A few weeks ago, I attended a client conference and they had several people present throughout the day; including myself and another professional workshop leader.
At the beginning of his presentation, the other professional presenter indicated that his session would be highly interactive then he proceeded to lecture for the next 55 minutes. To make matters worse, his tone was not only too soft for the group and room size, he also spoke in a somewhat monotone voice.
He frequently read from his screen presentation (a combination of PowerPoint slides and PDF documents). AND…he often pointed to each word on the screen as he stated it.
Adding to the problem was the fact that the lights were turned off at the front part of the room so people could see the projector screen. That meant that for most of that 55 minutes he stood in relative darkness.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long for people to start getting fidgety, restless and to start tuning out.
I see similar things happen in important sales presentations, too.
- The sales person does not vary his/her voice.
- They read directly from their PowerPoint slides.
- They don’t realize their prospect is tuning out or disinterested.
- They fail to engage their prospect/customer in the presentation
Unfortunately, these mistakes are more common than not.
Stand out from your competition by avoiding these mistakes and pitfalls and by delivering a compelling, interesting and engaging sales presentation.
Download a copy of 58 Ways to Create a Compelling Sales Presentation here.
