Perfect Virtual Presentation

DELIVERING THE

ASLAN

Combined, over the last 30+ years, I’ve watched and made hundreds of sales presentations. Here is the most important thing I’ve learned: the best presenta-tion wins, not necessarily the best solution.

There’s just not enough time built into the deci-sion-making process for the proper amount of due diligence. Plus, study after study has been proven that emotions, not facts, drive decision making. Winning often comes down to who delivers the best performance, not who can ultimately deliver the best value.

This in and of itself adds to the challenge and pres-sure of delivering a great presentation - and there is no stage more difficult than presenting virtually.

With virtual presentations, customers are more dis-tracted, you lose the magic of eye contact, charisma is diminished to just a voice, and it’s much harder to see and experience the product or solution. But here’s the good news: if you can deliver well virtually, you can deliver anywhere.

When selling virtually, there is no room for error. It requires advanced skills. But those skills will serve you well in every aspect of selling and influence.

To help you win 90%+ of virtual presentations (yes it is possible), I want to offer the most important se-crets I’ve learned over the years on how the best of the best deliver a killer, drop the mic, presentation. It all starts with the right framework.

Delivering the Perfect Virtual PresentationBy Tom Stanfill

The Virtual Presentation FrameworkThere is a framework for all great stories, and all great stories start with a hero. If you’re the hero, lead with who you are, followed by the most logical way to tell your story and the solutions you want to sell. That’s what most sellers do; it’s why the average seller wins 20% of their opportunities and most are missing quota.

Here is a better idea. Make the customer the hero of the story. (People like to be heroes). Begin with one slide that articulates what the hero wants and how you can help them get what they want.

CHAPTER 1

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PART 1: THE OPENINGYOUR RECOMMENDATION

Everyone you present to, wants something. They have a current state and a desired future state. This is why you were invited in, to help them achieve this new reality, to help them build a bridge to their de-sired destination. Therefore, lead with how you can help them get there – your recommendation.

DESIRED DESTINATION

Start by demonstrating that you understand what they want. Just one or two sentences that draw them and make them think, “They get it.” If you aren’t confident of their desired future state, then lead with

your best guess, based on work with similar customers.

The goal here is twofold: demonstrate the customer/prospect is the most import-ant person in the story, and immediately capture their attention. There is no better

way to grab the audience’s attention than by talking about what the audience is most interested in – themselves.

When developing your concise summary of their desired destination, work to phrase it in a way that inspires and stirs emotion. Communicating this with a only number can fall flat: “Increase profits by

15%...” It doesn’t illicit emotion or capture the great-er purpose - the “why” behind the what.

For example, here’s what a savvy marketing firm delivered to our leadership team: Objective: Double the number of MQLs, grow the channel, and appear on the front page of the top 5 key search words. And, more importantly, expand ASLAN’s reach to change the way people influence, sell, relate, and to become more Other-Centered.

Not only was this spot on, it also inspired us. It reminded us of our greater purpose – to leverage our platform to not only improve the performance of sellers and leaders, but to improve their lives, to change the way they relate to the people they love the most, to become Other-Centered. And by using our terms, (e.g., “Other-Centered), that firm instantly made us the hero of the story. A perfect start.

If you swing and miss, which happens, they will appreciate the effort and provide feedback. Your goal is to serve, and when you genuinely attempt to communicate your Other-Centered purpose, you naturally draw the audience in.

A word of caution: often, sellers believe articulating the prospect’s point of view is the most important part of the presentation. It isn’t. The opening line just sets the tone and ensures alignment, but identifying the problem does not convince the decision-maker that you can solve the problem. The next section, most likely, will determine if you will win or lose.

“When we work with companies like ____, they are focused on ____.”

Give an Overview of The BridgeNext, outline what is required to reach their desired destination – the bridge. This isn’t a comprehensive list of what you offer, or even everything that is required to reach their desired destination, but based on previous discovery, includes the 3 to 5, most import-ant “best practices” or “disruptive truths” about how to make their dreams a reality.

These “truths” are not a list of your solutions. This not only bores the audience and puts you back in the hero seat. Your “truths” set up the need for the solutions you offer (more on that later).

