Entries from July 2009
July 31, 2009 · Comments Off
As an early adopter of WebEx (now owned by Cisco) about a decade ago, I grappled with the unique challenges of presenting without being able to visually connect with your audience. Training, virtual, sales, multinational, board of directors, webinars, more and more meetings are done via the Web. So when I received an email (excerpted below) from a reader the other day, it got my attention:
My normal presentation venue is an online meeting without video conferencing – other than PowerPoint and screen sharing. While reading your post, How to Give a Killer Presentation, I kept thinking about the difficult challenges online meetings present such as the inability to read body language, not knowing when participants are having side conversations, and all the associated challenges that arise when you cannot see and visually interact with your audience.
So, do you have advice for giving killer online presentations using service providers such at GoToMeeting and WebEx?
Jerry Anderson
I sure do. Here are 7 Tips for Giving a Killer Online Presentation:
- Gratuitous analogy. Movies can direct viewer’s attention using the camera. Theater doesn’t have that luxury, so stage actors use voice and other tactics. Online presenting isn’t much different. To direct your audience’s attention and get them to engage without the benefit of visual cues, you have to go a little over the top.
- Keep your energy level up. It may feel a little exaggerated at first, but you’ll get used to it. Be animated. Make big verbal gestures, statements, or rhetorical questions from time to time. Being a little funny or dramatic will help people remember what you’re telling them. It’s surprising what holds people’s attention.
- Tell anecdotes. I know, if it’s a technical or training presentation that may seem odd or out of place, but it’s not. People passionate about a subject or experts in a field can usually point to an engaging teacher in their youth, and it usually involved funny or dramatic anecdotes or stories.
- Modulate your voice. If it doesn’t come naturally, learn to modulate your voice and practice. Take a voice class if you have to. Ask associates to sit in on your presentation and be critical. Tape it and listen for yourself.
- Ask engaging questions. Ask unusually engaging questions. I’m not kidding. Come up with a few zingers the night before and use them. Also use out-of-the-blue analogies to different industries or activities (like I did here with acting … you think it’s easy engaging an audience just with words?). If your audience isn’t in “speaking” mode, then rhetorical questions work just as well. But stop short of standup comedy, okay?
- Pause for emphasis. Nothing’s worse than a presentation where the speaker drones on and on from point to point, slide to slide, without pause. Pause is the most dramatic way to emphasize a point. Practice getting comfortable with it.
- Avoid “slide show” speak. Direct the audience’s attention conversationally, sort of like this, “there’s a cool diagram on slide 8 that attempts to explain …” instead of the usual, “on the next slide …”
Well, the blog experts say I’ve lost your attention beyond 500 words, so I’m done here. But I’m sure all you online presenting experts can help Jerry and everyone else out with some of your own tips, so fire away. Courtesy of BNET.
Categories: Sales
Tagged: ceo info, online presentations
July 30, 2009 · Comments Off
Most sales reps make cold calls when they feel like it. And that’s too bad, because scientific research reveals that timing may be even more important than technique when it comes to cold calling success.
This post tests your preconceptions about timing your cold calls, and then provides you with scientific facts that can help you double or even triple your cold calling success.
Ready to reach your next level of success? Click on the link below to take this three-question “learning” quiz.
HOW TO HEAT UP YOUR COLD CALLING. Courtesy of BNET.
Categories: Sales
Tagged: ceo info, cold calling
July 28, 2009 · Comments Off
During an economic slump, it’s tough for even the best sales professionals to close deals. Downturns prompt executives to slash discretionary spending as companies face intense pressure to show quick returns on investment and once-loyal customers eye cheaper competitors. But some companies still manage to close deals — or at least tee up for renewed sales in the inevitable rebound. Drawing on the successes of IBM and others, Howard Stevens, chairman and CEO of the HR Chally Group, and John Asher, chairman and CEO of sales training firm Asher, offer these five ways to make your sales organization a winner during a recession.
1. Don’t Devalue Your Product
During the 1973 recession, as competitors panicked, IBM made an unusual move: It raised prices. Big Blue took this step after embracing the marketing catchphrase “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.” “Most people think in tough times you have to give a special offer or cut prices,” Stevens says. But that ends up devaluing the product — and the salesperson’s reputation. When prices fall dramatically, Stevens says, customers start to believe they were overpaying at the regular price or that the product is so cheap because there’s something wrong with it. Instead of slashing prices, consider offering additional services — such as longer guarantees or additional tech support — to make buyers feel like they’re getting more value for their money.
2. Stay Calm and Focus on Solutions
One of the worst mistakes a sales professional can make during a recession is to panic, says Stevens. Sales reps who act too aggressive or too hungry to make a sale will scare off potential customers, who are already worried about the fate of their own companies — and their jobs. Instead of hysteria, offer calm, focused solutions. “In a downturn, people are more concerned about safety and security than they are about high potential and big gain,” Stevens says. Sales pros should do background research to determine the biggest challenges and threats potential customers face, then shape their sales pitches around ways to minimize those threats.
3. Concentrate on Fewer Leads, but Contact Them More
Asher says his firm’s research shows it takes an average of 12 “contacts” — including e-mails, voice mails, face-to-face meetings, and phone conversations — to make a sale. “That increases in a recession,” he says. During a downturn it can take as many as 16 contacts to close a sale, because factors like tight credit and budget cuts lengthen the decision-making process. In a recession, sales reps should concentrate more of their efforts on a smaller group of potential clients. “The average salesperson will pick 50 prospects and give them just a little attention, usually quitting after three contacts,” Asher says. “Elite salespeople will pick their top 10 prospects and give them 15 or 16 contacts.”
4. Don’t Neglect Your Base
Focusing on new customers is crucial, but don’t ignore your existing customers or assume that they’re safe. Make sure they know their business is appreciated, and spend as much effort reaching out to them as you do contacting potential new clients. After all, it’s your existing clients who will carry you through a recession. “Losing them for the sake of new business will only cost you more in the end,” Stevens says.
5. Upgrade Your Sales Force
Recessions often trigger layoffs or the closure of entire firms, which means that scores of sales professionals are looking for new opportunities. That’s an opportunity for you to give your sales team more muscle. Asher suggests taking advantage of that pool of experienced labor and reorganizing your sales force to maximize its potential. His rule of thumb: Reassign or let go of the bottom third of your underperforming salespeople and replace them with fresh blood. But don’t stop there. Employee training is also essential to boost sales in a recession. Assign senior sales managers, or even executives, to act as personal coaches to the sales force. Meet regularly with your sales reps to review your products and services, discuss strategies and setbacks, and keep people motivated. Courtesy of BNET.
Categories: Sales
Tagged: ceo info, Sales, sales during recession
