9 Presentation Sins

Nine presentations sins—and how to avoid them…

1. Wasting time… Start on time and finish on time.
2. Boring your audience… Given key points they can digest. Don’t read your speech. Packaged information with your voice, body language and style to make it interesting.
3. Lacking passion… Believe in your message and let your audience know. How much you believe in it. Passion is captivating, contagious and more convincing than logic.
4. Confusing your audience… Keep their message clear: eliminates. Unnecessary information and conflicting messages. Use words, they understand. Repeat your message three times.
5. Insulting your audience…Talk to them, but not down to them. .don’t make jokes about the audience. Don’t assume that you know what they think, no or have done.
6. Unclear purpose/message… Ask yourself why you’re giving the speech. Be able to state your message in one short clear phrase. Then build your presentation around that… if you can’t don’t.
7. Information overload… Give them what they need to know to do. What you want them to do. Don’t overload them with too much information.
8. Stuck in a rut of delivery…Unable to flex to the audience… be prepared to alter your presentation to reach the audience in a way that is best for them.. It is not about you, you must reach them with your message.
9. Using slides that are boring, irrelevant or confusing…. Are only visual aids that reinforce your message? Power will never rescue you from a poor presentation skills. You are your best messenger.

Presentations

Before the presentation:

1. DO: Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice always makes a perfect presentation.

2. DO: Dress to impress. This shows respect for your audience. Why not? It is always more pleasant to
watch and listen to someone who takes their speaking and presentation seriously.

3. DO: Get to know your audience before the presentation. Meet at least one or two people from the audience before the presentation. Then bring up their names during the presentation to build rapport with the audience.

4. DO: Understand who your audience is ahead of time. Are you talking to a group of bankers or government officials? Any breaking news lately about their organization? What is their pain? What are they looking for? What kind of expectations do they have for you?

5. DO: Check your equipment. Check any microphone, laptop, projectors, etc. Make sure they all work.

6. DO: Empty your pockets. No one wants to hear your keys or anything else making noise while you are presenting.

7. DO: Turn your cell phone off or put it on silent.

8. DO: Take care of your hair. Make sure no hair will drop in your face.

9. DO: Bring your business cards.

10. DON’T: Try not to eat right before a presentation. You never know about the food.

11. DON’T: Don’t be late! Arrive at least 15 – 30 minutes before you are supposed to present. Give yourself plenty of time to settle in and get your thoughts together.

When you first begin the presentation:
12. DO: Introduce yourself. Don’t assume anything. Depending on time allowed, give a 30 second to 5 minute introduction of yourself.

13. DO: Ask questions. Asking the audience questions is a great way to make sure they are awake and keeping them feeling involved from the start.

14. DO: Tell a personal story. This is simple and effective way to help your audience to get to know you. Make them your friends.

15. DO: Tell them what you are going to tell them. Give them a quick introduction on the objective of your presentation and what are they going to learn or understand by the end of your presentation.

16. DON’T: Don’t try to make jokes if you are not good at it. This can be very dangerous!

During the presentation:
17. DO: Eye contact. Your firm eye contact will convey your confidence. Act like you own the room. Do not glance around the room too fast. Spend at least three to five seconds on each person. Each person wants to feel that you are only talking to them.

18. DO: Smile. Act like you are having a great time! Better yet, have a great time!

19. DO: Speak up. If don’t have a microphone, project your voice a bit louder than you might think to make sure the back of the room can hear you. It’s good to ask the people in the back of the room to make sure they can hear you; it’s a nice courtesy and also helps them feel included.

20. DON’T: Watch your posture. Stand up straight. Don’t walk around too much or do any non-purposeful movements. Unnecessary movements can distract your audience.

21. DO: Use the right words. Try not to use too many acronyms or terms that few people may understand. Connect with your audience and explain in simple terms where possible.

22. DON’T: Be careful with your hands. Again, move your arms and hands purposefully. If you don’t need to use them, just rest them at your sides. Don’t put your hands in your pockets.

23. DO: Rhythm. Pace your speech to a steady rhythm. Not too fast or too slow. Make sure everyone can hear you clearly.

24. DO: Show your excitement about the topic. Increase your voice volume and/or slow down your speech when you are presenting important points.

