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Effective Presentations: Can You Say It In 10 Seconds?

If you can say it in 10 seconds, it will be remembered.

That’s a tip I want YOU to remember the next time you are preparing a presentation. If you can effectively communicate the main point of your presentation in 10 seconds, you are on your way to creating a talk people will recall long after it’s over.

While coaching an executive for his Fall Kick off Corporate meeting, I realized how essential it is to crystallize a message.

Create a Sound Byte That Will Resonate

We spent a morning videotaping during which I coached him on his delivery style and helped shape his communication. We realized that synthesizing his message down to a transferable sound byte was as important as the content of his entire message. This is an essential activity to perform when you are delivering a vision or sequence of steps your company needs to take over the next six months or longer.

Frame Your Message

Leading off with this 10-second provocative capsule illustrates you understand how to frame your message for your audience and give them a quick understanding of your entire message. When done correctly, the 10-second message becomes viral in that your listeners can relate to the issue and transfer the issue to others.

Multiple Versions for Different Occasions

Once you have refined your 10-second version, create a one-minute and five-minute version.  They will come in handy throughout the business days and weeks you’ve dedicated to putting your recommendations into action.

Practice Makes Perfect

And then, see how your message works.  Videotape yourself.  It will give you a perspective that will allow you to refine your message and delivery style even more. Play the video back and ask yourself: “Am I inspired by the message and the person delivering it?”  For added input, have someone else watch you deliver your message.  That’s one element of what I do for clients, providing immediate, direct input so that they can adjust, refine, practice…and then deliver an effective presentation that will resonate with the audience.

If you need some more tips, try this article from Harvard Business Review, “How to Give Killer Presentations.” Creating the logic arc of events is a great way to plan a client recommendation ,too. The goal, as Anderson says,  is to conceptualize and frame your content.  And as the curator of TED Talks, he should know!

Give this a try and let me know how it goes.

Five Body Language Tips for Effective Presentations

You are sitting in a presentation and the speaker doesn’t move…for an hour! Are you engaged in the content? Conversely, your presenter is on the move constantly and it is like watching a tennis match…back and forth, back and forth. Does that get your attention or is it distracting?

Up to 90 percent of communication is judged by one’s physical delivery. If your body language doesn’t align with your spoken content, audiences will remember your delivery style more often than your words.

Over the past thirty years, I’ve discovered five physical actions to avoid when delivering an idea:

1. Looking Down

Looking down while speaking signifies uncertainty with the content. It can also communicate an unwillingness to answer a difficult question. Keep your head up and be confident in what you are presenting. Looking around the room when you are presenting implies you are searching for an answer or don’t know the content. Both are bad signs.

2. Lack of Enthusiasm

You’ve got to enjoy your conversation with a client and their team. Once you’re engaged, they engage. It’s always in that order. Get psyched in the morning with a great song you heard at the gym. Take some strong, deep breaths. Pump yourself up. Do whatever YOU need to do to get excited. Remember…you have heard your presentation many times (because you’ve rehearsed it, right?) but, they haven’t!

3. Non-Words

Nothing communicates tentativeness more that saying “ah or um” throughout a communication. In place of the non-word, put in a pause. You will give your communication more weight. No one wants to sit through a 30 minute soliloquy. A pause will allow them to digest what you are saying. It also gives you time to gauge their reactions by observing THEIR body language and craft your next points accordingly.

4. Being Motionless

Think John Madden delivering a football commentary. He wasn’t perfect but he enjoyed every thought he delivered. Gestures play a part in one’s voice tone. Your hand goes up, your voice goes up. Your hand goes down, your voice goes down. This movement keeps a communication alive and vital.

5. Using Qualifiers

Qualifiers are words we use that dilute the meaning of other words in the same sentence. Words such as think, might, want, hope, like, perhaps, maybe, and suggest weaken a recommendation to a client. “Perhaps our product might help with your situation,” is far less effective than “I recommend our product as a solution to your situation.” As you practice your presentation, note how many of these words creep into your communication. Once you are aware of them, you can work to eliminate them.

People will trust your recommendations when you deliver them with confidence. Your body language won’t lie so, pay attention to what you are saying…even when you aren’t speaking!

