From Nazir Daud of CityLocal: In business, like in life, presentation is important.
Your customers' perception of your sales staff, your back-office staff and yourbrand help to mould how they perceive your business, and their likelihood of doing business with you.
Here are six tips that you can follow which will entice your customers to sign on the dotted line:
Look smart
As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, people do and you can use this to your advantage. Make sure you're looking well groomed for the occasion. The consequences are far less severe if you overdress, rather than under-dress, so keep this in mind when deciding on suitable attire.
Don't read from a PowerPoint presentation
Slides are meant to enhance your presentation, not be your presentation. Try to use PowerPoint presentations to show graphs, images and figures that are harder to understand when spoken. You should also try to make slides easy to digest, this means the customer will be focused on you more, and your slides less.
Practise makes perfect
Try to practise doing your presentation as much as possible. Try to focus less on the exact wording used, and more on the overall message. Ask a friend or co-worker to listen in and here what they have to say. While you may not have to follow their feedback word-for-word, it is hard to judge your own presentation when you're the one presenting.
It's even better if you present to someone within your business who you don't know as well.
Don't bury your head in your notes
It's easy to bury your head in your notes when doing a business presentation. Try not to. One of the best ways to avoid this is to ensure that you don't prepare what you'll say word-for-word. Only work on an overall message.
Or, if you must read from notes, only lower your head at the start of each sentence, read what you have to say and then lift your head and address your audience. Retro tip - pick something, or someone, at the back of the room to focus on.
Adopt a conversational tone
When presenting, it is easy to sound like your doing a book reading. This is particularly the case when you have prepared too much. Try to only prepare by creating a list of bullet points, and this will allow you to make your business presentation sound more conversational.
Through making impromptu comments you will be able to address this issue, and allow your prospects to focus on what your business can deliver.
Objection - handle as you go
When you are dealing with a small group, address their issues as you go. Make your prospects feel comfortable to ask questions when they come up and address them before moving onto the next part of your presentation.
This may kill the flow, but when the customer wants to interrupt let them. If something is nagging them, and they cannot get it out of their mind, then it will be harder for them to focus on what it is that you want to say