25. DO: Show your emotion when needed. Slow down when you are trying to present an important point.

Ending the presentation:

26. DO: Conclude by repeating your main points you covered during the presentation.

27.DO: Conclude with a quote. Audiences always remember a good quote.

28.DO: Conclude with a story. Audiences always remember a nice story.

29.DO: Conclude with a call to action. Tell your audience what they should do next after your presentation.

30.DO: If you have a question and answer session, before you answer the question, repeat the question asked by your audience to make sure everyone can hear the question. This keeps everyone involved through the end.

31. DO: Thank the audience. Show them your appreciation. Show them you want to be there.

After the presentation:
32. DO: Continue the relationship. Follow up with your audience either through a phone call, e-mail, or regular mail.

33. DO: Plan to spend at least 30 minutes after the conclusion if time allows at the venue. This will enable you to further connect with your audience. You’ll be surprised at the number of people who will want to talk with you after you’ve delivered an effective presentation.

thanks edith yeung

Award Winning Presentations

Winning Presentation Skills ..

Put Power, Punch and Pizzazz into Your Presentations

Your ability to speak well is one of the most powerful keys to business and personal success. Research reveals that those with the highest incomes have superior presentation and persuasion skills.

In fact, speaking well and getting your point across in clear and concise manner are stronger factors in achieving high status in business than education, length of experience or career field.

Presentation skills aren’t just for top executives and CEO’s anymore. They’re necessary for any person in business who wants to get their point across confidently, clearly, and without nervousness, whether they’re presenting a new idea … selling a product … or making a presentation before a small group or board of directors.

The two most crucial areas of successful presentations are planning and delivery.

Planning includes understanding the audience, assessing their needs, establishing objectives to meet their needs, researching the topic, designing the presentation and making sure the facilities are adequate for the presentation. To develop a successful plan you need to answer the following questions.

Who are your participants?

Do they share the same background and level of experience?

Have the participants attended presentations similar to yours?

Do they have any knowledge or skills that pertain to the topic of your presentation?

How many participants will attend the presentation?

Did the participants volunteer to attend or were they required to attend?

What is the preferred learning style of the group? i.e. lectures, demonstrations

How much time will you have for the presentation?

What are the goals of the presentation?

How will I open the presentation?

How will I close the presentation?

How will I organize the body?

How will I get their attention?

How will I keep their interest?

What questions will I ask?

What questions will they ask?

What notes, visuals and materials do I need?

90% of the success of a presentation is attributed to planning. If you don’t plan all the tips and strategies you use won’t make a difference.

Delivery includes the presenter’s style and his or her ability in knowing how to use verbal and nonverbal communication, questioning and reinforcement, group interaction, and the appropriate use of humor. Some guidelines to make your presentation a winner include:

1. Be sure to tell your audience why your presentation is relevant to them

2. Keep your presentation within or under the allotted time. Never go over time.

3. Make sure you have enough breaks. Research shows that adult concentration peaks out

at 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4. Do not tell jokes unless you are a great storyteller … and then make certain that your

story will offend absolutely no one in the room!

5. Eliminate all material that is not directly relevant to the central theme of your

presentation.

6. Your visual aids should be aids and not crutches. Do not overwhelm your audience

with them.

7. Maintain eye contact with your audience throughout your presentation.

8. Listen actively to audience questions. Often the questioner is asking more than what

meets the ear.

9. Always rephrase what you think the question to be before you respond to it.

10. Show enthusiasm. People are more convinced by the enthusiasm of your message than

by the message itself.

11. Deliver presentations in your own style. To come across as genuine, sincere and

knowledgeable, you must be yourself.

12. Keep the audiences’ attention. Have a question, anecdote, story, exercise or

discussion point every 3 to 5 minutes.

13. Have an attention getting opener. You can do this by, asking a question, sharing a

personal experience or anecdote, starting with a strong statistic, commenting on a

current event, or by using a visual

14. Use your voice and body language to make your message memorable. Only 7% of the

way your message is perceived is by the words you use. The other 93% is from the

tone of your voice, the rate of your speech and your body language.

15. Relieve anxiety by, organizing and planning, practicing, focusing on the happy

faces in the audience, doing relaxation exercises, arriving early to get to know and

feel comfortable with the audience.

