WHY CORPORATE CAPABILITIES PRESENTATIONS …topgunhq.com/downloads/cccp.pdf · Sales presentations...

WHY CORPORATE CAPABILITIES PRESENTATIONS SUCK AND WHAT

YOU CAN DO ABOUT ITHow To Create A Presentation About Your Company

That Will Maximize Your Ability To Succeed

Sales organizations often struggle with their corporate capabilities presentations. Creating a good one can be difficult. There are questions surrounding whether or not to use a presentation tool such as PowerPoint. How can it be made relevant? How can it be compelling? What things should be included or avoided? And is there a proper order to the information?

Time and experience have provided us with answers to most or all of these questions. There is an order to presentations that have a demonstrated ability to be effective (your customer first, your company last). Visuals are critical to your success. And yes, PowerPoint can be misused and just as damaging as it can be effective. So, how does your firm get it right? Read on…

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

Copyright © 2015 Top Gun Sales Performance, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1


Sounds like a question with a fairly obvious answer, right? Take just a few seconds, think about it, and jot down your thoughts. For more than 30 years, I have gone on sales calls, seen hundreds, if not thousands of presentations, and have even taught presentation skills workshops.

The purpose of delivering a CCP should be threefold:

If your presentation and delivery is not designed to produce all three outcomes, stop and start over. If you don’t, you are misusing the most valuable time with a client you will ever get.

123

Clearly this is the one most of us think about. Show the client your expertise and thought leadership. Dispel misconceptions about your firm or product.

Secondary and also a common answer. You’re in sales. They need to buy something.

The third and very distant cousin. So many, many reps want to talk, but not ask or listen.

EDUCATE

MOTIVATE

DISCOVER

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A CORPORATE CAPABILITIES PRESENTATION (CCP)?

Sales presentations can be some of the most nerve-racking, anxiety-producing events in the business world. Without proper preparation and execution, the rejection, failure, and fear of negative consequences can be overwhelming. Here are some items that culminate in a bad presentation.

Lack of Interaction You talk, they listen (or don’t), and there is little or no dialogue – only monologue. Once the rep starts droning, the audience tends to snore, or at least starts playing with their phones.

Not relevant to the client or sure what the client wants to hear

There is always the question of what is best to present. A miss here makes your time in front of the customer a wasted effort. There is a way to have the client communicate to you their desires and have your presentation be responsive to their direction.

Rigid, inflexible presentation decks (PowerPoint)You have 123 slides in the PowerPoint file and you could go through every one of them, if you had a week. But this is what Marketing wants you to cover, and it includes all the great technical details (minutia) that make your product great.

Not always sure of next stepsWhen the presentation ends, what comes next? You’re not sure because you can’t tell how it resonated with the audience. If their approval is not apparent, you likely missed the mark.

Stress, stress, stressThe more important the client, the greater the pressure you are putting on yourself. That means your most important presentations are the ones you’re most likely to screw up. You need to lower your stress and raise your ability to perform.

Too canned, not relevant to the clientClients hate sitting through 65 slides, 14 of which are applicable to them.

Lack of interactionDEATH…by PowerPoint. We’ve all heard it before. No questions, no interaction – no interest.

They are too longHave a point and get to it. Use the slides to reinforce your message. Don’t read them. Anyone can read.

Too much text on slidesToo often sales reps use their slides as a script instead of a visual aide. You can’t engage with slides that look like eye charts.

WHY PRESENTATIONS SUCK FOR THE SALES REP

WHY PRESENTATIONS SUCK FOR THE CLIENT



The following are common mistakes of bad presentations and critical concepts for making them better.

It’s all about me! NO IT’S NOT!It should never be about you, and it should always be about your client. I cringe every time I see a presentation start with “Let me tell you about us,” or “The History of Our Company.” “Our firm was founded in 1901 and has blah, blah, locations in blah, blah, countries, with blah blah number of employees. NEWS FLASH: Nobody cares! At least not at the beginning of the presentation. Show them, don’t tell them how awesome you are (more on that later).

A Proven and Successful Structure to the PresentationThe following is a proven and powerful structure for your CCP. Your company or product may dictate something slightly different, but for the most part, this should be dead on.

1. Warm-up Slide(s)This is a set of slides that rotates through a series of customer quotes or compelling thoughts that are relevant to the clients. This should play in the room as the clients filter into the room and the casual ‘meet and greet’ is occurring.

2. Agenda with a Prompt The best way to start a presentation is brief introductions and a set agenda. At the end of the agenda slide, consider this question: “This meeting will be valuable for you if ‘what’ occurs?” It gets the audience (client) talking; expressing their wants, desires, and interest. This creates interaction and engages the client’s empathy.

3. Main NavigationA single slide that does double duty as an agenda/outline and as a main navigation slide that you will return to again and again automatically (if you build it right).

