Power Presentations, Presentations That Sell Not Tell

Look the Part

It is important to remember that when you are in front of a buyer, you are an agent of your company.  Your company has confidence in you and your abilities or they would not have put you into such an important role.  As an agent, you must always look your best.  Being neatly groomed is imperative.  No shirts or blouses escaping your waistband, please!  Men can wear tailored shirts that help solve this problem.  Women can tuck their blouses under the waistband of their pantyhose.  Dress should generally be conservative.  You want the audience to focus on what you are saying, not what you are wearing.  This does not mean that you can’t wear colorful clothes or accessories.  Just make sure that they do not become a focal point for your listeners.  Anything that will attract a buyer’s attention should be avoided.  The actual style of clothing may depend on your audience and what is acceptable dress for that particular company.  During my many years of presenting, I usually wore a suit and my long hair up.  But when I went into more relaxed companies, I wore a business dress and my hair down.  The key is - - - you want your audience to be comfortable with how you look so they can concentrate on your presentation and not your looks.

Women have a unique set of challenges and as a result can alienate an audience with out realizing it.  Makeup should be applied sparingly.  Avoid wearing too much jewelry and do not wear jewelry that makes any noise (i.e. bracelets that jingle).  False fingernails, if you wear them, should be reasonable in length.  If you have long nails and you are fair-skinned, wear more neutral colored nail polish.  Women with dark skin can wear dark colored polish without distracting the audience.  It’s also a good idea to avoid faddish clothes.  More tailored looks give you a more professional appearance.  The longer the time you will be in front of an audience should also dictate what colors to wear.  Very bright colors such as orange and red can be stressful to an audience over time.  Neutral tones and muted colors have a more relaxing effect.

Organization

If your presentation is to make sense to the audience, one it can follow all the way to a conclusion, it must be organized in a logical form.  This logical form should be one that the audience recognizes quickly and that relates to their business.  Presenting your product the way it is technically structured, for example, will lose your audience.  Organization is really nothing more than clearly putting your ideas together in an orderly manner with a focus on your audience.

As your company’s presenter, your business is selling ideas and as anyone in sales will tell you, success comes only when you carefully plan and organize your approach.  You must clearly identify the key problem for the audience and then lead them logically toward an acceptable solution to that problem.  Merely talking around the subject in a haphazard manner will leave your listeners confused, not convinced.

As a seller of ideas, you must always speak from your audience’s point of view.  They will be motivated only by what they want, not by what you want.  As you organize your talk, think in these terms.  Analyze what it will take to motivate your audience, to get them to agree with you and to understand you or take action on your behalf.  Then, develop your ideas to best supply that motivation.

Your presentation should have a clearly defined opening, body and close.  I have seen so many presentations that do the first two, but leave out the close.  This can be disastrous!  That’s your time to ask for action.