Whether you are speaking to one person or hundreds, the success of your presentation depends on more than what you have to say. How you say it and how you interact with your audience will also determine their response. By following the guidelines above, you’ll be well on your way to planning and delivering a winning presentation.

 Arnold Sanow – www.arnoldsanow.com

Fear of Speaking

How I Overcame the Fear of Public Speaking

By

Arnold Sanow, MBA, CSP

Rapid heart beat, sweaty palms, nausea, frequent bathroom breaks, may sound like some terrible sickness, but to many of us the diagnosis is speakers anxiety or fear of speaking in front of a group.

In fact, according to the book of lists, the #1 fear of most Americans is speaking in front of a group with the fear of death a distant #6.

For most of my life I had this terrible affliction, I was afraid to speak up for the fear of looking like a fool and being rejected by my peers. In fact, at staff meetings, I would never contradict ideas or voice my opinion and when it came to speaking to a big group I would always find an excuse to get out of it.

There were a number of steps that helped my transformation and if adhered to can help you become more confident and master this most important skill.

1. Join Toastmasters International – My involvement with Toastmasters was life-changing. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization that helps people master their communication and speaking skills. It’s easy to set up a group in your organization or join an existing one. Through a combination of exercises and positive feedback by the other participants you will see your speaking skills and confidence reach new levels. Contact their national office at 1-800-9-wespeak.

2. Get Rid of the Beliefs and Behaviors that Cause Fear. Many of our fears about public speaking come about due to unwarranted and unjustified thoughts. Here are some negative affirmations and beliefs to put out of your mind forever.

*Speaking is dangerous to my well being.

*I failed before in a speaking situation. I will probably fail again.

*A survey says that public speaking is the #1 fear, so it must be my #1 fear.

*The audience wants me to fail. The audience is my enemy.

*I don’t have the physical appearance or natural ability. My talents and looks are

limited.

*I may make a mistake. I want to be perfect.

*Jimmy Stewart, Willard Scott and Johnny Carson have feared it. Therefore, I ought

to fear it and avoid it.

As Abraham Lincoln said, “You are what you think”. Before each speaking

opportunity, think and write out positive affirmations (i.e. “I’m a great speaker”) and

you will eventually believe it and become it.

3. Practice … Practice … Practice - Learning to become a confident speaker is like learning to swim. You can watch people swim, read about it, listen to people talk about it but if you don’t get into the water you’ll never learn. Take every opportunity you can to speak!

4. Focus on a Friendly Face – Everytime you speak there is always at least one person who is smiling, looking at you or nodding in agreement. Keep your eyes on them until you feel relaxed.

5. Visualize the Audience in Their Underwear – Winston Churchill used this technique to overcome those apprehensive, grim looking people in the audience. It immediately calmed his fears by realizing that everyone is just a person like himself.

6. Plan – 90% of a good presentation revolves around good planning. If you want to decrease your anxiety — know your audience, research your topic, prepare a good outline and then follow it.

7. Visualize a Successful Presentation – Picture the opening, body and the close. Picture everyone smiling, laughing at your humor, applause at appropriate times and then coming up afterwards telling you about the great job you did.

8. Use your Own Style – Be yourself. Many fears can be attributed to a speaker trying to adapt to a style that is not their own.

9. Get to the Meeting Early – If possible, I’m always at my speaking engagements at least three hours before I’m scheduled to go on. By being early, I can check out and get comfortable with the room, practice my presentation, and get to know some of the participants.

10. Meditate – One exercise I use is a relaxation exercise which involves tensing up parts of the body and then relaxing them. For example, I will tense my hands, then relax them. Do this with your hands, feet, head and entire body until you feel totally comfortable.

 

As Walter Cronkite says, “It’s natural to have butterflies, the secret is to get them to fly in formation”. By following the formation above, your fears will be replaced with confidence.

Better Talking/Communication Paradigm

 

SAY IT RIGHT & WIN MORE OFTEN

The Better Talking Paradigm

 

In addition to thinking better, another big a part of creating a DONE BUSINESS is to employ a better manner of communicating with the people who can help you get more of what you want.  This would include customers and prospects, employees, centers of influence, consultants and coaches, and of course, friends and family members.  The Better Talking Paradigm is a series of steps to follow when informing others, enlisting support, or assigning tasks and responsibilities.  By working the steps you can expect to enjoy better results because those to whom you speak will more clearly understand what you expect from them.  This makes success come more easily. 

