By Mark Sincevich
As you gaze outside of your window to see the sun peeking out from behind the
clouds on what you thought was a predictable day, your boss walks by to let you
know that a top prospect is coming by the office in about two hours. You think
this is good news for your organization only to hear your boss say, "I would
like you to do a 45-minute presentation."
Immediately your heart rate increases, you start to perspire and perhaps your
head is spinning. Your meek reply in the affirmative reveals your lack of
confidence in your abilities. What if your reply was more akin to, "Sure, I'll
be glad to knock our prospect's socks off with a great presentation." What would
need to change in your approach in the next two hours for you to deliver a
presentation that is your best instead of one that went bust?
Presentations have a way of leaving a legacy long after your program has ended.
Even if the prospect doesn't buy from you right now, a high quality presentation
will definitely be remembered in a positive light. This might mean referral
business down the road. Plus the quality of your presentation will impact how
your boss and any other co-workers view you and your abilities. This may affect
future assignments of your choice and even your promotion prospects.
Is this enough pressure? Many people in a similar situation take the stress that
they are under and pour "gasoline on the fire" as their panic and worries
further erupt. While it is important to acknowledge one's feelings of
inadequacy, they must quickly be replaced by feelings of positive action. You
can worry all you want, but the real question to ask yourself is, "How can I
improve the quality of my presentation now?"
We are a society of storytellers. This is in spite of the pressures of instant
messaging, cell phones and e-mail. Your audience won't remember the three
features about your product or service. They will remember the story you told
about a photograph that relates to the three key benefits to them.
In photography there is a concept called the "rule of thirds." The ancient
Greeks discovered that all beautiful works or art could be divided into thirds.
Showing a photograph of three windmills, one in the left hand plane, one in the
center and one in the right hand plane might be the metaphor for your
organization's three key benefits to your prospect. One of the windmills can
stand for "great relationships."
Change Your Surroundings
At this point, you probably have worried for about 10 minutes. You are now down
to and hour and 50 minutes to both prepare your presentation and arrive a little
early into the room where you will present. The absolute best thing you can do
right now is to get out of your office and change your surroundings. This is a
critical first step that most people overlook. Your physical state of being will
definitely affect your emotional state. For example, it's hard to come up with
new ideas when you are constantly in the same surroundings.
While you are walking, take deep relaxing breaths. Don't forget to take your
notebook or a journal and a pen. You'll need these items in a minute or two.
It's important to limit your distractions. You need to focus all of your energy
and creativity on the task at hand.
Visualize Your Success
Close your eyes and imagine your prospective customer enjoying your
presentation. At the end of the presentation, imagine your prospective inspired
enough to take positive action that you have controlled based on your
presentation quality. Keep breathing deeply and smile as you look up towards the
ceiling. Describe in your notes how you are going to feel, the confident way you
will be standing and how the rest of your week will be affected in a positive
way.
In photography a picture isn't taken per se, it is actually made. When I make a
photograph, I have to anticipate the shot and try to insert myself in the right
place at the right time. I visualize how the final photograph is going to look
even before I press the shutter. This is why I might wait for an interesting
person to walk in front of a bright yellow background.
Develop a Framework
Just as writers develop an outline for an article, story or book, it is critical
for you to develop a framework. This framework relates to the sections that you
will be presenting to your prospect. Let's say that you now have an hour and 30
minutes to prepare. This is still plenty of time.
I have worked with various types of organizations and have found the following
framework works best if you have about 45 minutes to present. You can reduce or
increase the amount of time around each section, but spend most of the total
time talking about the prospect or getting the prospect to tell you what is
important to them. I am going to make an assumption in that you know something
about your prospect already.
Introduction about organization: 5 minutes
About the prospect: 10-15 minutes
Optional special segment: 5 minutes
Assurance (past performance): 10-15 minutes
Summary: 3-5 minutes
Simple is Powerful
At this point, resist the temptation to front-load your presentation with your
organization's history, how you were acquired, and the fact that your chairman
or director is the grand nephew of a former U.S. president. It just doesn't
matter. The only thing that is going to ultimately matter in your presentation
is how your products or services are of value to your prospect.
Now that you have developed the framework, start filling in the sections.
The first section is the introduction. Start by introducing yourself and anyone
else in the room from your organization. This is part of putting people first,
because it will be the solid relationships that get the product or service to
your prospect and provide for repeat business. Remember the earlier story about
great relationships and the windmill? Next you need to talk about your themes
and how they are of direct benefit to the prospect. This will get their
attention right away.
Let me go back to a metaphor. When the simple shapes like the circle, triangle
and square are used in a photograph, the photograph becomes more powerful. This
is because it is easy for people to "get it." The primary reason why people are
photographed against plain backgrounds is the photographer wants the viewer to
be naturally drawn to the person and not be distracted by a cluttered
background. The simple photographs are the most powerful ones because the
message or messages get though to the viewer easily.
When you have simple messages that are meaningful to your prospects, they "get
through" the distractions and are easily remembered. And if you weave them
through your program so that they can be repeated appropriately, your prospect
will be more inclined to take positive action. Simple messages are the most
powerful. An example of a good simple message is great relationships.