For example, a marketing firm was presenting me with a pitch to redesign our website; one of their opening truths was simple yet compelling: “People don’t read websites, they scan them.”

This works on so many levels. Because that was new information, it caught my attention – it was disruptive. It also built instant credibility. And because they didn’t lead with the solution – We offer website copy – but led with a truth, I saw them more as a trusted consultant than a seller of services.

Why narrow it down to 3 to 5 Best Practices? Because your biggest nemesis in presenting your solution is time. There just isn’t enough time to communicate all that you offer. If you try, it all becomes noise and the critical points will be missed. Remember all facts aren’t equal. Just like a chef offering samples from their menu, you have to leave some of your best stuff in the kitchen.

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One Slide“Your Recommendation” should only be one slide, not slides. I’ve seen many sellers spend 15 to 30 minutes describing the customer’s problem, as if to prove, “I really understand you.” Yes, you want to demonstrate that you understand your customer, but that’s better done in the context of showing them how you solve their problem, instead of losing pre-cious time telling them what they already know.

They will not choose you just because you listened well. They will choose you because you listened AND demonstrated that you have the best solution to

their problem. And again, time is not your friend. Don’t waste it by spending more than a few minutes feeding them information they already know.

Why so much focus on this one slide? By narrowing in on a handful of truths, this becomes your central position for the entire presentation. It determines what you present and it’s where you take a stand. If they buy these truths, they will buy your solution.

• This is where you demonstrate you offer expertise they don’t have.

• This is where you gain a competitive advantage.• This is where you’re no longer just a sales rep. • You nail this, you will nail the presentation.

You may be thinking, “Don’t I need to tell them who I am?” Yes, before you dive into your presentation, there will be introductions. This is where you offer a few short sentences about who you are, but the purpose here is to provide context, not sell yourself or your solution. The best strategy for selling your solution is to demonstrate you have a unique way of solving their problem, not with lengthy introductions of who you are, how long you’ve been in business, who you worked with, etc. That’s a yawner. You might as well bring in your family album and show them pictures of your last vacation.

Here’s an example of what a Recommendation slide might look like

PART 2: THE PROPRIETARY SOLUTION

This is the meat of your presentation and it has three subsections:

• Restate the truth with a hero image• Validate the truth with one or two slides• Tease the customer with how you can solve the

problem.

Notice where your solution falls in this sequence: last. The majority of time is spent operating as a highly competent, but free, consultant who shares a better way to “bridge” the gap, instead of a commer-cial/ highlight reel about the solutions you offer.

Therefore, focus more on how to think differently about the problem, than on the bells and whistles of your solution. It starts with reminding them of the truth.

STATE THE TRUTH

The goal here is to provide more context for “the truth” previously shared in “Your Recommendation” and also serves to orient the audience. Once you’ve crafted the disruptive truth, which is no easy task, the trick here is to find the right hero image. Here’s one from a company called Zuora. You can read more about how they present their solution. It’s impressive.

Here’s a ‘truth” that ASLAN shares to help pro-spective customers broaden their focus from just developing their sellers to focusing on the front-line leader to drive change.

You can see both examples share a definitive truth, no weak language, with very little copy. The goal here is to eliminate distractions and highlight the truth. Plus, you don’t want the audience to read your slide. You want them focused and listening to you.

Next, you need to show them why they should change their beliefs and embrace this new truth.

VALIDATE THE TRUTH

Now that you’ve proposed a new way to think about the problem, you need to back up your bold state-ment. All that is required is one or two slides to validate the truth. A few options are to share re-search, best practices gleaned from existing clients, or findings from an assessment of their organization.

Assume they will believe you and don’t spend too much time “proving” your main point. If they have questions, they will ask for more clarity. Just offer a clean slide with a few numbers, or words, and a pic-ture or infographic. Again, you are telling the story, not the slide.

Here’s another example from Zuora. Check out how they validate the truth that the world is moving to a subscription economy by sharing how a start-up crushed a giant. (We all love a Cinderella story).