4. Industry ChallengesJust a few slides here to convey to your client that you know about their industry, their challenges, and what they are going through. It builds credibility. It also is a great opportunity to ask: “Which of these challenges are you facing today?” This encourages more interaction and begins the process of discovery.

5. Customer Case StudiesCase studies say: “I know your market, your issues, and we’ve done this before.” Use a format, one slide each for Challenge, Solution, and Results. It’s very powerful. Here is how it works:

Slide One – Challenge: This slide states the customer situation or problem. It will likely reflect issues that your current client is having.

Slide Two – Solution: This slide states what you did or produced for the client and offers the technical details or innovation that you provided.

Slide Three – Results: This slide provides the tangible and measurable results that were achieved using your solution. As often as possible use data, statistics, revenue increases, cost reductions, or improved capabilities.

6. What to Consider when Considering (your type of product) Here is where you display the full force of your thought leadership and innovation. Show your prospects the things that they should be thinking about. When you do it right, many of your value propositions will find their way into this section.

7. Why (Your Company Name Here)All of the slides above this section have subtly told the audience how awesome you are without saying “Hey, we’re awesome.” Now you can tell them about your firm without putting them to sleep. Why? Because you have shown them you can bring value, the information about your company matters. Until then, it doesn’t. That’s why you don’t start with it.

8. Additional InformationContinue with supporting technical information that links from the main navigation slide or other subsequent slides.

9. Next Actions/StepsI always have two slides at the end of my presentations. The first one is simply a question in a large font: “What didn’t we discuss, that we should have discussed? What didn’t I cover that we needed to cover?” And then the last slide says: “What should we do next?” It’s very powerful if done correctly.

THE STRUCTURE AND ORDER OF A COMPELLING PRESENTATION


OLD WAY

NEW WAY

Slide 1 Slide 2 Slide 3

Slide 6 Slide 5

Slide 7 Slide 8

Slide 4

Slide 147...

zzzzzzzz...

Drags Bores

Drones

Kills Revenue

Slides 1-4 Slides 8-10

Slides 5-7

Slides 17-20Slides 11-13 Slides 14-16

CustomerCase Study

What to Consider

IndustryChallenges

OurProducts

OurTechnology

AboutUs

Flexible

Engages Innovative

Resonates

Efficient

Customer

Specific


I have been working with sales professionals for 30 years. The following are the most common reasons that I hear that reps don’t use visuals.

COMMON MYTHS, MISCONCEPTIONS AND EXCUSES

Arguments For and Against Using Visuals (PowerPoint or in another presentation tool):

“I don’t need visuals; I just like to engage my clients in a great conversation.”Response: Wrong! Look at the statistics.

Do you really want to attempt a persuasive presentation and abandon 70% of your ability to communicate up front? If you think this is a good idea, I want to compete against you. I guess you are correct, visuals are not necessary on all of your sales efforts. Use them only on the ones you need to win.* Research conducted by the 3M Corporation ** Psychologist Albert Mehrabian *** Author Brisbane, Syracuse Post Standard 1911

“No one wants to see another PowerPoint Presentation.”Response: Wrong! No one wants to see another bad PowerPoint presentation.

This is a problem generated by people who don’t know how to do this right. Besides you are not “presenting a PowerPoint.” You are engaging the client and ‘you have some ideas that you want to share with them.’ The appropriate use of visuals, delivered in a compelling fashion is exactly what the client wants to see.

“Too many slides, and the client doesn’t want to see all of them.”Response: You’re doing it wrong! If they don’t want to see them all, then why do you feel compelled to show them?

The reason is because you’ve got 124 slides in the deck, and it’s tough to jump around when the “NEXT” button takes me to the next slide. Bottom Line: your presentation is designed incorrectly, and you are failing to use some of the more powerful features in your presentation tool.

“I don’t know what the client wants to talk about so how can I build a deck?” Response: There is a way to make this a non-issue with PowerPoint and other presentation tools. With a little work, your firm can create a presentation that flows as the conversation flows and is as dynamic as the client wishes.

93% of all communication is non-verbal**

People process images 60,000

times faster than text*

NON-VERBAL

VERBAL

60,000x

Presentations using visuals are

43% more persuasive than those that don’t*

VISUALS

BLAH BLAH

A picture is worth 1,000 words***

blahBLAHBLAHblahblahBLAHBLAHblahblahBLAHBLAHblah

IT’S SLIDES VS. STORIES (OR IS IT SLIDES AND STORIES)Let’s get to the bottom line: STORIES RULE! Numbers are nice and they have their place, but stories drive emotional decisions.

