Sales Presentations Training

Presentation Skills Training, Public Speaking and Humorous Presentation Coaching

Part 5 of 15: Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 6:07 am on Monday, May 22, 2006

 

No Great Stories. Some of those great “campfire stories” may help you weave compelling and memorable stories in your sales presentations. A great story helps us paint a picture in our minds and is a great way to anchor one of your major points in sales presentations. Some of the great stories that help entertain your friends and colleagues may be a good starting point-even if you are the CEO of your company.

 

For example if your company has a great new product that you are showcasing for big$$$ clients you could say this: “Our Easy DECON DF200 is an EPA approved decontamination solution which effectively neutralizes chemical and biological agents, developed by Sandia National Labs.”

You may also consider this approach: “Two days after hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana I got a call from Charlie Jones of the EPA. The EPA needed an office decontaminated from fungus and offered us the job on a no bid basis. I left on the next flight and a week later Charlie and his staff of twenty were up and running in the building we had neutralized with our DECON DF200 solution!”

We covered a lot of ground by adding a short story and including a ringing third party endorsement! For you PowerPoint users Imagine the impact of Charlie’s image and hearing his endorsement!

Steve Mertz
Master Story Teller!

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Sales Presentation Tip-Smile

Filed under: Uncategorized — Steve Mertz at 8:31 am on Friday, May 19, 2006

 

Garr Reynolds has a deligtful Friday thought: The Power of a genuine smile. He refrences a performance he saw from the japanese Duo, Dreams Come True. The fabulous smile belongs to Yoshida Miwa.

 

Using a genuine smile in your presentation is a great way to relax and put you audience or committee at ease-I’ve even seen it work in front of Venture Capitalists! Have a great weekend and read the enire post here : Smile!

Steve Mertz
A Smile Opens A Thousand Doors!

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Part 4 of 15: Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 4:45 am on Friday, May 19, 2006

 

It’s All About Me. It’s all about getting an appointment and getting millions under management. Make sure you make it all about your audience and the value you will provide. Here’s my favorite technique(Yes, I do use this) to measure your effectiveness. Type out your entire presentation and then get some colored markers. For all the facts in your presentation, highlight them in red. For all you witty humor, highlight that in green. For audience participation, highlight in blue. Now, step back and look at your masterpiece-What you see no green, very little blue and a sea of red-go back to the drawing board!

I feel like I’ve been hacking away at financial professionals and the financial industry…but this really is a great technique for anyone doing any public speaking. I won’t take credit for this idea because I learned this from either Susan Carnahan (on the left)

 

 

or Glenna Salsbury-two of my very favorite speakers and members of National Speakers Association. Glenna actually takes this one step further and has her material color coded with her at the podium. So, judging by the audiences reactions she can add or subtract material as needed! She is also the consumate professional so you may want to practice before you try this on a live audience!

Try this technique and I promise you will see a dramatic improvement in your sales presentations-or I will give you a free hours coaching! You can’t lose :)

Steve Mertz
Ladies & Gentlemen Start Coloring!

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Part 3 of 15: Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 6:00 am on Thursday, May 18, 2006

Lecturing to Audiences. I know you are simply sharing your brilliance but it can come off sounding like you are lecturing. Make it more conversational and invite comments and experiences from the audience. This is kind of a “clubby” post for those who have been in the trenches as an financial professional. When I got out of training with Merrill Lynch our class was told that we now knew more than 90% of the people on the street. They meant to give us some self assurance but sometimes financial professionals can become a little over zealous in their new found knowledge :) If it were really true that fear and greed were the only motivators for money it would be much simpler to give presentations! 

I’ve seen countless sales presentations where the speaker gives the presentation and at the end asks for questions-Don’t do this! You want to end on a powerful note so entertain questions before the end of your presentation. Temper enthusiasm and knowledge with interaction from your audience-they will love you for it.

Related Posts from Sales Presentation Training: Sales Training Tip-Why Audience Interaction is Best
From Bert Decker: Get the Spotlight OFF of You.
From Guy Kawasaki: Steve Jobs at the Cupertino City Council.
From Patricia Fripp: Find An Immediate Connection With Your Audience.

Let me ask you a question: Does it help you for me to include links to additional thoughts? Please leave your comments-Thanks, Steve

Steve Mertz
Don’t Preach-Be Inclusive!

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Carnival of the Vanities

Filed under: Uncategorized — Steve Mertz at 11:01 am on Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The 191st edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is up and being hosted by Accidental Verbosity. The Carnival of the Vanities has 41 entries this week covering everything from politics to personal finance. 

I have an entry in this weeks Carnival titled Sales Presentation Tip-Don’t Waffle! The opening and closing of any sales presentation are critical-so start off with a bang.

The Carnival of the Vanities provides an excellent opportunities for businesses to promote themselves. I would encourage you to look at this possibility. You can submit an entry by going over to The Conservative Cat.For now, enjoy the Carnival over at Accidental Verbosity.

Steve Mertz
Carnivals Are Great

15 Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 5:51 am on Wednesday, May 17, 2006

This is tip number 2 for Sales Presentations Mistakes. Shooting From the Hip.


Many Salespeople try to make their presentations informal with the intent of more audience interaction. Planned chaos is the best plan! Your prospects time is valuable and people love structure-so give it to them. It also keeps you from rambling and missing key points. Have you ever walked out of a presentation and said it was enjoyable but you can not remember key points? We all have-Keep it tight and on topic!

