Memorable Sales Presentations
When designing a sales presentation keep in mind four primary aspects of human nature. Our minds capture and retain information better if the information is organized and connected.
1. Tell your audience how many slots of information they need to allocate before giving them the information.
2. Present the information in a hierarchical manner (broad followed by specific)
3. Connect your data to images.
4. If possible, create a central graphical interface for your presentation.
Allow the audience to create slots for the incoming data
If you are about to discuss the benefits of your product or service, organize the benefits into 2-5 general categories (preferably 3). Tell them how many benefits you are going to discuss before mentioning any of them. Identify or quickly describe each of the benefits.
Overview first, then come the details
Now you can fill in the details for any of the benefits. Apply the same principle if you are going to discuss features or a list of services.
Images are memorable
Our minds are well equipped to quickly gather large amounts of data from photographs. However, they can take the attention away from the points you are trying to emphasize. Selecting and/or creating images to support a presentation is a science and an art.
Have a way to navigate
If you set out to present your information in a linear manner and do not give yourself the option to navigate around your presentation you will not be in a position to react to questions or take the presentation in a different direction than what you had anticipated. Even if it’s just a text based outline style menu, it will allow you flexibility. The other important point of a navigation system is that it helps organize the information. It not only creates a better presentation, it also lets the audience allocate slots for the incoming data.
An even stronger navigation system is one based on a graphical interface. This not only provides all of the benefits mentioned above, it also makes visual connections with your audience.
