Sales Presentations Training

NSA/Colorado Chapter is having it’s first meeting of the 2006-2007 year this Saturday ,September 9^th, 2006. The meeting will be at the Renaissance Denver Hotel located at 3801 Quebec Street, Denver, CO. 80207

The featured speaker will be Ford Saeks and his topic is Information Marketing mastery for Professional Speakers. Ford is the real deal and this high-energy “how-to” session offers you a multitude of creative direct & internet marketing techniques for professional speakers. Ford’s presentation will be one hour.

Next on the agenda is Tim Gard, CSP, CPAE. Tim is Colorado’s newest member of the Speaker Hall of Fame and will show you how he confounded experts be being true to himself and riding irreverence all the way to the top
of the speaking profession. Tim will share the secrets of how he runs his business and how you can create your own model for speaking success!

Debra Fine will conclude our monthly meeting. She talks on some of your best marketing opportunities are right around you and cost little or nothing. Debra, a nationally recognized expert on conversational skills and author of the acclaimed book, The Fine Art of Small Talk, will show you how to turn every conversation, hospitality suite, conference, golf outing, and chamber, civic or association event into a powerful business opportunity!Our Chapter meeting will run from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm

The charge for guests is $65

This will be a fabulous meeting with a lot of great information for public speakers, trainers and authors. Hope to see you this Saturday at our meeting Here is the link to National Speakers Association/Colorado chapter for more information.

Steve Mertz 

Come To a Great Meeting!

Technorati Tags: NSA/Colorado Ford Saeks Tim Gard Debra Fine National Speakers Association Public Speaking Presentations Money 

Andy Beal is an expert on Search Engine Optimization and he has a post about one of his biggest beefs when it comes to experts speaking at conferences: “They Turn Speaking Engagements Into “Sales Pitches”.

“It’s a sad fact that most “expert speakers” don’t understand what their audience wants to hear from them. I’ve seen too many speakers stand-up and provide the audience with high-level theories and concepts. They then hit their audience with a double-whammy of atrocity. First, they never actually provide solutions to the problems they’re discussing – fearful that they’ll give away too much information. Second, they compound this by turning the presentation into a sales-pitch for the company they represent. Arrgh!Want to know which speakers end-up getting a fistful of business cards at the end of their talk? It’s the ones who’ve shared so much great advice and information with the audience that the attendees think to themselves…

“Wow, that’s really going to help our company, but it sounds so complex and time consuming. I know what, that guy seems to know his stuff. If he shared that amount of information in a 20 minute presentation, imagine the amount of info I’ll get if I hire his search marketing firm.”

I always encourage financial advisors, executives and small business owners to speak at conferences to gain exposure and establish themselves as experts. This is an excellent way to gain credibility quickly but as the above comment points out it can be disastrous if you abuse your invitation. Here are some tips on maximizing your speaking presentation at conferences.

1. Have a very clear understanding of your topic and stick to it.

2. Ask the meeting planner if you can give a handout or include a link to your website.

3. Don’t be afraid to share your “best” information-it will only enhance your expertise.

4. Be respectful of your allotted time-do not go over your time slot.

5. Have your presentation in modules so if you are given less or more time you can make it happen without stressing out!

6. Remember to incorporate some humor that is specific to the conference attendees.

7. Ask permission to interview 3-5 members who will be attending to gain inside insights to their specific problems or concerns.

8. Make your slides available to the audiences. Simply have the attendees write “slides” on their business cards and you can email them the slides.

9. Be available to the audience after your presentation.

10. Thank the organizers. It’s a small world and a small thing like a thank you will buy you a lot of good will!

11. Have fun

Steve Mertz

Break a Leg!

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, Sales Presentations Training, Search Engine Optimization, Andy Beal, Sales Pitches

Conversational presentations happen every day at my favorite Starbucks. I’ll see a group of five to six individuals clustered around a table with a serious business agenda taking place. Our society is a lot more relaxed today and you may find yourself giving a very important sales presentation in a relaxed environment. Here are some presentation tips to bring to your table:

1. Have a specific agenda you are going to cover and share that with your group

2. The atmosphere is relaxed but make certain about the four or five main points you are going to cover. You may have these written down on a 3×5 card, DayTimer or on your computer.

3. Acknowledge the noise and energy around you in this public setting and draw from it.

4. By the very nature of this setting it is meant to be conversational so do ask a lot of open ended questions of the other members.

5. Take short notes when the other members give you feedback-it is nearly impossible for you to remember all the key points that will come out.

6. Gain a consensus on what the next step will be-a formal presentation, you provide more information etc…

7. At the end of the meeting if you don’t have a handout of the information you have covered offer to send all the participants an email with an overview of the key points discussed and what if any resolution was achieved.

Conversational presentations are a fact of live today and we all have to be able to adapt quickly. Use these tips as a starting point for your more relaxed sales presentations and please offer any suggestions that are absolutely golden for you!

Steve Mertz

Relaxed Presentations Can be Powerful!

Technorati Tags: Conversational Presentations, Sales Presentations, Public Speaking

Somewhere, Somehow dull business presentations got firmly entrenched in our culture. Garr Reynolds has a great post on a new book by Daniel Pink called a Whole New Mind. One of Garr’s observations really jumped out at me:

“Indian physician Madan Kataria points out in Pink’s book that many people think that serious people are the best suited for business, that serious people are more responsible. “[But] that’s not true,” says Kataria. “That’s yesterday’s news. Laughing people are more creative people. They are more productive people.” Somewhere along the line we were sold the idea that a real business presentation must necessarily be dull, devoid of humor and something to be endured not enjoyed.”

We have all been subjected to financial and other business presentations that are completely devoid of humor. Another great reason to start building that humor file and using it regularly in our presentations! Here is the link to A Whole New Mind review.