Presentation Tips: Planning, Controlling and Closing

I’ve been coaching executives and sales teams for a while now. And I have found there are three main areas in which people have at least one weakness when it comes to presentations or sales calls. It’s either they aren’t planning their meetings well enough, they lose control of the meeting, or (in some case AND), they avoid closing for fear of “selling” or looking bad.

In this video, I take a look at all three:

If you watched that video and at any point said, “That’s me!”…don’t worry. I get that a lot when I talk about these three areas. Setting an agenda, staying in control of the conversation and then effectively closing are skills that, once developed, can help you produce stronger results. The three combined will help you be heard and create a relationship, which is paramount to gaining and keeping the trust of your clients. What you’ve also illustrated is a good degree of empathy towards your client and confidence to run a productive meeting. They will appreciate that, and you, in the long run.

What area resonates with you the most? Let me know by replying below. Thanks! – SG

Investors Need Love Too

Q4 is often a quarter for investor meetings hosted by Private Equity firms. The good ones understand the importance of presenting their transformative actions in a relational, clear fashion. The bad ones go through the motions without taking the right level of responsibility for what they generated and especially, what they didn’t generate.

Deliver Results with Confidence

Committed PE firms take the time to carefully engineer their results in such a way that investors understand not only the mathematics behind their MOI (multiple on investment), but also the care they took in delivering their news from their investor’s frame of reference, not their own. The best PE firms also take the delivery of their annual report card as seriously as the content they have created. They realize the important adage: “People buy people first, product second.”

It’s Not Just About the Math

I’ve had the pleasure of coaching many Private Equity executives and CEOs in their delivery of their core messages. Being conversational and confident is mission critical here. What you say is important but, how you say it may be even more so. An investor once shared with me how important he felt delivery was.

“I expect the mathematics to be correct. What I look for now is how at ease the team is in their delivery of their information. If they are comfortable in front of me (and 100 other investors), then I’m confident that their comportment inside the “engine-room” of their portfolio companies will drive the team effort required to profitably scale them.”

Be a Master Presenter

Therefore, every time you and your organization has an important presentation to deliver, be impeccable with your content but also be responsible in your mastery of the delivery required to confidently and clearly deliver your message.

What’s your biggest challenge as you prepared to deliver 2016 recommendations? Let me know below in the comments. 

Five Steps for Improved Client Communication

When most people think about client communication, they picture a presentation with slides, charts, bullet points, etc. However, most people I consult with rarely given a “formal” presentation. Rather, they are called upon to discuss an issue with a client or internal team. But that shouldn’t mean the communication is less important! It still takes preparation and attention to detail.

Whether you are delivering an internal update or an external new business presentation, these five steps will make your communications succeed:

Start with Your Audience’s Objectives

Too often people begin a presentation with background/history versus what their audience desires. Better to state at the start, “As you’ve said, your primary objective is to…”

Two of the most powerful words in persuading are the words ”you said.” It shows you’ve heard your client and realize the importance of their objective. It even helps when a client objects to your recommendation. Answering them with, “I understand your objection but, you said that ___ was important to you. Has something changed?” Now you’re going to get to the bottom of their objection and have new intel to make a revised recommendation!

Pinpoint the Obstacles

Be clear about the obstacles your clients have faced. State what’s prevented them from achieving their objective. This let’s them know you understand their situation and creates urgency to your recommendations. From there, you can collectively arrive at solutions. But you have to know the problem you are solving first, right?

Present an Agenda

Nothing controls a communication more than a clearly distilled agenda. It shows your homework has been done and your ready to edify people of your diligence. It also let’s you know whether you’ve given yourself enough time to achieve your meeting objective. So often, my clients say they run out of time when presenting their recommendations. I’ve found that poor time management begins when you don’t have an agreed upon agenda. Use one to organize your thoughts and ensure that you have plenty of time to accomplish what you set out to do.

Say “What this means for you…”

Once you’ve completed a point in your agenda, you’ve got to link it to your client’s world using this phrase. They may or may not do it on their own. Take the guess work out of it! Make sure that they can see that what you are recommending solves an issue for them. Make their life easier!

Present a Critical Path Forward

Ever leave a meeting not knowing whether you accomplished your goal or what the next steps are? It’s because you didn’t declare the next steps and get agreement on them from your audience. Always present a critical path forward. It says to your client, “here is the next step I’m putting forth for you to accept.” They may not accept it or, may suggest alternatives. But at least you will know where things stand.