Remember It's All About Them
Now that you have successfully planted your key messages, you need to make sure
they pass the value check. Many organizations get confused between features and
benefits. A computer software company that has knowledgeable technical staff is
definitely not a benefit. This is a feature. The benefit or more appropriately
the value to your prospect is their software will have the maximum "on" or up
time to benefit your prospect's operation. Seeing how bug free the software
actually is one way to check this.
Assurance
Now that you've made your value known, how does your prospect know that you can
deliver? On a recent prospect appointment, I met with an executive from the
construction industry. He asked if I had worked with any other construction
companies in the past improving the presentation skills of their executives.
While it might have been helpful to show a portfolio of work from the
construction industry, what he really wanted was the assurance that I am capable
and competent to do the work with stellar results. This means being familiar
with the type of people in his industry and their buzzwords.
I mentioned my work with executives in the architectural field. This is a
related industry and one that is integral to the work performed in construction.
I went on to say it is more important to bring diverse ideas from outside of the
industry. New ideas will allow for innovative thinking and improved results.
However, if you do have specific industry experience, then it is appropriate to
bring it up in this section, too.
Weave Your Messages
As you develop your program, keep coming up with ways to weave your key messages
into your presentation. If you are planning on assigning a project manager to
your prospect, then one of your key themes for the presentation ought to be
"great relationships."
You would have introduced the concept by introducing your people first. If you
were a bit cleverer, you would have told a story around the value your
organization places on relationships. Since you know your prospect, you would
want to show how they value great relationships, too. In the assurance section,
you would want to make reference to other clients where great relationships were
critical to the success of your joint operation.
Do you see how the appropriate placement of your key messages helps to control
what your prospect is going to remember? The way to tie a ribbon around your
weave of key messages is to tell a story that directly relates to your message
of "great relationships."
Create a Powerful Close
I am always amazed at how much time individuals spend on crafting the beginning
of their presentations. Typically it's always about them to boot! It's important
to spend sufficient time to create a powerful ending that relates to your
prospect. When I mentioned the importance of stories in our society, I touched
upon the importance of simple, yet powerful communications. While you might not
have remembered this exact wording, I'll bet you remembered the concept of
simple photographs with triangles, circles and squares are the most powerful.
Let me go back to a key message of great relationships. Can you think of a story
in your organization or in your profession that depended upon great
relationships? Expand your field of view even further and look at your previous
experience. Maybe you were in the military and you know the high value placed on
relationships by your fellow soldiers.
My grandfather was a sergeant in World War I during the Second Battle of the
Marne in 1918. His position was overrun at one point and he was wounded. He used
his survival skills to hide under the debris around him. He pretended to be dead
as bayonets poked frighteningly close. After the enemy passed, he slowly got up
and found a buddy from his unit who couldn't walk.
My grandfather limped back to friendly lines over two miles away while carrying
a wounded comrade on his shoulders. For his heroism he was awarded the Purple
Heart. Clearly the military values great relationships. If you had this kind of
story, can you see how powerful it can be? It is more powerful if it directly
relates to the value or key messages that you introduced in the beginning.
Now that you have a powerful ending story and a solid framework, go back and
craft a good opening story. A good opening story is designed to get the
audience's attention and to hold their interest. A good opening story about
great relationships might relate to your organization's emphasis on giving
employees the time to have outside professional interests in groups or
associations. Mention the key relationships that are developed in these places
and how they increase the connection your organization has to the community.
Give a specific example.
Take Another Walk
Congratulations are in order. You were able to create a great presentation in
about an hour. Since you have about 30 minutes remaining, you better get back to
your office and into the conference room early. However, the last thing you want
to do know is to hurry. Walk confidently back to your office and visualize how
impressive your presentation is going to be. Keep breathing deeply and relax.
At one client, I had finished a three-hour information-gathering meeting only to
be asked unexpectedly to speak for about 15 minutes to the entire office of 80
people. The principals of the firm wanted me to present a roadmap of program we
were going to be implementing. I didn't want to go directly from one meeting to
another, so I went outdoors. I told the principals of the firm that I needed a
few minutes to prepare.
This involved me heading out of the office to take a walk around the block for
10 minutes or so. During this time I practiced deep breathing and had my camera
with me. I was able to take a very interesting photograph of Georgetown in the
early evening. Doing something completely different for a few minutes helped me
to reset my mind and provided an effective transition to the next task.
Present with Power
Another deep breath...and...ahhh, you're on! You have your notes to the side in
case you lose track of your place. Since you have a framework, you don't have to
follow a script or notes written too small for you to read. The only things to
remember are your three key messages.
These messages are the value that your organization brings to your prospect. It
is the glue that holds your presentation together and will be the items that you
prospect is likely to remember especially when you match your messages with
appropriate stories. At the end of the day, we enjoy listening to and telling
stories. When you change your surroundings, visualize your success, create an
effective framework and weave key messages into your presentation alongside of
appropriate stories, the great relationships you are showing to be of immense
value will shine through.
Mark Sincevich works with people and organizations to increase
their communication power through a unique photography angle. He is the founder
and chief perspective officer of Staash Press and the creator of the Staash
Perspective System, which teaches that simplicity leads to more powerful
communication. Sincevich also is the executive director of the Digital
Photography Institute. Contact him at (301) 654-3010 or at
www.staashpress.com.
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