Now you are ready to present your solution. Think of what comes next as your “therefore.” The customer has embraced the truth, [therefore] they need to do something different. Play the soundtrack, now it’s time to unveil your unique solution.

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You can ‘Validate the Truth’ in as little as one slide.

TEASE WITH YOUR RECOMMENDED SOLUTION

Key word here is “tease.” Your goal is for the listener to ask for more information, not to be bored with ten features and ben-efits when they only needed three to be convinced. Again, the best way to present your solution is with very little information, a clean slide with lots of space, that sets you up as the storytell-er and not a story-reader.

Keep the audience engaged by creating mystery. The best way to illustrate this is by sharing a personal example. Let’s walk through how ASLAN’s presents our leadership development program called Catalyst.

This solution supports the truth that Change Happens 1:1. In other words, if your front-line leaders are the number one driver to sales force transformation, you need a solution that equips them to do just that. Therefore, you need our Catalyst program.

Here’s the setup. As you look at the slide, do you know what story will be told? Can you figure out the mystery? What does 4D mean? Why are the three circles below blank? The brain wants to fill in the missing pieces. It instinctually wants to solve the mystery. And if you want to solve the puzzle, you must pay attention.

Remember, when presenting virtually, keeping the audience engaged is your number one challenge.

This is how we tell the story. ASLAN

There are three simple dials that drive results. Only three. I’ll spare you the explanation of the three dials – Desire, Productivity & Competency, but the important thing to note is when unpacking the three dials, the focus is to share new truths about how managers drive results versus the features of our solution. The more expertise I reveal about how to solve their problem, the more they believe my solution will deliver the goods. Plus, anytime the customer is learning something that will help them in their career, they pay attention.

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Performance is measured by results. Therefore, every leader is measured by one thing – results. This is the center dial on every leader’s dashboard. But if results aren’t achieved, something needs to change. What do your leaders focus on to drive change? (Pause to engage the listener, allow them to contemplate the question).

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NOW TIME TO UNPACK THE CATALYST SOLUTION.

First, we define the three roles of leaders who understand how to drive change – they lead, manage, and coach. Next, we share soundbites related to becoming an effective leader, manager & coach. As you can see, there is not much copy and it sets up the presenter with the ability to unpack each point.

This is a two-day program with dozens of concepts taught, tools provided, new theories explored, and dozens of bene-fits. Hundreds of companies that have benefited from im-plementing the Catalyst program. But I only mention a few… Again, the goal is to tease with THE most important, unique points you need to make about your solution. One slide tells the story.

If you missed something and you’re presenting to a qualified, legitimate prospect, they will ask. The alternative is a presen-tation death sentence: bore the audience.

For example, 99% of the time, someone will ask, “What do you mean by 4D?” People are always interested in the answer to their question. The answer becomes the punchline to the presentation of our Catalyst solution.

“Most organizations only measure in 2 dimensions – Results and Pro-

ductivity, because they are unaware that that desire and competency

can easily be measured. High performing organizations measure perfor-

mance in four dimensions – Results, Desire, Productivity & Competency.”

This tees up one of the key proprietary benefits of our leadership solution – the tools and abilities to equip managers to operate in 4D vs. 2D.

PART 3: PROVE IT

Once you clearly communicate that you offer the best “bridge” to their desired destination, you need one slide to answer the question: “Does what you are recommending actually work?”

If you have not convinced them by now, this slide will not solve that problem. The goal here is to pro-vide the ROI or whatever results needed to demon-strate your solution will and has worked. Remember, everyone has a case study. Therefore, this section does not differentiate you from the competition or change beliefs, it just validates what they have already, hopefully, come to believe. It’s the exclama-tion at the end of the sentence.

The goal of the first three sections is to demonstrate you offer the best solution, while part four, which makes up about 20% of your presentation, should be dedicated to answering a few, key questions.

Does what you are recommending actually work?

PART 4: THE Q&A This is where you answer questions such as:

• What’s your process?• How much does it cost?• Who will we work with?• What’s the timeline?

The questions you prepare to answer are the top 3 to 5 most asked questions once a prospect moves from: “Should I buy your solution?” to “How will we work together?”

