Effective Sales Presentations Are All About “You”

Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Successful sales presentations are always you-focused. For example, let’s take this sample opening – a sales manager pitching an association to host their annual conference at his hotel – and break it down.

“In the next eight minutes, you will decide the best choice you can make for your association and your members is to bring your convention to San Francisco and the Fairmont Hotel.”

Count it up, and that is five uses of “you” or “your” and one “Fairmont Hotel.” That is emotionally connecting.

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What Makes A Good Presentation Great?

Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp explains the essential elements for a powerfully persuasive presentation through Fripp Virtual Training.
Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp explains the essential elements of a powerfully persuasive presentation through Fripp Virtual Training.

What makes a good presentation great? A great presentation connects with your audience, holds their attention, and has the power to delight, inspire, persuade, or inform. Exceptional speakers know how important it is to start every presentation with a compelling opening; this sets the tone for your presentation and provides momentum for everything that follows. It is incredibly difficult to recover your audience if they are checking their email or Facebook feed five minutes into your speech.   To keep your audience engaged, you will want to pay close attention to these four aspects of your presentation, from the moment you begin to develop your talk.

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Build Your Business by Being Remembered

Patricia Fripp teaches the secrets of successful sales presentations through her Virtual Training.
Patricia Fripp teaches the secrets of successful sales presentations through her Virtual Training.

Our goal in sales presentations is to have our key ideas remembered and repeated. Say, for example, you are pitching a large project, and you represent just one of several bidding companies. Realistically, the prospect is not going to give you a yes or no answer when you are in the meeting, whether you are the first or last to present.

Consider:

  • What would happen if people remembered what you said more than anything presented by any of your competitors?
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Pursue Your Passion for Presenting – April 26, 2014 Skokie, IL

Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker & Executive Speech Coach Patricia Fripp
Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker and Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Where will you be on Saturday, the 26th of April 2014? If you would like to improve your presentation skills and are anywhere near Chicago – and certainly if you are a District 30 Toastmaster – you will be joining me for the District 30 Toastmasters Spring Conference in Skokie, Illinois. District 30 has planned an eventful program, and I will help you Pursue Your Passion for Presenting!

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Public Speaking – Why Rehearse?

11 Deadly Presentation Sins by Rob Biesenbach
11 Deadly Presentation Sins by Rob Biesenbach

If you want to deliver a successful presentation, you will spend a lot more time preparing for your presentation than you will speaking. Even highly experienced speakers must devote time to preparation, including rehearsal. My friend and colleague, Rob Biesenbach names inadequate rehearsal as one of the “11 Deadly Presentation Sins.” In his recent book with this title, Rob explains why we must include rehearsal in our preparation for any presentation:

Woe to the audience whose speaker decides to just wing it, for they shall be trapped in the pit of despair. Why do people think they can just get up there and perform on the fly?

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Advice on Improving Sales

Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Executive Speech Coach & Sales Presentation Expert, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Life is a series of sales situations, and the answer is always “no” if you don’t ask.  Even Wayne Gretzky, the legendary hockey player agrees – “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

There are, however, two additional parts of the equation. The first is this: The real sale comes after the sale, reselling your customers on why they chose your product or service. (Real estate salespeople and about-to-be-married couples aren’t the only ones who deal with cold feet.) You’re still the person the client wants to do business with. The process of reminding the client of why they’ve made the right decision is, of course, a more subtle effort than winning them over in the first place, but every bit as important. Positioning yourself as a consultant, partner, and resource – rather than salesperson – is a strategy that can be very effective in cultivating a lasting relationship with your customer.

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Preparation Is Crucial in Crisis Communication

Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

In the event of a crisis, your organization might be overwhelmed by the media or by the disaster itself; it could become nearly impossible to provide thoughtful responses and accurate information without a crisis communication plan already in place.  In light of the recent and tragic loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, I share this from Ragan Communications:

Never believe that any crisis is too big or too complicated to prepare for. You can prepare a crisis communications plan that will address every scenario you may face. Your crisis communications plan can have an addendum of pre-written news releases and media advisories for even an extended crisis like Malaysian Airlines. You can test your crisis communication team, your crisis management team, and your spokesmen with a crisis communications drill annually. You can conduct media training annually for everyone who may have to serve as a spokesman.

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Opportunity Does Not Knock Once

Screenshot from Fripp Virtual Training
Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Opportunity does not knock once, it knocks all the time. The trick is, we don’t always recognize the sound. The key to becoming more successful is to find opportunity in everyday life – not just wait for that life-altering, retire-in-the-Caribbean bolt from the blue.

Here’s how to start: Each day this month, you’re going to take a good, hard look at one aspect of your job, business, or presentation…and improve it.

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Leadership – It’s Not about Who Has The Best Ideas

Laura Stack
Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

My friend and colleague, Laura Stack’s newest book, Execution IS the Strategy was released today. Laura has been working with leaders in the areas of strategy execution, employee productivity, and team performance for 22 yeas; she is a true expert in her field. In Execution IS the Strategy, Laura explains that a leader’s biggest challenge isn’t creating the strategy—it’s executing the strategy. It’s not about who has the best ideas—it’s who executes their ideas the best. Laura shows us how to quickly drive strategic initiatives and get results from our teams. She shares her L-E-A-D Formula™ with us; consider whether you have the necessary elements in place for successful strategy execution and identify the areas that need improvement:

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