salary. One of these laws says that every human being has an interest in being recognized as a worthy member of society. The only chance to be recognized as such a member is to show that one is willing to comply with the basic norms of society. Not to comply with these basic norms is to put oneself outside society, a condition that is unbearable to most people.

The most fundamental norm of society is the norm of reciprocity. According to Wikipedia, the norm of reciprocity is “the social expectation that people will respond to each other in kind — returning benefits for benefits, and responding with either indifference or hostility to harm.”

The power of this norm can be felt in most bargaining situations. Assume a buyer and a seller are haggling over the price of a car. The seller starts out with a bid at $24,000. The buyer finds this offer unacceptable and makes a counter bid at $15,000. Now, the seller lowers his bid to $20,000, i.e. he makes a concession. In this case, the buyer will most often feel inclined to increase his bid, maybe to $17,000. The reason why the buyer will feel this inclination is because of the presence of the norm of reciprocity. This norm now demands that the buyer responds to the seller’s concession with another concession.

The norm of reciprocity is so powerful that it can be taken advantage of in almost any bargaining situation, even by a party that otherwise completely lacks leverage. This norm is a most powerful ally to the employee or job seeker negotiating his salary – if correctly appealed to.

The norm of reciprocity will only work if it is very clear that the employee makes a concession or gives something away to the employer. This can be made in several ways. If, for example, the employer has worked over time for months without any compensation, he can say “I really do like this work. That is the reason why I have spent hours and hours of overtime here. I think it is only fair that I get some kind of compensation for my efforts for this company.” Another way is to start out the salary negotiation by making a high but reasoned salary claim, from which a concession can be made in the next round.

With the norm of reciprocity in his toolbox, the employee or job seeker negotiating his salary will have dramatically increased his leverage.