In other words, other than negotiating price, the hard part is over and now it’s time to provide more clarity on the details.

Does that mean you won’t cover some important informa-tion or key components of your solution? No, some of those important facts that were left on the cutting room floor, will be touched on here. As if to say, “Yeah we have that too. It just didn’t make it into the main show because it wasn’t your primary driver in determining the best solution provider or solution.”

Again, the goal here is to keep the slides clean and offer a few words to tee up what you want to say. If more details are required by the client, they can either be verbally communi-cated or provided post-presentation. Remember, based on your previous discovery, you want them paying attention to the most important points.

Here’s my guarantee:

If you follow this approach, and your truths or insights change the way the customer thinks about the problem, you will never lose the interest of the audience. You will be viewed as a thought leader and not a seller, and truly distinguish yourself from the competition. I promise you that will put you in the top 1% of presenters - and just maybe the next TED Talk star.

Controlling the StageNext, I want to explore another critical element of the perfect performance – controlling the stage. Remember, it’s your performance, but way too often sellers allow the customer to determine the stage, the “sound system,” and what “songs” are performed. A few years ago, I was part of the decision-making team organized to choose between two solution providers. They each were given 45 minutes to make their virtual presentation. Sounds simple enough. Sounds equitable. So, what would you do? 2

CHAPTER 2

CONTROLLING THE STAGE (CONTINUED)

The first seller did what most sellers do. They say, “yes sir” or ,“yes ma’am” and do what they’re told. She knew her stuff and competently presented the solution. But she never had a chance. It was as though she was asked to sing in front of 5,000 people with no microphone, while her competition had a full band and killer sound system. Talent didn’t matter, skill didn’t matter, and preparation didn’t help. She needed to control the stage or not play at all. Here’s the back story. One firm was highly recommended by an existing vendor and, due to their sponsorship, had multiple meetings with the ultimate decision-maker. While the other firm, found through a Google search, came in cold.

The second presenter knew exactly what to communicate about their solution. Given the rules of the game, as defined by the decision-maker, the first presenter never got off the ground. In a 45-minute presentation to complete strangers, it was impossible for anyone to unseat the firm that had the inside track. Let me repeat that. Impossible! In other words, she may have had an amazing voice, but no one really ever saw her perform.

To change beliefs, to win the deal, you need to control the performance. In more simple terms, you need to determine: the information needed so that you can cull what to share, the time required to demonstrate the value of your solution, and who should be there.

DETERMINE INFO REQUIRED

Way too often, sellers are asked to present to an au-dience they don’t know or, due to little information on the problem to be solved or decision drivers, de-liver a generic presentation. This is not just a recipe for disaster, but also a complete waste of time.

Early in the sales process, a generic presentation of “here’s what we offer” can definitely help the cus-tomer get a clearer picture of who you are and is very reasonable. But, if the goal of the presentation is to determine who wins the deal, unless you are the only game in town, blindly throwing darts at a board, you will fail most of the time.

To make the most effective presentation, you need to know 4 things:

• What problem needs solving? • Why is that problem on the list of priorities?

Or how does that problem impact the business? • What criteria will be used to determine who

will solve the problem (i.e., formal and informal decision drivers)?

• And who created those drivers (i.e., the decision-maker or makers)?

If you can answer those for questions, you most likely have a good shot at building the right presentation. If not, don’t perform if you don’t know the purpose of the performance, what kind of “music they like,” or if the person who chooses the “talent” isn’t in the room.

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Determine what problem needs solving.

CONTROLLING THE STAGE

DETERMINE TIME REQUIRED

Surprisingly, most decision-makers don’t have the experience to build the perfect process for vetting a solution. Therefore, if they lead, you are following someone who doesn’t know where they are going. It’s the blind leading the blind - and way too often, this results in a lose/lose.

Based on the decision drivers, determine how much time is required to ensure the prospect can ade-quately assess the solution. If they need to see it to believe it, how much time is required for the deci-sion-making team or decision-maker to “see” it?

