« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How To Close Your Presentation Confidently

To close your presentation confidently is not as hard as one would think, remember in my last post we talked about dealing with objections, so if you have dealt effectively with these your close should not be that hard, we really do not want a hard sell situation, in fact if we have prepared the way with our own story, the prospect will be ready to close themselves.

A few things we can say to motivate them to make their decision as we finish our presentation: “And that’s it”. This phrase leaves the next bit up to them, if you felt that they needed a bit more prompting you could finish with “and the rest is up to you” this will put the ball into their court and move them towards a decision, another good phrase to finish on would be “Well, what do you think?”, or for a slightly harder finish, we could put all three phrases together as in, “And that’s it, the rest is up to you, what do you think”. By now your prospect has all the information needed, another test close we could try would be,” In your opinion would this (solve your cash flow situation)(allow you to spend more time at home with your family)etc. Sounds to me like you are ready to join.

Another great question to ask is, “If you were to join now, what would be the best benefit to you?” remember even at this stage you may get objections, always try to turn objections into a question, never be defensive, we could say something like, “I am sure you have a reason for saying that, what is it?” If we get objections about the cost of joining, we could turn the situation around by saying “let me ask you a question, Isn’t it possible for you to get more benefit from this business than your initial investment?”

Your prospect may have been in network marketing before and will come up with, “tried this type of business before, it doesn’t work”, our reply can be along the lines of – “It looks to me that in the past you experienced that it didn’t work for you because you didn’t have your why in place, or financially you were in your comfort zone, would that be right?” We need to dig for their need their why, there must be one otherwise they would not be here, address that need for them.

Tags:

PowerPoint Notes – A Simple Tool to Improve Your Presentations

You probably already know that one of the cardinal rules of PowerPoint presentations is not to read from the slides as you make a presentation. If you do, your audience is soon lulled into turning their attention away from you and exclusively to the screen. Worse yet, they may be thinking, “Why didn’t she just give me a copy of the slides so I can leave?”

A great alternative to engage the audience but still have control of the material is to use the Notes tool in the software. Just in case you haven’t come across it, access it by going into the View menu and selecting “Note Page.” You then have a full-size page with the slide on top and room for–as you might have guessed by now–your own speaker notes that correspond to the slide on the bottom. You can resize the slide and notes sections, depending on the length of your notes.

Thus, you can have a minimal number of words on the slide, or perhaps just a table or other graphic, which you can explain or use as a jumping-off point, all the while with the security of having the notes in front of you. Your audience will only see the slides, not your notes. Present graphics or minimal information on the slides, then add value through your comments.

What’s more, you can make a template in the Notes section to organize your presentation and make the notes easy to scan. Here is one effective technique:

1. Write the main point of the slide first. What do you want to make sure you get across?

2. Add supporting information, perhaps a few examples or anecdotes that you will or will not draw upon, depending on the particular audience. Write a detailed script or talking points, whichever is more comfortable for you and the needs of the speaking engagement.

3. Estimate the amount of time you want to spend on the slide, and remind yourself in the notes. You don’t want to drag things out, but if you have a tendency to talk quickly, this will remind you that you have plenty of time.

4. Include your lead-in to the next slide. Remind yourself if you are beginning a new section, for example, or give yourself a cue such as “Let’s take a look at how that would work in practice.”

5. Include any other information that you want to have on hand that refers to that particular slide.

So how do you use it? Depending on the situation, print out a hard copy (select “Notes” when you go to the print menu) or have a copy of the presentation, in Notes Page view, running on a second laptop. Whatever you do, though, practice, practice, practice!

Tags:

Effective Presentations

Everything is coming together. You have prospected, contacted and now, finally you get to do your presentation. You have gathered all the information to present your product or service, but how do you do so in a way that is truly effective? Here are a few tips to help you do an effective presentation:

Keep It Simple

Keep the presentation informative, yet simple. You might know all the minute details on how your product or service works, but now is not the time to go into that in extreme detail for a couple reasons.

If your plan is complex, cumbersome and loaded with details, your client’s decision will also be complex, cumbersome and loaded with details. Keep it simple and make it simple for them to make a decision to work with you.

Also, if you begin talking too many details with someone who is not detail oriented, you will talk them into and out of working with you in the same conversation. Watch for eyes glazing over.

Follow the 4 Steps to the Anatomy of a Presentation

Uncover your prospect’s pain

Before you ever go into what you and your products and services can do, you have to find out what is motivating them as prospects, their why. There is some reason why they are talking to you. What is it that they have too much of or not enough of? There is something in their life that is causing them discomfort or dissatisfaction. What is it for the person or people you are presenting to? It is imperative that you find out. Think about all the features and benefits of your product or service. By asking your prospect some High Yielding Questions, you are able to quickly uncover their pain and check those items off mentally on your features and benefits list that are important to them. You want to make sure you highlight the right things in your presentation.
Present the solution

Tell them why your company, your product or service, or you are a solution for their pain. If you have skipped step 1, then you will spend your time going down a laundry list of all the features and benefits without really connecting to their needs and you will appear to have a one-size fits all approach. Remember to keep it simple and don’t go into too many details, yet give them enough information so they can see that you really do have a solution for them.

Determine their interest

This is where you summarize the main points and recap how these things will be of benefit for them. Then ask them how they see your company or product or service benefiting their challenges. This will insure that you did a good job in steps 1 and 2. If you didn’t make a good connection between their pain and what you offer, this is a good time to go back to step 1 and ask more High Yielding Questions.

Call to Action

Don’t let the presentation just fizzle to an end, make sure you ask the prospect if they are ready to get started today. If they are not, then set up a time to follow up. A “no” is often a “not yet” which is fine, just make sure you follow up.

Practice

“Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.”

Don’t forget to practice, practice, practice. You will be more confident and relaxed and your prospect will be able to sense that. Learn to LOVE Practice!

Tags: