Planning The Presentation Strategy In Sales

Presentation Strategy

Developing a strategy for delivering an oral message is just as crucial as developing a strategy for a written message. You have to put information in an easily understandable form. For maximum impact, therefore, it is important that one must define the purpose, analyze the audience, construct or develop the message with due estimate of time and appropriate length, decide on the most appropriate style and media for presentation. These are some of the important variables, which one has to keep in mind to develop an appropriate strategy for a presentation.

 

• Define The Purpose

The first reason of failure in a presentation is not thinking through the purpose of the presentation and focusing it sharply. The amount of audience interaction varies from presentation to presentation, depending on the speaker’s purpose. Often a speaker accomplishes more than one purpose simultaneously. The purpose of a presentation could vary from informing, persuading, exploring to changing behavior/attitude etc. The specific purposes for a presentation are:

To Motivate:- You do most of the talking and the audience essentially plays a passive role. You control the content of the message and the audience listen. Here the challenge is not to giving information but giving in a manner for a response.

To Inform Or Analyze:- A group of people meet to hear the oral equivalent of a written report, then members of the audience offer comments or ask questions. Typically when a medical representative meets a doctor, the purpose is to inform about the new formulation his company has launched in the market.

To Persuade Or Collaborate:- The most interaction occurs when you aim to persuade people to take a particular action or to collaborate with them to solve a problem or reach a decision. You generally begin to provide facts to increase the audience’s understanding of the subject. You offer arguments in defense during discussion and you invite audience to express their needs. In this audience interaction process, therefore you have little control, so one has to be flexible to adjust to an unexpected reaction. Most sales persons, involved in door-to-door selling [like, Eureka Forbes etc.] must have this purpose when they call on a household.

 

• Analyzing The Audience

Your choice of a strategy for composition your purpose must take into account those who will be attending it. The nature of the audience affects your strategy for achieving your purpose. You should know your audience and size them up in advance. You must look for characteristics that will affect your speech e.g., audience size, sex, age, education and knowledge. More specially, consider the followings in as much detail as possible.

1- First consider the size and composition of the audience. A small group may be drawn into a decision making process. A homogeneous group benefits from a focused presentation; a diverse group requires a more generalized approach. So be sure of the size of the group to which you are going to address.

2- Consider likely reactions to your speech or presentation. The reactions to your speech could be hostile, receptive, indifferent. It is easy to talk to a receptive group. It is also possible to convert indifference into interest. It is quite challenging to convert hostility into support. But be clear that whether the audience care about the issues you will discuss and how much they already know about your subject.

3- Finally, you need to take a cold hard look at their relationship with you. Do they already know you? Do they respect your judgement?

The answer to these points would help deciding the best way to organize your material.

 

• Developing Message

A message should be carefully developed with a view to generating a desired response. It is, therefore, important that while developing messages one should define the main idea, construct an outline and estimate the appropriate length. A number of times a speaker is required to carefully choose the words, particularly while handling sensitive subjects. In such situations if you loose control on what you speak, your message will not be understood in the right spirit. It is, therefore, important that we define the main idea and construct a concrete outline around the identified idea. Then collect sufficient information which should be adequate for the available time you have to make the presentation.

At times, you collect a whole lot of information but you fail to put it together in an appropriate order. There are specific guidelines available to arrange the material in suitable order. It is suggested to follow the “Inverted Pyramid” structure. The suggestion is that you should start with the most important point and then go down to the least or start with conclusion and go down to back-up information or start with a general statement and go down to specifics. Any one of these options would guide you in sequencing the information.

Although it appears simple but actually it is not. One has to decide and compartmentalize information in various groups, sequence them and then present. Having decided the sequencing of information for developing an appropriate message, the next step is how to deliver it. Knowing your abilities, time available for preparation, audience size, etc., would influence your presentation method.

 

• Determination Of Presentation Method

We may follows any of the following presentation methods depending on our own abilities, subject, purpose, etc.

1. 1. Extemporaneous: Extemporaneous presentation is that which is prepared in advance and delivered afresh. The exact wordings are figured out, as the speaker goes along. It combines prior organization and spontaneity. The audience prepare an outline, may write down, at best, full opening and closing sentences, and prepare visual aids to promote a set sequence of thoughts and contents.
   2. Impromptu: Impromptu is that when you are given no time to think and organize. You never know when your superior will ask you for a two minute update on your field experiences of the previous day.
   3. Memorizing: Memorized is a presentation which is learnt by heart. If a link is broken while speaking the whole presentation gets affected. Typically in Pharma-selling canned presentation are used.
   4. Reading: Reading is yet another method. In paper reading it is said that even the speaker looks at his notes for 35% of time and for the remaining 65% to the audience, it is still a paper-reading. In business this method is followed least.
   5. Speaking From Notes: Speaking from notes is similar to the first method with a difference that the speaker has his points, with explanations written down and he speaks from the notes. To prepare these notes normally reference cards are used which the speaker can hold in one hand.

There is no hard and fast rule suggesting in which situation what method should be used. As a speaker it is up to you to decide which method is the best suited for you in the given situations. But you must practice it in advance before making a presentation.

 

• Deciding The Presentation Media

In an oral presentation which is an interactive medium, you can choose from a wide range of audio-visual [AV] materials. Here also you require carefully planning. A number of times, a presentation gets killed because of over emphasis on AV material. Always keep in mind while selecting any AV material that to what extent the selected media would help supplementing or reinforcing your message. You can select audio-visual material out of a large variety, ranging from, brochures, leaflets, slides, prototypes, actual product, audio tapes, video material, computer based aids, etc. Preparing or it is suggested to follow the following guidelines for selecting the best suited media:

• • Do not cram information if you have too much to say, may be you should write it out, separately.
  • Keep only relevant material as irrelevancies create distractions, and confusions.
  • Organize and break up your material into small modules. Dis-organized compels the audience to concentrate on finding the structure of your presenting, rather than listening to you.
  • Visualize your ideas as much as possible. Understanding, remembrance and clarity are the highest in the picture form.
  • Use as few words as possible. Use only those points which the audience can understand, and don’t write complete sentences.
  • Make the pictures and letters bright enough to be visible from a distance. Make the letters bright enough and think enough to be read by all. Use light color for background. Use dark or bright colors for pictures or letters to improve visibility.
  • Make the sound material audible, pleasing in tone, varied and synchronized with visuals.
  • Finally, before the presentation check particularly the audibility, risibility and readability of your AV material, if possible, in the actual place of presentation.

 

Some Principles For Effective Presentation

Ron Hoff, a hard core advertising professional, head of Ron Hoff and Associates, based on his presentations to the clients, has suggested some basic guidelines for effective presentation. Let’s discuss these, eight, real-life principles of presentation that make a measurable, meaningful difference in the success of your presentation.

1. 1. In preparing your presentation, may be you should start about halfway through.
   2. Content is always the first requirement of any presentation. Once content breaks down, delivery is never far behind.
   3. It’s impossible to be too clear.
   4. Keep in mind that your audience is going to remember about one quarter of what you say.
   5. Participation by your audience will help them remember you and your message, but “handle with care”. Participation can backfire.
   6. Nervousness is not all bad, but it can become serious when your audience becomes more concerned about your nerves than your subject.
   7. Eye contact is the strongest force in your favor during a “Live” presentation.
   8. “People may lie, but body language never does”.

• Start Ralf Way

In preparing your presentation, may be you should start about halfway through. There isn’t an audience in the world that hasn’t said to itself, “When is the presenter going to stop talking about his business and start about mine”. So instead of “Opening Remarks”, why not structure your outline to begin with, “an issue of direct concern to my audience”. The sooner you can stop being self-conscious and start being audience-conscious, the better your chances of winning a positive verdict.