For example, if they need to meet the key members of your team or demo a product, determine how much time is required to do just that. Don’t start

with the question: “How much time can I have to present my solution?” Ask yourself, “What do they really need to see, experience, understand, in order to make the best decision?” Let that determine how you set the “stage.”

As Stephen Covey says, “begin with the end in mind” and then determine the time required to meet the customer’s objective. If the customer is unclear due to lack of experience, then it’s your responsibility to communicate and influence the customer to follow your recommended process - which may require adding steps to their decision-making process. If you are unsure of the right process or time required, that’s your homework assignment number one.

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Begin with the end in mind.

CONTROLLING THE STAGE

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DETERMINE WHO IS REQUIRED

As mentioned earlier, if the right person or per-sons aren’t in the room, what is the purpose of the presentation? To equip the attendees to sell your solution? Would you trust the outcome of a deal to someone you just met, whose only knowledge of your solution is based on a 1.5-hour presentation?

Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions like:

• Who is driving and involved in the decision-making process?

• Who is the person who had the most influence over determining the decision drivers?

• What will happen after the presentation? Do you need to meet with anyone else?

• How will this project get funded? Will he/she (the Economic Buyer) be in the room?

• Who could kill this deal?

Most sellers are tentative for a good reason: they fear damaging the relationship with their main contact, who is most likely the Evaluator. The person who makes it happen but not the person who deter-mines what happens. I get it. It’s a relationship that’s critically important.

The key is to spend enough time with the Evaluator to ensure they shift from evaluating your solution to becoming an advocate. Simply put, sell them first. Once sold, you can begin working together on how to sell the solution to the rest of the decision-making team.

If you are a late arrival to the “party” and don’t have the opportunity to build an alliance, you are already in a very weak position. Now it becomes imperative that you shake things up a bit and take some risk to win the deal. If not, you are most likely just practicing your presentation skills for the next opportunity.

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The key is to check your motive.

POSITION THE WHY

The key to accomplishing all the above boils down to answering the “Why” question. Why is it in the cus-tomer’s best interest to provide additional informa-tion, give you their time, add a step to the process, or access to the right people? If you can’t position your request as a way to help the customer make the best decision, it’s just seen as a manipulation tactic at worst, or at best, groveling. So spend some time nailing down how to position your request.

“If you can provide more information about ___, I will be able to make a recommendation, not just a presentation. And I can focus my time on only what is most important to you.”“We have found that if the right people aren’t in the room, we often struggle to ensure the solution will be backed by the executive team, which, a high percentage of the time, greatly diminishes ROI.”

“For you to really assess our solution, or any solu-tion designed to solve ____, you need to see how it works. We have found that the time required to ____ is about 2 hours. Again, my goal is to eliminate risk and for you to know exactly what you are buying – from us or anyone else. There is too much at stake to shortcut the process.”

If you’re passionate about helping versus selling, your enthusiasm and conviction will be compelling, and the right words fill flow. The key is to check your motive – is it to help the customer make the best decision or just win a deal? Remember, your motive will ultimately be transparent.

CONTROLLING THE STAGE

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DETERMINE WHEN TO SAY NO

I can already hear you saying, “Yeah Tom, in a perfect world I would know everything I need to know, I would get the time I need to demonstrate my solu-tion, and I would have the right people in the room. But my world is far from perfect.”

Believe me, I get it. Especially when you are invited in late, it’s common to be somewhat in the dark. If you have a competitive advantage and the odds are in your favor, it’s wise not to fight the process. But sometimes you need to hit the brakes.

There are situations where you need to say, “No, I’m not ‘singing’ unless ____.” Remember, every time you’re working on a deal, you’re losing a deal. You cannot be in two places at once. Therefore, it’s up to you to determine if giving up your most valuable resource, time, is worth it.

Knowing when to say “no” is based on 2 questions:

If you don’t have the information described above or aren’t able to meet with the ultimate decision maker, will you lose? Will the process defined by the decision-making team lead to a decision that will most likely result in a complete failure to solve their problem? If you are going to lose anyway or the decision-making process is so flawed that they will ultimately choose the wrong provider or flawed solution, it becomes easy to draw a hard line in the sand and say, “no.”