 

Related Posts: Preparing For a Sales Presentation
From Bert Decker: Audience Expecations:Time
From Guy Kawasaki: The Venture Capitalist Wishlist This is the most critical audience you will ever present to-from personal experience :)
From Garr Reynolds: The “fish story”
From Patricia Fripp: Want Your Audiences to Remember What You Say?
From Rob Cottingham: Speech Structure-101

Enjoy!

Steve Mertz
No Shooting From the Hip

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15 Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 12:44 pm on Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Robert Louis Stevenson: “Everyone lives by selling something.”

Salespeople make it all happen and there is nothing I enjoy more than being around that energy and creativity. Having been an Investment Advisor for 15 years I gave and saw hundreds of sales presentations. In the next few weeks I am going to outline the 15 biggest mistakes that salespeople are making in their presentations before our coaching sessions. Master these mistakes and you will increase substantially increase your closing ratio!

1. Weak Opening. Don’t open your presentation talking about you and your firm. This information should be in front of your prospect in the hand out you have given them. When you open, don’t waffle, get to the point and “sing your best song.” If you and your significant other paid $500 a ticket to be in the front row of the Rolling Stones concert you want Mick to strut out, singing one of your favorites-not something you have never heard, on their new album.

Related Posts: Your Opening Says Everything
Sales Presentation Tip-Don’t Waffle
From Tom Peters: My Shtick
From Jill Bremmer: Open Your Speech With Style
From Dianne Legro: Slam Dunk Speech Openings that Grab your Audience
From Bert Decker: 6 Do’s to Open Your Presentation
From Guy Kawasaki: How to Get a Standing Ovation
From Patricia Fripp: Open Your Speech by Relating to the Immediate Situation

Enjoy!

Steve Mertz
Sales Presntation Training

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Sales Presentation Tips from Fripp

Filed under: Presentation Coaching — Steve Mertz at 8:45 pm on Tuesday, May 9, 2006

 

Patricia Fripp brought down the house at our Saturday meeting of the National Speakers Association-Colorado. She was the keynote speaker and then conducted an additional three hour coaching program in the afternoon! I had the pleasure of attending the session as well as taking her to the airport Sunday morning. She and I share a common passion of helping business speakers shine on the platform.

 

Here are some key points she shared with us:
1. When giving a speech make your experiences “universal”. For example, most audience members can relate to a carefree childhood.
2. Work on your material first then worry about a video of your presentation. You can get away with a less than perfect presentation if you have great material.
3. Great presentations are memorable and repeatable. Give them a phrase or memorable story that they can take away. For example, I’ve had people not remember me but they have said: “I remember your Starbucks Quiz.”
4. Paint word pictures-it’s a form of verbal short hand. For example, if I say Hawaii, your mind draws a picture of sand, ocean, palm trees-it doesn’t spell out H-a-w-a-i-i.
5. See your speech as an interesting movie-Would you go watch your speech?
6. Specificity builds credibility!

Steve Mertz
Coaching Great Sales Presentations!

Sales Presentation Tip-Don’t Waffle

Filed under: Presentation Coaching — Steve Mertz at 8:29 am on Monday, May 8, 2006

The opening in a sales presentation must be “your best song”-Don’t waffle on the opening. Waffle is defined as To speak or write evasively.
Imagine if you and your significant other were going to a special concert, for the sake of argument, let’s say you had those $500 a ticket front row seat for the Rolling Stones. How would you feel if Mick comes out and the first song the band does is something you have never heard-something off their new album. You are disappointed and frustrated-you were looking for Brown Sugar or Street Fightin Man. 

Your audience feels the same way when you start your sales presentation with a weak, waffling opening. Condense your sales presentation down to a single sentence and then be sure that you start off with that point. Use a forceful and engaging opening to build on your presentation!

Steve Mertz
Play Your Best Song

Great Speaking Tips-Come to NSA Colorado Meeting

Filed under: Career Training — Steve Mertz at 6:09 pm on Thursday, May 4, 2006

 

 

This Saturday, May 6th, National Speakers Association-Colorado Chapter, will be holding our monthly meeting.

 

 

The featured speaker will be Patricia Fripp, CMP, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame and Cavett Award Recipient. That’s her on the left. Fripp is a world class speaker and trainer. She is also one of the most sought after trainers in the area of Sales Presentations Training. If you are reading this blog you could benefit greatly! The meeting starts at 7:30 am for networking with the main event starting promptly at 8:30 am and ends at 12:30. The cost is only $60 for non members-a fabulous deal!

That’s not all-Fripp(as most call her) will have a special two hour bonus session from 1:45 pm to 3:45 pm. The cost for the bonus session is $30 per person-what a steal! This will entail a mini coaching session. Whether you are a speaker or someone looking to improve your sales presentation skills-This meeting is a must!

Kicking off our meeting will be the fabulous O’shea’s-Tim and Kris. They are corporate humorists who bring their spontaneity and on-stage hilarity. This is the way to start your Saturday!

Here is the link to all the information about the meeting including location and all information. Please feel free to call me directly if you have any questions: Steve Mertz 303-619-8972

See you Saturday, and if you are a reader of this blog please come up and introduce yourself. Thanks, Steve

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