6 Ways to attract & retain prospects with great presentations

It is said that an effective presentation is as important as the message itself. What items should you be aware of next time you create one? Here is the usual thought process of our presentation specialists at Prezlab.

01 Think Content. Think Design.

Design elements and visuals in presentations were an added X factor with the rise of technology. Long before that when a person had a message to deliver, they would utilize his or her tone of voice, messaging, concept, and maybe even location.

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln… All these great presenters shaped world history and were able to stand out with their speeches. How? Through their philosophies and how they expressed them. Most of these speakers lived in a time before any kind of visual aid was available. And the lack of visuals forced speakers to focus on the message.

Also read: The Art of Storytelling In A Business Report

02 Structure Your Content First

Think of the flow of information. What points would be necessary and helpful to include? And what could you do without? Add and remove what you need to allow your presentation and delivery to be as efficient and effective as possible.

03 Customize It For Your Audience

The presentation content is not for you, it is for the audience. Good content will explain and educate your audience about your product or service and give them a message they will remember.

Selling the same product or service doesn’t mean that you will give one presentation to all of your customers. Everyone purchases a product for different reasons, like their particular interests, or the product’s features.

So, study your target audience carefully, assess how they are making their purchasing decisions, ask yourself how your product will benefit them, and then outline your presentation accordingly.

Gaining a good understanding of your audience will help you identify the problems they face and frame them with the solution you are offering.

04 Add Success Stories to Your ‘Story-Driven Presentations’

Stories access your customer’s emotional brain.

It’s good to have a brochure or company profile that will present your company well and highlight its advantages, but nothing is as effective as seeing an engaging success story about a customer who has been in the audience’s situation.

Customers are always looking for insights that can help them tackle their problems and challenges. Demonstrating success stories enables customers to get rid of their assumptions as they see how a problem can transform into a success story. The trick is to let your audience in on that story. Once they are, your job is done.

05 Present Your ROI in an Effective Way

Studies have found that using your ROI (Return on Investment) statistics throughout your sales process, either a sales presentation or merely a sales discussion can lead to a %27 drop in closed deals.

Let’s clarify the above.

We’re not saying that attempting to prove ROI doesn’t work. What we mean is that presenting any prospect with extensive ROI statistics will not be in your best interest.

Showing milestones in numbers is always a good sign. It shows the logical side of your business progression and achievement. But most salespeople either do it naively so that it backfires, or they present it in a way that displays a desperate call to save hopeless deals.

Your end goal as a seller is to push the right buttons in the emotional brain. That’s where buying decisions happen. When you calculate ROI, you stimulate the logical brain: the part responsible for critical analysis.

What can you do to optimize your logical and emotional approach as a presenter or seller? The approach is, you simultaneously apply both points (3 and 4). The beauty of this approach is that your customer has fewer ROI assumptions to argue with. And so, you’re simply telling a story. If it resonates, your job becomes much easier.

06 Know Your Competitor’s Strengths

Focusing on your competitors’ weaknesses is a popular strategy, but targeting their strengths is a more impactful technique.

If you can use their strengths and show how your products or services outperform theirs, that would give you a clear competitive advantage and value in front of your customers and prospects. You can point to their price, customer service, online presence, and many more aspects to achieve this.

There are several examples of similar tactics, like the ad wars between BMW and Mercedes and McDonald’s and Burger King.

Conclusion

When you keep the above in mind, you’ll have your audience engaged, attract more prospects, and increase your conversion rates. Possessing excellent sales skills and charisma is essential, but optimizing content and design for a persuasive presentation is also imperative.

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