“50% of the success of an initiative like this is based on _____. And without understanding more about ____ and having the opportunity to demonstrate _____, I’m just not sure how I can help you make the best decision. Are you open to changing your process?”

Here’s the good news: in the few times I’ve created a fork in the road and boldly but graciously stated my requirements to participate, the customer changed their process and I won a 100% of those deals. Why? Again, I think it primarily comes down to motive. My genuine goal wasn’t to manipulate, but rather to serve. I knew either I couldn’t help them with the information available to me or the process was so flawed they were headed off a cliff and it was my responsibility to make that clear. The simple truth is this: if you are the expert in solving the customer’s problem, you should lead. If you aren’t or act like you aren’t, they will probably choose someone else.

3CHAPTER 3

The DeliveryUp to this point, we’ve been focused on creating a framework and setting the stage for a drop-the-mic presentation. Now, I want to shift to delivery.

What follows are 8 pro tips on ensuring the perfect performance.

TIP ONE

Too Little is Better Than Too Much The first step to effective delivery is not about charisma, language, or creative theatrics, it’s about the right amount of content. Nothing derails a great presentation like the panic you feel when realizing, “I’m only on slide 5 of 25 and I’m halfway through my presentation time.” Being relaxed, confident, and present starts with calibrating the number of slides with the time allotted.

To accomplish this, here’s a simple rule to determine the perfect amount of content: plan on 5 minutes per “meaty” slide.

Here’s what I mean. I think of slides in two buckets: “Meaty” - the critical slides that are the meat of the presentation, and Navigational - the slides designed to remind the audience where they are in the pre-sentation. Navigational slides take seconds, meaty slides take an average of 5 minutes. I have found if I focus on the “meaty” slides and use the 5-minute rule, I land on the right number of slides. Also, don’t forget to cut at least 15 minutes for the likelihood of a late start or overly talkative audience. You need to build in some margin for this common occurrence.

For example, if you have 90 minutes, count on 75. Divide by 5 and you can present 15 “meaty” slides. That may sound like a small number, but remember, your slides support your presentation; they don’t deliver the presentation.The number of slides doesn’t limit what you want to say or stop you from answer-ing questions that will naturally surface if you deliver an effective presentation.

Now to the toughest part: knowing what to cut... 1

TIP TWO

Filter By Priority The first question you should ask when determining what to cut is: “What do I uniquely offer?” In other words, what is it that only you can offer or “own”? Your competitive advantage could be how you implement your solution or a benefit that only your solution can deliver. Spend some time before every presentation and update your list. Be brutally honest. Assess your proprietary list from the decision-maker’s perspective.

Ask yourself: “What would they say is unique and important about this list? Will they care or say it’s unique?”

Next, cull down the list by determining which pro-prietary benefit is relevant to the decision-maker’s problem and/or decision drivers. If it’s not, cut it (or allocate very little time on non-proprietary content). If necessary, find a way to demonstrate you can meet a critical decision driver in a unique way. Bottom line, they will choose you based on how you are differ-ent and better than the competition. Therefore, this should determine the content of your presentation. If you leave out a non-proprietary element of the solution but gain a competitive advantage by what you highlighted in your presentation, the decision maker will ask more questions.2

TIP THREE

Reframe Your Objective What’s your objective when making a presentation? Is it to win a deal, be chosen, look good, not blow it, say what you prepared to say, keep your job? Those are all legitimate desires. Anyone who has stood before a group of people who are judging their worth and/or determining whether they will earn a large commission check worries about all the above. It’s natural, but not helpful. Choose and communicate a different objective. It will help you relax, ensure you are focused on the customer, and build instant rapport with the decision-making team.

Before a critical presentation, I’m nervous and they’re nervous. I’m nervous because I don’t want to blow the deal or let my team members down. The customer is nervous because they don’t want to blow it, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the wrong solution. If I fail, I lose a deal. If they fail, they may get fired. The best way to alleviate that stress – for both parties – is to call a time-out and reframe your intent. Communicate that your role is

to share what you’ve learned about the best way to help similar customer’s reach a similar destination, not pitch a solution or win a deal.

