Make Your Sales Presentation Memorable

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Make Your Sales Presentation Memorable

Your prospect has probably seen it all; all the different Powerpoint templates, backgrounds and clip-art of two people shaking hands. They’ve seen the text fly in, heard it whoosh by or God forbid, heard the typewriter sound effects as every letter is typed onto the screen.

Do everyone a favor and stop that. Today.

If you want to truly make your sales presentation memorable, there are a few things I would recommend. The first is to ditch the overhead Powerpoint if at all possible. It has gotten to be almost annoyingly overused. Granted, there are times where it’s not practical NOT to use it—I get it. But, if you’re making a presentation to a small group or an individual—you don’t need it. In fact, I don’t want it.

Guy Kawasaki came up with the 10/20/30 rule almost a decade ago and while it’s still great advice if you must use Powerpoint, let’s find other ways to make your sales presentation memorable.

Maintain Control

If you are using a printed slide deck, NEVER give it out to your audience in advance. Once you do, you lose complete control of the presentation. People will be flipping pages, looking at the last slide while you’re still on the first. If you have copies for them let them know you’ll leave it behind when you are done. This gives you control of the pace and flow of the presentation and holds their attention a thousand times better than trying to get them all to “stay on the same page”.

Never give out copies of your presentation beforehand. You lose control of the process.~Butch Bellah

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Limit Your Bullet Points

Your entire presentation should broken into three to four “chunks” of information. I prefer three: the set up or introduction, the presentation itself and the close. Each of those can have four or five bullet points (maybe six as seen below)–anymore than that and you’re going to get too deep and lose your audience. Keep it short, sweet and to the point.

Use Alliteration or Acronyms

When presenting your product or service, if you have three bullet points, find a way to have all three tie together in some way. Make it easy for your prospect to follow along and be memorable. Perhaps have four bullet points spell out a positive word. In one of my speeches, I talk about change and use the acronym:

Commitment
Habits
Accountability
Noticeable
Genuine
Enthusiasm

It’s easy to follow and makes for a great take away for the audience. Your sales presentation should be no different. Be creative but don’t force it. Take some time to think about it, it’ll come to you.

Use Stories

Paint the picture with stories. People love stories—especially ones they can relate to. As you hit each point have a brief story to tie it all together. People will remember what they hear backed up by what they see. Make sure it all works in unison and the stories are on point. Again, don’t force this—take some time and let it be natural and fitting.

There you are: four ways to really make your sales presentation memorable. Practice, practice, practice. Maintain control, paint that picture and make it easy for your audience or prospect to remember your offering. Your sales will show the results very quickly.