 

HERE’S WHAT YOU MUST DO:

 

1.            Make your listener want to hear you.  Open a channel then briefly state your point up front.

 

2.            Ask that judgment be suspended until you’re through talking.

 

3.            Send your message.  Describe the behavior you want.  Present win/win scenarios.  Don’t talk too much.

 

4.            Confirm both the receipt and understanding of your message.  Agree on fulfillment criteria and time lines.

 

5.            Get a committed response, a promise of action.

 

6.            Follow up, observe activity and results.

 

7.            If necessary, repeat the process more forcefully.

 

Your communication may necessitate a bit of planning; working on a step-by-step Game Plan of implementation so proper/timely execution can occur and the things you want can get done right the first time so they don’t have to be done over. 

 

Often the intent of talking is to persuade people.  Centuries ago Aristotle posited that for verbal persuasion to be truly effective, three elements must be present: trust, logic, and emotion.  You need to make a good first impression by establishing trust, through attitude, body language, voice tone and personal packaging, (how you look).  You have to present your case with indisputable logic.  And you have to give a tug to the emotions.  Then people will want to do what you want and you will win more often. 

 

“If all my possessions were taken from me with one exception, I would choose to keep the power for speech, for by it I would soon regain all the rest.”  – Daniel Webster

Thanks to Dr. Richard Borough

How are You Percieved?

 

Perception is Reality…

How do Your Customers Really See You?

 

To keep both our internal (employees) and external customers happy we need to have a thorough understanding of their likes and dislikes. To make sure you are keeping them happy and delivering the best possible service ask yourself, your staff and above all your customers the following questions;

 

How well do we deliver what we promise?

 

How often do we do things right the first time?

 

How often do we do things right on time?

 

How quickly do we respond to your requests for service?

 

How accessible are we when you need to contact us?

 

How helpful and polite are we?

 

How well do we speak your language?

 

How hard do you think we work at keeping you a satisfied client?

 

How much confidence do you have in our products or services?

 

How well do we understand and try to meet your special needs and requests?

 

Overall, how would you rate the appearance of our facilities, products and people?

 

Overall, how would you rate the quality of our service?

 

Overall, how would you rate the quality of our service compared to our competitors?

 

How willing would you be to recommend us?

 

How willing would you be to buy from us again?

Who is YOUR Customer?

Perception is Reality…

How do Your Customers Really See You?

To keep both our internal (employees) and external customers happy we need to have a thorough understanding of their likes and dislikes. To make sure you are keeping them happy and delivering the best possible service ask yourself, your staff and above all your customers the following questions;

How well do we deliver what we promise?

How often do we do things right the first time?

How often do we do things right on time?

How quickly do we respond to your requests for service?

How accessible are we when you need to contact us?

How helpful and polite are we?

How well do we speak your language?

How hard do you think we work at keeping you a satisfied client?

How much confidence do you have in our products or services?

How well do we understand and try to meet your special needs and requests?

Overall, how would you rate the appearance of our facilities, products and people?

Overall, how would you rate the quality of our service?

Overall, how would you rate the quality of our service compared to our competitors?

How willing would you be to recommend us?

How willing would you be to buy from us again?

Marketing and Leadership

Winners Do What Losers Won’t

• Successful people have formed the habit of doing hard to do things.
• Things that make them uncomfortable.
• They do uncomfortable things anyway.
• This is the biggest truth about success.

What’s marketing? Marketing is a series of planned, interrelated activities that when done right: 1) Identifies best potential buyers of your products and services – and aligns what you sell with their needs/wants. 2) Devises ways to attract the interest of these targeted best potential buyers to your business. 3) Presents irresistible offers to best potential buyers in the most cost effective and compelling ways possible.

A key reason why some business people are fabulously successful – seemingly without effort – is because they have Better Marketing Behavior.