Enjoy succeeding with these points and let me know how they’ve helped in the comments below.  Thank you!

The Power of Three

Recently, I have been working with quite a few CEOs, synthesizing important messages and distinctions about their respective organizations. Content is king, of course, but too much of a good thing can dilute a message to the point that is loses all meaning. This is where the power of three comes into play!

Connect with Your Message First

I expect clients to be deeply connected to their message. That’s a good start. If you don’t believe in what you are saying and in the value you are presenting, then you may as well go home. You aren’t going to win any converts today!

But once you craft a message in which you believe strongly, that message can blur and lose its allure from adding too much data. In making your point, more is not better…synthesis is.

Think in Threes

Parcel the message into three overarching points much like chapters in a book. Three key supporting facts will make it easier for your audience to digest what you are saying. It is quite the opposite of the presentations most of us have had to endure when a person presents bullet point after bullet point, never really establishing a main idea and losing the audience in a quagmire of details. Have details ready if asked but, if you are making strong, well-reasoned statements, you will be having a dialogue that is a two-way street, leading to a partner-like relationship rather than a client-vendor one.

“What This Means for You Is…”

Try answering that question the next time you are putting together a presentation or having a client conversation. If you can answer the question with specifics, you are going to be far more likely to capture and keep your client’s attention. And once you have that, you can establish the trust we speak about that is only experienced by advisors who create real value for their clients.

Try it and let me know what you discover. You can leave a comment below and I will respond!

Presentations That Fit!

Most of you know my passion for listening and truly understanding a client well before you deliver your presentation.

We’ve just finished a series of coaching points focused on developing a killer presentation based on your value proposition. One of the sure fire ways to dilute a great presentation is to deliver it too soon! Read more

Effective and Efficient Deal Closing

Securing new business is always a constant challenge but, during this economic storm, retaining and expanding existing business is even more difficult. Steve Giglio’s sales training programs ensure that your teams are constantly learning about your current clients, anticipating their needs and delivering solutions. After working with Steve, your sales people will be seen as trusted advisors with the ability to close deals more effectively.

Case Study

Vanity Fair Asks the Right Questions

The situation:

Vanity Fair’s advertising sales department is regularly called on for services normally reserved for advertising agencies. Clients demand full marketing campaigns, from creative design direction to online banners to interactive marketing campaigns. This new paradigm means a new language for the sales team, something they needed to master quickly.  “In order to the get the right answers, we had to be asking the right questions.  We brought in Steve and he made that happen,” said Edward Menicheschi, Publisher.  Steve’s goal was to alter how the sales team was vieved, moving from product vendors to trusted business consultants.

The Result:

Vanity Fair’s team now finds news sales opportunities beyond its traditional channel of ad space. Team members consistently ask 20 to 30 questions when addressing a new client or handling a request from an existing one, uncovering new revenue generating sources. They excel at understanding clients marketing goals and can tailor programs that meet those needs. “Steve has provided new language that has allowed our teams to find sales opportunities and grow our services to increase our relevancy, which is so important today. Our teams communicate our value better and it has lead to many more closed deals.

ALSO SEE:
Consistent Sales Approach
Improved Sales
More Effective Sales Teams

Vanity Fair Sales Training Case Study

Case Study

Vanity Fair Asks the Right Questions

The situation:

Vanity Fair’s advertising sales department is regularly called on for services normally reserved for advertising agencies. Clients demand full marketing campaigns, from creative design direction to online banners to interactive marketing campaigns. This new paradigm means a new language for the sales team, something they needed to master quickly.  “In order to the get the right answers, we had to be asking the right questions.  We brought in Steve and he made that happen,” said Edward Menicheschi, Publisher.  Steve’s goal was to alter how the sales team was vieved, moving from product vendors to trusted business consultants.

The Result:

Vanity Fair’s team now finds news sales opportunities beyond its traditional channel of ad space. Team members consistently ask 20 to 30 questions when addressing a new client or handling a request from an existing one, uncovering new revenue generating sources. They excel at understanding clients marketing goals and can tailor programs that meet those needs. “Steve has provided new language that has allowed our teams to find sales opportunities and grow our services to increase our relevancy, which is so important today. Our teams communicate our value better and it has lead to many more closed deals.

ALSO SEE:
Consistent Sales Approach
Improved Sales
More Effective Sales Teams

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