Another study shows that in as little as 72 hours after a presentation, the audience will remember only 10% of the statistics but 65% will remember the story. Which begs the question, why I just stated that statistic? So here we go…

There were these two pie charts walking down the street and the first one says, “Let’s go into that bakery over there.” The 10% pie chart was appalled to see that the 65% pie chart...

You get the joke here, right?

“A STORY IS THE ONLY WAY TO ACTIVATE PARTS IN THE BRAIN SO THAT A LISTENER TURNS THE STORY INTO THEIR OWN IDEA AND EXPERIENCE.” - Uri Hasson of Princeton

10% Remember Statistics

65% Remember the Story



Here are some basics to keep in mind when building your presentation:

StructureStart with the client and their challenges, move into your capabilities, then talk about your firm.

Limit your text AND leverage great imagesThis is where it takes some work and talent, and not everyone can do this. The visual representation of your concepts, illustrated and animated is a little too much for your average sales rep. Get this done professionally. Keep the words on a slide to an absolute minimum. Some say six or less. I’m not that draconian. Go with less than twenty unless you have a great reason (agenda, quote, tech detail).

Kill the eye chartsDon’t make a slide that someone can’t read from the middle of the room. If you have to say, “I know you might not be able to read this,” you’ve got to fix that slide.

Basic slide buildsThere are some simple animations you can use so that your slides reveal your story, not just blurt everything out at once. Don’t go crazy here. Over-the-top animations are distracting.

Creating a non-linear presentation with dynamic navigation This helps you change your presentation on the fly without changing your presentation.

Supports your brand in both words and visuals (kill the generic clip art)Don’t you dare use stale clipart. Make sure what you have in your presentation represents your brand.

Examples of Good vs. Evil in the Land of PresentationsOn our website, we give several examples of “before and after” slides from some corporate presentations. Feel free to visit: www.topgunhq.com.

A Word or Two (or perhaps 196) about Your Delivery

MindsetIt’s not about what you want to tell them. It’s how you want to serve them. It’s not about you. It’s about them. This attitude of servitude paves the way to strong relationships and higher revenue.

This is an acquired skillYou need to practice. There is no way around this. It is the only way to become a high performer.

Consistent and compellingAs a sales professional, it is imperative that you deliver your message in a consistent and compelling manner. You are the face of your organization to your customer and your words – accurate or inaccurate, powerful or lack luster – will be how your clients perceive your firm.

ConfidentConfidence comes from preparation. There are subjects that if I were to ask you about, you would speak confidently for days without hesitation. Maybe that is your pet, your kids, underwater basket weaving, it doesn’t matter. You know your stuff, and you are the lord and master of that content. It should be the same with your presentation. Make it so. Go get it. Go practice it. Once you are done. Practice it again. Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.

POWERPOINT ESSENTIALS


Or perhaps 100, to the Chief Sales/Revenue OfficerAs I stated in the section above, it is critical that your team delivers your CCP in a consistent and compelling fashion. I would recommend that you get deadly serious about this. Don’t just train your sales team, certify them. Put together a program of education and then certification so your reps are fully prepared and capable of representing your firm in the form and fashion you desire. If you have the expertise and bandwidth to do this internally within your firm, that’s wonderful. If you think you might need some help, call us.

Corporate capabilities presentations are fantastic opportunities for you to excel. A great presentation, delivered with expertise and passion reminds me of the scene from The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi explains the ‘crane technique.’ “If done well, no one can defense.” Mr. Miyagi was a great presenter too.

LAST WORD

CONCLUSION


ABOUT THE AUTHORJ. Steven Osborne is the CEO of Top Gun Sales Performance. In his career, he has worked as a sales rep and sales executive. As CEO of Top Gun, Steve works directly with top executives to help them solve their pressing issues. Steve is a dynamic speaker whose insights, humor, and at times irreverent speaking style, has made him a crowd favorite at conferences and sales meetings.

ABOUT TOP GUN SALES PERFORMANCETop Gun Sales Performance is a Mason (Cincinnati), Ohio-based company that is focused on helping medium and large companies increase their sales capabilities without increasing their headcount. Top Gun provides tools, training, technology, and outsourced resources needed to build a best-in-class selling organization. These services include: training for your selling professionals, inbound and outbound call center for lead generation and customer support, sales specific IT support (CRM, customer facing applications), and media and event production services.

RESOURCESIf your firm would like some assistance creating its Compelling Corporate Capabilities Presentation, or if you would like to improve your teams’ ability to deliver it, contact us at www.topgunhq.com.

www.topgunhq.com(877) 217-3703

WHY CORPORATE CAPABILITIES PRESENTATIONS …topgunhq.com/downloads/cccp.pdf · Sales presentations...

Documents

Transcript of WHY CORPORATE CAPABILITIES PRESENTATIONS …topgunhq.com/downloads/cccp.pdf · Sales presentations...