• Plan Out Content

Content is always the first requirement of any presentation. Once content breaks down, delivery is never far behind. If you don’t know your subject, your voice is going to tighten. If you don’t believe what you are saying, your gestures are going to be halfhearted. If you get a question that catches you unprepared, your body language is going to answer for you. How much substance do you need in order to feel supremely confident about your next presentation? The answer is, have in your head about seven times as much information as you are likely to use in your presentation. Know your subject better than anybody in the room and your delivery may not be magnificent, but it will carry conviction – and that’s better than empty theatrics any day.

• Clarity

It’s impossible to be too clear. Many presentations are so muddled that members of the audience say to themselves, “What in the world is that person talking about?” or, “What on earth am I doing here?”

Here is a simple but effective exercise: Ask yourself “If I were going to put a fifteen-word headline on my presentation, what would it say?” Isolate the meat of what you want to communicate and make sure you say it – clearly, prominently. Also ask yourself, “What do I really want my audience to do as a result of this presentation?

• Partial Receptivity

Keep in mind that your audience is going to remember about one quarter of what you say. A surprising number of presenters will assume that once a statement is made, the audience retains it. In reality, an average audience retains approximately 25 percent of a presentation if the verbal content is given visual reinforcement [Slides, Charts, Videotapes]. If the presenter is simply standing there, going through a manuscript, flooding the atmosphere with words, he or she will be lucky to have one tenth of the total message retained by the audience.

So what do you do about it? May be you would like to “tell them what you are going to tell them – tell them – then tell them what you told them”, i.e., put your proposition up and keep referring to it. It is not that audiences have poor memories, it is simply that presenters assume that audience have perfect memories.

• Encourage Participation

Participation by your audience will help them remember you and your message, but “handle with care”. Participation can backfire. You, the presenter, can ask you audience to do almost anything. Most audiences are surprisingly agreeable. They will do almost anything. Nonetheless, a few words of caution.

• • Study your audience carefully before you get up to present.
  • Look for the most animated people in your audience to be your participators.
  • Never force anybody to participate if you detect even a hint of reluctance.
  • Never allow anybody to look bad.

Participation by your audience can nuke your unforgettable but just make sure that it does not backfire.

• Control Nervousness

Nervousness is not all bad, but it can become serious when your audience becomes more concerned about your nerves than your subject. Nervousness is the number one problems of people who make important presentations in advertising, or in any other business. But nervousness [sometimes known as “Stage Freight”], is not all bad. There are ways to deal with it, and some of them can actually work.

1. 1. Take a brisk 2-minute walk, It can be around the block, through the halls, or anywhere you want to walk. Exercise of any kind breaks the strain that creates nervousness.
   2. Look at yourself in a minor and check your appearance. Nothing out of place and you look like you want to look. That reduces anxiety.
   3. Next, take five deep breaths. Deep breathing always calms the nervous system. Ask anybody who has hypertension, about the results of deep breathing.
   4. Tell yourself that your presentation has one goal only to genuinely help the audience. That uncomplicates your mind and keeps the focus clear.

• Eye Contact

Eye contact is the strongest force in your favor during a “Live” Presentation. When you make your next presentation, you will know whether you are making eye contact or not because you can see your audience. Here are three fundamentals on eye contact that, will benefit your next presentation:

1. 1. Don’t set any specific length of time to maintain eye contact with one person. Stay only as long as it is comfortable for both people.
   2. Eye contact should be broken by natural pauses in meaning — between phrases — or thoughts. Eye contact usually breaks most comfortably at punctuation points.
   3. There is a big difference between staring at people and eye contact. Staring is intimidating, confrontational. Eye contact reduces the distance between people. It reaches out, asks for understanding on a one-to-one basis.

• Body Language

“People may lie, but body language never does.” Body language, once you have learned how to read it, is going to tell you more than what your audience will say. You can rate people by their body language, and use your ratings to apportion the amount of time you spend with each member of your audience. Obviously, you will want to work a little harder — with eye contact and participation techniques — on the person who is scoring low on your body language scale.

 

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