The business presentations you give are very important, so if you are giving poor presentations, it could really be hurting your business.
Giving a great presentation to clients or possible investors is a needed skill for salesmen, entrepreneurs or consultants. It doesn’t matter if it a short pitch to someone you meet over dinner or a large audience; it is important to win over people and persuade them to your cause. If you can learn how to give powerful presentations I guarantee you will get more work and make more money.
To help you start becoming a better presenter, you need to know what to not do. Here are a list of things you should never do and how to prevent them from happening.
-You don’t have a clear goal
You really need to know what you want to accomplish with your presentation, or you will never accomplish it. What do you want to do? Educate people, build a relationship, or sell something?
-There isn’t a structure to your presentation You need to have an introduction, a middle, and an end to the presentation. Otherwise it will be jumbled and unorganized.
-You don’t know how to connect with your audience You need to be able to connect with people, mentally, emotionally, and through their pocket book.
-Your presentation is started off badly You only have one chance to make a first impression so make every word count. It should be meaningful and accomplish something.
-You have way too much information Do not overload people with a ton of information; it will be very boring. The last thing you want to do is put people asleep. If you need to add a bunch of details you should give a hand out of information to people.
-You tend to talk about yourself too much Don’t use the word I as much, instead you should try using you. Record your presentation and change as much as you can.
-The close of your presentation is weak You need to reiterate the message that you want people to leave for home with. What do you want people to do?
