When Trolling for Business, Don’t Wing It
How to Beat Out the Competition
With a World-class Presentation
December 2006
By Denny Hatch
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In the News
Fed Chief Says Economy Slowing as ExpectedWASHINGTON (AP)—Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that risks from inflation or a worse-than-expected housing slump could further complicate things for an economy already in slowdown mode. “The deceleration in economic activity currently under way appears to be taking place roughly along the lines envisioned,” Bernanke said in his most extensive comments on the economy since the summer. The slowdown in overall activity mostly reflects the housing slump, he said. As the economy cools, inflation also should continue to gradually ease over the next year or so, the Fed chief added.
—The Associated Press, Nov. 28, 2006
From behind oversized glasses and sometimes in undecipherable language, Greenspan shepherded the economy through one of the most prosperous periods in U.S. history. In the more than 18 years Greenspan held the reins of the Fed, the economy enjoyed a 10-year economic expansion, the longest in history, and had just two brief recessions that were the mildest since World War II.
Where Greenspan’s verbal delivery was soothing to the point of somnambulism, his successor, Ben Bernanke, is a straight talker who shoots from the lip and tells it like it is.
On the lecture circuit or in congressional testimony, Greenspan’s low-key, meandering approach is okay. But for a new business pitch, it’s imperative to have a compelling speaker like Bernanke and a carefully crafted presentation.
One of the very best speakers and presenters in the marketing field is Ray Butkus, president and CEO of ARGI, and the former president of InfoUSA’s Donnelley Marketing Group. I have had the privilege of seeing Butkus in action—emceeing a business conference where he more than held his own alongside Bill Clinton, Colin Powell and Tom Peters.
One day at lunch, Butkus offered to write a piece for “Business Common Sense” on how to create and deliver an effective sales presentation. After years of sitting through tedious, inept PowerPoint shows and boring people reading white papers in monotone, I jumped at Butkus’ offer.
What follows is a guide that shows how to successfully engage an audience of four, 40 or 400. You’ll want to download it, pass it on to your associates and refer to it again and again.
Developing and Delivering High-impact Sales Presentations
By Ray Butkus
In the sales arena, success depends upon the superior presentation of the facts. In a highly competitive market with an abundance of choice, winning isn’t simply about building the better mousetrap but about how well the marketplace understands and remembers the distinctiveness of your mousetrap versus all others. This phenomenon becomes ever more important as the similarities in products, and as the pervasiveness of common technology, become more and more acute.
The ability to present a compelling depiction of the facts or the proposition, regardless of subject matter, has common elements. These common elements are associated with skills that can be learned and can be developed. This article is about those common three elements.
Takeaway Points to Consider:
* The three elements that go into a speech or sales presentation are substance, structure and style. The most important of these is structure.* Always tune the pitch to the audience. Make sure you know who is attending your presentation. What’s their title? What’s their reporting relationship? Why are they there? What’s their role? Who is an ally? An adversary? Who are simply spectators?
* Figure out ahead of time what you’re going to do about questions and answers. Don’t allow these to be ad hoc. Are you going to ask that questions be held until the end or will you encourage a fire at will approach?
* When you transition from one thought to the next, do it in such a manner that it sets the stage for the next point you’re making or position that you’re taking. It should be a mini-summary of the preceding point and it should provide the intellectual bridge to your next point and to the unifying theme.
* Avoid throw-away statements. Platitudes like “cutting edge technology” or “state of the art infrastructure” are nearly worthless, so don’t waste your time by including them in your presentation.
* Be aware of the life of the presentation after the fact. A copy is left; another copy is made; it’s sent to a boss; it’s sent to a boss’s boss—you never know what’s going to happen to a presentation after you have given it.
* Don’t be a PowerPoint junkie. PowerPoint is a great presentation tool, but it can be easily over-used and abused; this is particularly true with animation.
* The power of rehearsal can not be overstated. Nearly every person I talk with about this point agrees that it should be done, but they also assert that they don’t need it. Let me tell you something—don’t kid yourself, you need it. We all need it!
About Ray Butkus
The president and CEO of ARGI and former president of Donnelley Marketing Group, Ray Butkus was one of the four founders of Naviant Marketing Solutions and was president and COO until its successful merger four years later. Publications include a book: “Motivation, Beliefs, and Organization Transformation,” Quorum Books, 1999, co-authored with Thad Green, Ph.D.; and several articles: “Excellence at the Cutting Edge of Sales Management;” “Use All the Arrows in Your Quiver;” “How the Best Do It: Winning Sales People on Winning Sales;” “The Learning Vacation; Around the World with Digital Video;” “Global Telemarketing: The New Frontier” and “Global Private User Networking: A Business Perspective.” Butkus is a 1973 graduate of Providence College, Providence, RI, with a BS in Business Management, holds a MBA from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Butkus served for three years as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He can be contacted at RButkus@callargi.com.
Web Sites Related to Today's Edition:
Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” Speechhttp://tinyurl.com/ymbv2l
Churchill’s Blood Sweat & Tears Speech
http://tinyurl.com/yjg3nq
ARGI-Subscription & Membership Customer Management
http://www.callargi.com/
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