Steve Mertz

Bringing Humor to Business Presentations!

Technorati Tags: Garr Reynolds, Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind, Humor, Business Presentations

If you do any amount of public speaking you will serve yourself well by building a humor file. This file can include humorous quotes, pictures and anecdotes You can get this information that is pertinent to your field from trade journals, association literature and a plethora of public sources.

I use to keep all of this material in a huge folder but now I scan it and put it on my computer. By doing that it eliminates that huge drawer of junk and it much easier to put into PowerPoint presentations or overheads. A humor file is always a great way to make a succinct point and draw your audience into your presentation. For example, if you are giving a financial presentation you may want to incorporate an idea like this in your presentation. It was a cartoon of a wealthy, old geezer sitting by a cozy fireplace. His grandchildren run over to him and say: Grandfather tell us again how you shorted the stock market in 1929!” You can take this cartoon and go many ways with it in your presentation but it just gives you another chance at humor in your presentations.

Do you keep a humor file-any other humor tips you might add?

Steve Mertz

Humor is Good!

Technorati Tags: Humor, Public Speaking, Career Training, Presentations Skills

I’m putting together a new resource site for you. The articles will cover Coaching, Public Speaking, Sales Training and Presentation Humor to name a few. If you have suggestions for additional topics let me know. The site is called Sales Presentations Articles.

Steve Mertz

Sales Presentations Resources

Technorati Tags: Sales Presentations Articles, Public Speaking Tips, Presentations Coaching

Steve Rubel is a daily read of mine. His blog is called Micro Persuasion and always has great information. His post today is Turn Your iPod into the Ultimate PowerPoint Accessory.

And you were wondering what you would do with your iPod if you won our contest…Operators Still Standing By!

Steve Mertz

iPods and PowerPoint!

Technorati Tags: Steve Rubel, Micro Persuasion, iPod, PowerPoint, Sales Presentations

Someone wrote me an email and asked why we chose to give away an Apple video iPod as a gift. There actually is a good reason-one that I took from baseball! Several teams are now downloading a pitchers best performance or a hitters great game and having the players review them on their iPod’s. I think this is a great idea and one that we want to encourage presenters to use.

We believe in reinforcing what is working well in your sales presentations and being able to see and hear your best performances is a great way to ensure continued success-wouldn’t you agree? Consider this: Alex Rodriguez is the third baseman for the New York Yankees. Last year he was voted the most valuable player in baseball. This year he is struggling and for the last week or so is going 2 for 20 with 14 strikeouts! He is in a major slump and is really beating himself up mentally. What is his solution for trying to break out of this slump? He watched one of his worst performance for hours. In this game he struck out 4 times and committed an error! I would offer this up as proof that when you want to take your presentation skills to the next level watch your best performance, not one that you will mentally beat yourself up.

Steve Mertz

Reinforce Your Great Public Presentations!

Technorati Tags: Sales Presentations Training, Public Speaking, Apple iPod, New york Yankees, Alex Rodriguez

Sales Presentations Training is now available on a monthly subscription basis. This service includes an initial individual consultation for thirty minutes over the phone. We can help you tune up your presentation, work on your opening , help you develop memorable stories or work on a fabulous close. The monthly service also includes a monthly group sales call where we will cover a specif topic and have time for questions.

This service is a great addition to our one on one coaching-especially for those who need a tune up in between coaching sessions. This service will be most beneficial to the experienced presenter looking to take a presentation to the next level.

We have two options available for you. You can pay on a monthly basis for a cost of $97 per month or you can pay up-front for the twelve month program for a cost of $970.00 We have a secured transaction site for your telephone coaching membership and accept Visa, Master Card and PayPal. We are also offering a special incentive for the first 100 subscribers. You will be entered in our drawing to win a new Apple Video Ipod! All you have to do is to be one of the first 100 subscribers to win. Once that occurs we will pull a name and award you the iPod-Good Luck!

We will also be offering telephone coaching on an individual basis over the phone. The hourly rate is $300.00 and this would be appropriate for beginners as well as polished presenters. The sign up for that will be available this week. For now, click here if you would like to subscribe for our monthly coaching program. Operators are standing by…Call Now!!

Steve Mertz

Welcome to Telephone Coaching

Technorati Tags: Sales Training, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Telephone Coaching, Apple iPod

On Wednesday of this week the University of Colorado Medical school got a $6 million dollar gift from the Gates Family Fund. It was a huge media event and quite a coup for the medical school. I saw a clip on the evening news of the chairman of the department of neurology explaining how this gift would catapult CU to be a force in stem cell research. There was just one problem…He had his back to the audience and to the cameras.

He was reading a PowerPoint slide that looked to be about 12 point type and the slide was loaded with information! Let’s consider a few points about his public presentation.

1. Never turn your back to the audience

2. Do not read slides to your audience-they will start reading ahead of you and besides that I’m pretty damn sure that the audience there was very capable of reading all by themselves.

3. Let’s just assume for the moment that the average age of the audience was 50-distinguished physicians, administrators and some other potential large donors. Take 50 and divide it by two and his PowerPoint type should be 25 point!! Make

it easy for all those distinguished folks to read your slides that hopefully are enhancing and clarifying your presentation.

Last point, at this media event Dr. David Norris was no longer the chairman of the department of neurology-he was the chief evangelist and fund raiser for the University of Colorado Medical school. I saw him acknowledge and graciously thank the Gates family but I did not hear him lay down a challenge for other “Daddy and Mommy War bucks” to meet or beat the gift. What a great opportunity to issue a call to action!

Steve Mertz

Call to Action Friday!

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking, PowerPoint, Presentation Tips, Executive Speech Coaching

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