It’s radical. But once you clarify your objective is to serve, not sell, nerves settle a bit. When your sincere goal is to educate, and not just a commission, you are assured of success. Sharing what you’ve learned is easy. Closing a deal is tough. Yes, you will talk about your solution, yes you will passionately demonstrate what’s unique about your solution and prove how it will deliver desired results. But your primary goal is to educate.

“My goal today is to share the truths we have learned about the most effective way to _____ (their objective). We’ve found that sharing our approach to solving this problem is the best way for our potential clients to evaluate our solution.”

If you are not comfortable with declaring your mo-tive, at a minimum, remind yourself of your Oth-er-Centered objective. The gravitational pull to self is strong, but this decision will refocus you on who you serve and drive your message.

There is a catch: it has to be sincere. Beliefs drive behavior. If you believe, you will feel a sense of calm and truly shift to a customer centric mindset. If it’s just a gimmick to appear Other-Centered, it will backfire. They will smell commission breath. 3

TIP FOUR

Prime the Point with Their Problem What’s the first thing you say when you transition to a critical slide or want to make a key point? Do you start by talking about your solution or your company or the point you want to make? Most do, and it’s the least effective way to draw the audience in.

Here’s a guaranteed way to grab the listener’s attention: start by describing the decision maker’s problem, begin the sentence with “Because you…” Prime every critical point or setup of every “meaty slide” by making the decision-maker the hero of the story. “Because your rates have increased by an average of 22% per year over the last 5 years, and you plan to double the number of new hires, I want to walk you through a way to actually improve the benefits offered your employees while lowering the cost of healthcare.”

If you do not have the information needed to begin with the decision-maker’s problem, use a similar customer.

“Because most companies, on average, are seeing an increase of healthcare cost of over 22% per year….”Not only will this approach ensure the listener pays attention, it will ignite passion and confidence. If you are just focused on what you offer without any real connection to the why – both you and the audience are a bit lost. But if you are always connected to their problem, you will own the room. 4

TIP FIVE

Speak in Definitive Statements As Stephen Colbert said, “People don’t buy facts, they buy certainty.” I’m certainly not suggesting you lie or manipulate the customer, but this quote does highlight a truth. If you don’t speak with certainty, or what I call definitive statements, you are less believable.

Therefore, when it’s time to make a key point, say it definitively. Definitive means conclusive. The research is in and no debate is required. For example, think back to one of the truths shared in part one of this series: “Change happens one to one.” This truth is stated as if there’s nothing to debate.

Statements like this one allows you to speak with authority, instilling confidence in your audience. Remember, the presentation is ultimately about one decision: should the customer trust you to lead them to a better world. If you aren’t sure of where you are going, they aren’t going to follow. Speaking defin-itively sends a powerful message, you figured this out, and KNOW how to solve their problem. Knowing the truth also bolsters your confidence. When you can narrow down what you say into a definitive truth or principle, you’ve landed on what YOU believe. And people believe what you believe.5

TIP SIX

Use WordPictures

People make emotional decisions and support them with intellectual alibis. More plainly put, while logic plays a role, emotions drive decision making. To win, the decision maker not only has to understand how your solution will provide the benefit they seek, they must feel the benefit. The simplest way to accom-plish this is to tell a story of how others have experi-enced the benefit but, when presenting virtually, the most effective way is to use Word Pictures.

Word Pictures are analogies to simplify the complex, to help the customer picture or “see” something they don’t understand and elicit a desired emotion by drawing on a past experience.

For example, a few months ago, I was talking to a participant in one of my workshops when he pulled out a vapor cigarette. To strike up a conversation, I said, “So what’s up with vaping? Is it the same as smoking a cig?” As if I had just smoked a pack of cig-arettes with a few European hipsters’ friends wearing skinny jeans.

He explained it to me instantly and brilliantly:

“You ever tried turkey bacon?” “Yeah, sure,” I answered. He said, “Not as good, right?”Agreeing, I said, “Yeah, it’s kind of like bacon, but I would much rather have the real thing.”