So marketing is what you do to get people to give you money. It’s all the activities, communications, and demonstrations you can successfully strung together to produce a highly desirable event near the end called a sale. Leadership and communication are parts of marketing. What else? How about cajoling, coercion, and manipulation, are they part of marketing? Yes they are. Is building trust part of marketing? Of course, people buy from those they learn to trust. Is marketing lying? Can be, yes indeed, it can. But those who lie when marketing will not long survive, a sale of two perhaps but in the long run the liars will lose big time. Good marketing is not lying. It is telling the truth attractively.

There are two skills you must master for your marketing to work right. The two skills are leadership and communication.

What’s leadership? It’s getting people to do things they’re afraid to do, or don’t know about, or don’t understand, or never thought of, or don’t think can be done, or things that someone might think others can do them but not them personally, or things that make them feel uncomfortable, or things that people just don’t want to do at all. If you can successfully lead people you’re a powerful person. And you can lead people, because leadership is a skill that can be taught and learned. You can develop the ability to get people to support your ideas and to go along with what you want. You can use this ability to get others to do your bidding, to support you, to give you their money, their energy, their resources, their heart and soul, to put themselves on the line for you, and to rally around you in all ways that they can and to do so wholeheartedly, with genuine enthusiasm, as if whatever you wanted from them was indeed their own idea, as if the actions and belief systems you get them to embrace were their own. That’s leadership.

What’s communication? It’s talking; it’s also writing, using images, lots of non-verbal communication too but for our purposes, it’s mostly talking. Communication is talking with the intent of instructing, supporting, sharing, understanding, imparting values, entertaining, influencing, and helping people make decisions that are good for them and good for you too.

WHAT GOES WRONG?

• No written plan,
• No research in the plan,
• No test of strategy,
• Plan not implemented, or only sporadically,
• Poor organization, can’t be productive when we’re not organized,
• Lousy follow up, no tracking,
• Can’t close the sale, make the deal.

MARKETING BEST PRACTICE “Know Your Audience”

• Know what they need and want,
• Know what they are willing to pay for,
• Know where they are,
• Know what will attract their interest,
• Know how to cost effectively reach them,
• Know how to close them.

DEVELOP AN IRRESISTIBLE OFFER

• Specifically what are you offering that satisfies the highest needs/wants of your audience? What’s your offer?
• How will you present your offer? What will you say?

DON’T BE PASSIVE

• If you sit and wait for opportunities to come to you, you’ll wind up taking whatever comes along, even work you may not like much, from people you may not like much either.
• Your pipeline might full up, but will you be happy? Probably not.

IF YOU’RE PROACTIVE…

• If you seek out the exact kind of buyers you want, and proactively go get them, you’ll fill your pipeline with rewarding work.
• You’ll like your new customers.
• You’ll like your life better!

Courtesy Richard Borough

25 Customer Service Tips

25 Ways to Keep Your Customers for Life
by Arnold Sanow, MBA, CSP – www.arnoldsanow.com

In today’s fast-changing and competitive environment, excellent customer service is essential for success. In fact, the only way to differentiate yourself and to become less of a commodity in the marketplace is through good customer service. The strategies for keeping customers for life can be honed down to some basic steps that any business owner can use. To get customers, keep them and to get enthusiastic referrals follow these 25 proven techniques:

