*** From the Archives ***

This article is from August 13, 2001, and is no longer current.

The Art of Business: Seven Simple Skills for Creating a Successful Presentation

It’s called a potential client, and every once in a while one walks in the door, or perhaps you’re invited to do the walking. Either way, it’s your chance to don a suit of confidence, spread out your dazzling wares, and with steely verve show the client what breathtaking results lie on the other side of the dotted line on a contract for hire.
Unless you have worked previously with this particular client, the initial presentation is everything. (Until, of course, the following presentation, then that one is everything.) Whether it’s the first or the fifth presentation, you have but one business goal with every meeting — move one step closer to signing a deal, or better yet, sign the deal itself.
What Can I Do For You?
Your chance of success relies only in part on your talent and experience. The rest depends on your ability to convince the potential client that you are the person for the job. And you’ll have about 20 minutes to an hour to do so, if you’re lucky. To increase your chances, don’t show up for any presentation without these seven things working for you. Like the great Samurai, be prepared for battle.

  1. FORM From the first phone call, the potential client is checking you out, looking for chinks in your armor, searching for a reason to say no. Form is the sum total of the image you project, from the way you speak, to your timeliness, to the way you dress, to the arrangement of your portfolio examples. This doesn’t mean you have to be button-down; on the contrary, a pinch of funkiness may work well. But if you arrive late, there goes your claim that you’re reliable and can meet deadlines. Show up with a sloppy or dated portfolio and who will believe you take pride in your work? The goal is to keep your form consistent, because any contradictory signals in the way you dress, act, or behave lose you elusive points for form.
  2. CONFIDENCE Think from the client’s perspective. Here is someone with a problem or opportunity before them. They are scared of failure and desperately want someone to transform their fear into success. Hence, they are looking for someone with experience, talent, and — above all — confidence. Give it to them in spades. The crux of every successful sales presentation is your unyielding conviction that you have what it takes to help the client. If you don’t believe it yourself, your client will feel it like an animal senses fear. Sometimes it’s hard to be confident, particularly when you’re bidding for a job that may be a little over your head. Convince yourself that it’s true, and hopefully your newfound belief-in-self combined with your underlying talent will make it easy to deliver your presentation with the understated self-confidence of a true believer.
  3. TWO EARS Remember the old addage: “God gave you two ears and one mouth so you’d listen twice as much as you speak.” It is never truer than during a sales presentation. The more you can get the client to present to you the better. They undoubtedly have a whole series of concerns, thoughts, and ideas. Each one of these is an opportunity for you to listen, provide suggestions, create a rapport, join the team. If the prospect raises concerns, answer them clearly. If she hints she is worried about your lack of experience in her field, suggest that you bring a fresh approach to the table. If the concern is cost, demonstrate how you’ve kept costs under control during previous projects. If you talk too much, the client won’t have the opportunity to present all her doubts and objections. And until these are all answered, you won’t close the deal.
  4. A GOOD STORY Those wonderful design awards you’ve won? They’re great, but not particularly impressive in the business world. But a good story — now that’s worth something. The prospect is looking to solve a problem. And good story telling is all about problem solving. Tell them about the problem you faced over at Company Widget. In detail, recount the deadlines, unique marketing requirements, the technical challenges — and explain how you solved them all. Most importantly, detail the results of your success. Be specific. Rather than saying, “the marketing V.P. really liked the logo,” say, “our identity package gave the company a fresh look that helped it penetrate a new and potentially lucrative market.”
  5. SUPPORT MATERIALS No two presentations are alike, and support materials should be selected to match the needs of each particular meeting. If you’ve done your homework, you should have plenty of materials to choose from. During the initial presentation, you’ll want to establish legitimacy, so a striking portfolio of work that somehow relates to the client’s project is a fine place to start. A computer or Web-based presentation is great (if it’s appropriate under the circumstances) because you can select work on the fly, responding to the prospect’s concerns or desires as the meeting progresses. Consider also a “capabilities packet” that includes your design philosophy, brief bios of principals and staff, a client list, references or quotes, and, most importantly, a clear statement of your ability to provide solutions and deliver results. Supporting materials are just that, supporting. Try not to make them the centerpiece of your presentation. Reserve that space for the client and her concerns.
  6. A FRESH PERSPECTIVE. Chances are your prospect has been thinking about the project for some time. At the very least she is stuck, whether she knows it or not, in the narrow confines of her company’s mentality. We all live in boxes of our own making, and once you’ve fully digested her ideas, thoughts, objections, and concerns, start thinking outside that box. Without going into too much detail, suggest a few ideas or solutions that might be considered. Stay away from the outlandish or peculiar, but do offer just enough to show that you have fresh insight and that there’s plenty more to come if they hire you.
  7. A MODEST PROPOSAL. Every presentation should close with an appropriate call to action. If it’s your first meeting with the company, the call to action might be simply a request to meet with the next higher-ups. If you’re well along in the process, the call to action might be the go ahead to create a more specific proposal. And at some point your potential client will start giving hints that it’s ready to close. Car salesmen know that when a prospect begins selecting colors, it’s time. In your case, it may be a prospect’s asking for details about your schedule, or an inquiry about payment details. At this point, don’t be afraid to ask for the job. Try phrases such as “when would you like to get started,” or “I can have a agreement letter to you by tomorrow morning,” or “well, let’s do it, what do you say?”

Let’s Get to Work
If you prepare yourself well, have patience, stay client-focused, keep your objectives in mind, and understand the importance of timing, you may be amazed at how many deals you can close.

Eric is an award-winning producer, screenwriter, author and former journalist. He wrote the script and co-produced the feature film SUPREMACY, starring Danny Glover, Anson Mount, Joe Anderson and Academy-Award-winner Mahershali Ali. As founder and president of Sleeperwave Films, Eric relies on his unique background to develop film commercial films around contemporary social issues. As a seasoned storyteller, Eric also coaches corporate executives on creating and delivering compelling presentations. He has written thought leadership materials for entertainment and technology companies, such as Cisco, Apple, Lucasfilm and others.
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