He just nodded.

By focusing on what I understood (the taste of tur-key bacon), I was the central character in the story. And when the listener is the hero of the story, they listen.Secondly, he leveraged something I already understood to explain something I didn’t understand. Vapor cigs were explained to me in five words: “You ever tried turkey bacon?” I instantly remembered the feelings associated with the taste of turkey bacon – less pleasurable, blah, less satisfying, rubbery. Even though the only idea being sold here was neg-ative aspects of vaping, it’s a good example of how Word Pictures can have an instant impact on our emotions. They can conjure up feelings of what life would be like with or without the benefits of what you offer.

For example, if you sell a high end, very expen-sive product, you need a Word Picture to help the listener experience what quality feels like, the cost of shortcuts, or why the expensive materials used in 6

manufacturing the product really matter. If you sell an intangible service, like marketing or consulting, you need Word Pictures to differ-entiate you from the competition or to simplify the complex. If you sell a product or service that, in the mind of the customer, is a commodity — or maybe what you offer is simple to understand and therefore, it all looks the same or is easy to be misjudged (e.g., insurance, medical supplies) — you need a Word Picture.

To build your library of Word Pictures, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Figure out and rank the most difficult but import-ant concepts required to sell your solution.

Set aside time to develop 3 to 5 Word Pictures for your most critical but complex concepts. Why so many? Some people hate sports analogies but love cars. Some hate cars and sports, but love cooking or wine or music or politics. Therefore, develop a few Word Pictures that will appeal to every type of customer.

Lastly, test it. Some of the seemingly best Word Pictures fall flat when delivered live. Like all good comedians, find a few friends to test out your material and refine your analogies accordingly.

TIP SIX (CONTINUED)

TIP SEVEN

Engage theAudience

While all the pro tips to this point have applied to both onsite and virtual presentations, this one is far more important when delivering a remote presenta-tion. Why? Because 92% of the time your audience is doing something else.

A few days ago, a very competent seller was present-ing a solution to our marketing team. During the pre-sentation, the seller stopped to ask, “Tom, you sound a bit skeptical, what do you think about __________?”

I told her my concerns; information I wouldn’t have shared if she hadn’t asked. Later in the meeting, she asked us all to rank our perspective of the presen-tation on a scale of 1 to 10 and then followed up to discover why it wasn’t a 10.

Her objective was clear: to remove ambiguity and to keep us engaged. She understood that if she can’t read our body language, she has to work harder to dig out the truth. And if she didn’t have a clear un-derstanding of our concerns or if we weren’t listen-ing, the presentation could quickly go south.

She accomplished by utilizing two simple but import-ant tactics. She paid as much attention to our facial expressions as she did to delivering her presentation, and she asked simple, but bold questions… And she won the opportunity. 7

TIP EIGHT

Prepare Like You Are Delivering a Keynote

To develop your strategy, tailor your outline, define the customer’s problem/ point of view for every key point, and to flawlessly deliver your presentation (while staying tuned to the audience!) takes prepara-tion, lots of preparation.

For critical presentations, great presenters, regard-less of experience, spend about 10x in preparation. That’s 12.5 hours spent prepping for a 75-minute presentation. That number could decrease based on complexity of the solution, the warmth and size of the audience, size of opportunity, or your experience as a presenter, but this is a good rule of thumb.

Bottom line, I’ve observed and watched many sellers wing it and their close rate reflects it.

I’ve been delivering presentations about the same subject for over 25 years. How long does it take me to prepare for the finals presentations? 10X. And 90% of the prep isn’t about how to articulate my solution. It’s about adjusting what I present and say to the unique client. This just takes time.

There is no prize for second place - why risk losing an important opportunity to someone who delivers a better performance and not a better solution. 8

What Next?

In summary, if you want to win more opportunities and deliv-er the perfect presentation, focus on framework, setting the stage, and following these tips for delivery. If you do, you will feel like a rockstar, you will earn more money, and maybe most importantly, you will serve your customers well. For more information on all the challenges of Virtual Selling, check out our brand new program built on ASLAN’s 25 years of Inside Sales experience.