1. Reward your customers. Send them a gift, provide them a lead, generate business for them, etc.
2. Use your customers’ services and buy their products. If you want to increase loyalty, there is no better way.
3. Send thank-you cards. Make sure they are handwritten and sent promptly. Peter Drucker attributed much of his success to the fact that he sent out 12 thank-you cards every day.
4. Return phone calls promptly. Since so many people don’t return calls, you automatically look good when you do.
5. Do what you say you are going to do.
6. Do things when you say you’re going to do them.
7. Underpromise and overdeliver.
8. Be accessible. Make sure you are available and willing to help customers whenever there is a problem. Your business should be open to meet the convenience of your customers and not only for your convenience.
9. Be credible. If you can’t establish that trust right away, customers may start to look at your competitors.
10. Appearance counts. Perception is reality, and the reality is that people do judge a book by its cover.
11. Show empathy. Remember the best customers are your currents ones. Stay in touch and continue to service their wants and needs.
12. Have a “Goof Kit.” If you make a mistake, it’s not enough to say, “I’m sorry.”
13. Promote customers’ products and services. By getting business for your clients, you ensure you will have a customer for life.
14. Do things for the customer’s convenience not yours. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to do business with you. The easier you can make it for your customer to do business with you, the more business you will have. Determine all the ways you can eliminate the hassle factor.
15. Send an invoice periodically with a “no charge” on it. This will help your customers remember you. And if it is unexpected, it will have a much larger impact.
16. Have a customer advisory panel. Only by knowing your customers’ wants and needs can you successfully grow your business and be totally customer-oriented.
17. Hire mystery shoppers. To really find out how good your customer service is, hire someone to go out and use your service from start to finish.
18. Be a resource. No matter what your customer needs, try to find it for them — even if it has nothing to do with your business.
19. Shower customers with kindness.
20. Speak your customers’ language. If you use jargon your customers can’t understand, they won’t use you.
21. Have a great attitude.
22. Treat your employees well. If they are treated poorly, there is a good chance your customers will also get poor service.
23. Give your customer what they want, when they want it and how they want it.
24. Give back to your best customers. If you run a special price or product offer for first-time customers, ensure your current customers are offered the same opportunity.
25. Don’t show an attitude of indifference to your customers. In a recent study on why people give up on a company, 68 percent quit because of an attitude of indifference toward the customers by the owner, manager or employees – 68 percent!

Conclusion

“Customer service is more than just smile training — it’s about treating people the way they wanted to be treated,” “It’s also about giving the client what they want, when they want it and how they want it. It really comes down to the fact that good communication and human relations skills equals good customer relations.”

8 Keys to Sales Success

8 Keys to Sales Success

There are many ingredients necessary for success in sales. Here are 8 keys to help you achieve your sales goals.

1. Determine the wants and needs of your customer’s first then work backwards to develop the product or service.

Many times we make the mistake of showing customers products or services we like or offering things we have available. Only after asking probing questions and listening very carefully to the answers should we offer suggestions. In other words, “To sell Jack Jones what Jack Jones buys, you need to see Jack Jones through Jack Jones eyes. The quality of the feast is determined by the consumer not the chef.”

2. What’s in it for me? (WIFM)

What is the customer really buying from you? By listening and understanding we can close more sales by focusing on the benefits (results) and not only the features (characteristics) of what we’re selling. For example, if you’re a travel agent who sells cruises, by stressing certain benefits such as love, relaxation, etc. you get the customer to dream and really desire the cruise.

3. Add value to every contact

We are all in business for the long run. To build a solid business we must develop long-term relationships. To do this we need to show trust, respect and value. This can be accomplished by always thinking about what “extras” we can give our customer. Also, to make the “extras” pay off they need to be something the customer doesn’t expect. For example, after I finish delivering a seminar, I will give the person who hired me as well as the attendees an autographed copy of one of my books. By not expecting this, it provides them with the WOW feeling. Every time we meet they know that I’ll always be looking for more ways to give them more value then they expect.

4. Practice teamwork

To win in selling, you have to be able to play on different teams and you have to learn to play different roles. For example, when I’m working with a customer, I become an extension of their team. If I can help them develop solutions to their various problems and concerns then I become an indispensable member of their team.

5. Watch your appearance

Remember the old saying; “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately everybody does. To make sure I’m on the right track, I dress in the parameters of what’s appropriate for each client. I’ve seen many salespeople lose sales because they let style get in the way of substance.

6. Focus on winning every sale

Success is one customer at a time. Focus on trying to make a sale to every customer you meet. Never stop selling until the customer says either yes or no. You must be 100 percent determined to win. If you have the determination, you will do everything in your power to out service your customer, outwork your colleagues and outsell your competition. Your determination creates strength; your doubts only destroy it.

7. Become an information resource to your clients

Let your clients know that you can help them with any concern they have no matter what area it is in. If they need something or someone find it for them. For example, someone recently called me about doing a seminar on increasing your memory. I don’t do this, but I told my client to give me one hour and I’ll find someone to meet his or her needs. By doing this I become a valuable resource for them. Now, if they need anything they call me first. This not only increases my value, but also gives me more opportunities for work.

8. Don’t overeducate your prospect

Don’t tell the prospect everything. If you give too many choices or make everything seem too complicated, they will tend to “think about it.”

Courtesy of…. Arnold Sanow – www.arnoldsanow.com

 

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