Tips for Virtual Presentations

The uncertain economy is forcing company CFOs to cut budgets and find efficiencies wherever they can, and one of the first places they look is travel expenses. Budgets are being slashed for all but the most necessary travel demands. How then are sales reps supposed to meet with key customers? How are important administrative and planning meetings supposed to take place?

Fortunately, the flood of new Internet-based communication technologies – think WebEx, Skype, etc. – has stepped in with an alternative to face to face meetings that is more than capable of filling the gap. Web-enabled meetings are rapidly becoming the preferred model for meetings of all types for companies of all sizes. The amount of money and time being saved by using a virtual meeting model is enormous, with very little – if any – loss in work product.

However, virtual meetings do contain some challenges from the presentation/delivery point of view. Research into the way people communicate reveals that audiences process input on three levels: Visual (facial expressions, body language, gestures, eye contact), Vocal (tone and pitch of your voice and pace of your words) and Verbal (the content of the message you are sharing). The research also tells us that the Visual component makes up 60% of the impact of the message, i.e., the value or believability factor the audience assigns to your message. Vocal impact makes up 30% and Verbal makes up only 10%.

You don’t have to be smarter than a fifth grader to figure out that, since the Visual component is generally lacking with Virtual presentations, something has to be done to compensate for the missing 60% of the impact of your message. Here are three important tips to help you retain the impact you need for your virtual presentations:

Neutralizing Two Negotiation Pressure Tactics

Pressure, pressure, pressure. Our lives are full of it. Every time we turn around, someone is trying to convince us that it is in our best interest to act NOW! While it is sometimes true that he who hesitates is lost, it is also true that he who is pressured by the fear of losing will often lose his shirt! One of the most common types of negotiation tactics is Pressure Tactics, and they have one goal: to convince you that your ship may be about to leave and you are not on it.

You don’t have to give in to pressure, especially if you know how to respond when someone applies it to you. Here, then, are perhaps the two most common pressure tactics, with suggestions on how to deal with them.

Tips for Delivering Coaching Feedback

Following up to yesterday’s post about transforming sales managers into sales coaches, here are some tips for giving regular, consistent feedback. Whether you want to reinforce good behavior (sometimes referred to as giving Confirming feedback) or change unacceptable behavior (also known as giving Constructive feedback), there are certain steps you need to follow to make it work.

1. Do it ASAP, in the moment it is needed

2. Do it in private

3. If the rep is involved in other activities, confirm that it’s okay to speak before starting a conversation

4. Begin by announcing your intentions; don’t keep the guessing about what is going on

5. Tell them how YOU feel about their behavior; there may be company policies involved but you are their coach, so don’t make this about someone else’s standards

6. Focus on one thing at a time; you may have several things to discuss, but don’t mix up the messages

7. Don’t make it personal; this is about performance, not about personalities

8. Be specific; you can’t change behavior if you don’t clearly define issues and outcomes

9. Get input; make sure they always have a chance to present their viewpoints and discuss their needs

10. Don’t leave them low; even if you had to deliver a corrective message, find a way to affirm their value as a person and give them a reason to hope things can get better

Sales Managers who take this kind of daily interest in the progress, needs, and ultimate success of their team members consistently see steady growth in the performance of the team, which translates into success for everyone, including the sales manager. Coaching truly creates a Win Win for everyone.

FAB-ulous Customer Service

Without a doubt, the biggest test of customer service comes when things go wrong. When they do, you have a perfect opportunity to build trust by sincerely bending over backwards to fix the problem. However, from the customer’s perspective, the biggest issue is not that a mistake has been made or problem exists. He is only watching to see if you will make every attempt to deal with the situation to his satisfaction.

Here are a few quick tips for preserving that sense of personal caring when you are interacting with customers:

Positive in Tough Times?

Tony Robbins was on the Today Show recently talking about being prepared mentally and staying positive through tough times.  Good clip and only about 4 minutes long.  Check it out below!

Arresting the Time Bandits

No, not those Time Bandits.

How often do you look up from your desk, see that it is almost closing time, and feel frustrated that, yet again, you weren’t able to complete one or more of the important tasks that needed to be finished today? If you regularly find yourself wondering where your time goes every day, you need to be on the look out for these five time bandits. Once you see them coming, you can arrest them so they will never bother you again.

Knowing How to Give Will Help You Receive

The whole purpose of negotiating is to find out what each side really wants and what they are willing to give – and give up – to get it. Therefore, at the heart of the negotiation process is the art of asking for and making concessions. Concessions are the terms, conditions and dollars that may be traded during the bargaining process in order to reach a win-win agreement. It is the exchange of concessions that moves a negotiation from opening to settlement.

With concessions, it is vital to begin at the beginning, meaning that as you start your preparation for a negotiation – long before you sit down at the negotiating table – you must identify what concessions you can make, and what concessions you think the other side will be willing to make, in order to come away with what each side really wants most. Here are some important principles to keep in mind when planning concessions:

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Meeting Online

I think that most people would agree that the most effective sales meeting is one that happens face to face.  After all, the majority of communiation happens visually.  But the problem is that for some of us it is impossible (either logistically or financially) to go and meet our customers to shake their hands and look them in the eye.  The end result is phone selling, which maximizes the number of people you connect with (good), but that connection still leaves something to be desired – that real human contact (bad).

So how do we close this gap?  Many reps have been using web meeting for a while now and incorporating webcams so customers can see your smiling face.  After all, people buy from people they know, like, and trust.  And it’s much easier to trust someone after you see them.

To this end, I stumbled upon an interesting article with some best practices when it comes to incorporating this webcam element into an online presentation.  Here are my favorites:

1. When you begin your meeting, don’t just hang the “slide 1 title page” on the screen. Start things off right with live video of you! Web conferences are so much more than just sharing PowerPoint so utilize everything at your disposal. While you are beginning the presentation and doing the introduction, you have the opportunity to make a personal connection with your viewers. Only after everything is underway and it’s time for the slides to be used should you switch from video to PowerPoint.
2. Unless they are riveted to the subject matter, participants will lose interest after thirty to forty-five minutes. If possible, break from your slide show to video and see if there are any questions. Looking at you for a few minutes and having the opportunity to ask a question or two will refocus your audience… at least for another thirty to forty-five minutes.
3. During that first portion of your presentation when your face is all they see, make sure that you look at your webcam lens. It may seem a little strange at first, especially if you are able to look at your screen and see the others, but making eye contact is important – even through a webcam.
4. If you need to check your notes while on camera, make sure you put them right below your webcam. That way, you will show less eye movement when you look down. Also, since you won’t have your notes to the right or the left, you won’t come across as a shifty eyed person as you quickly glance away and back. To further show confidence, set up your camera and notes so that you can be standing during the video portion of the presentation. The camera may only catch your head and shoulders, but you will feel and therefore appear more sure and in control.
5. At the end of your presentation but before the Q&A, go back to video for your conclusion. You want to make your closing statements powerful and meaningful. Now is the time to make sure your audience knows what you want and what you want them to do. Create a “soundbite” from your presentation to say at the end. This needs to be a short, powerful, memorable punch that will seal the connection between you and them.

For the full article, click HERE.

Prime the Pump by Offering Options

Sales reps always get into trouble with customers when they start pushing a particular product or solution. When that happens, customers feel trapped and manipulated and the rep is likely to lose a great opportunity for a sale. Instead of pushing for your idea, try to clarify the needs and desires the customer already has, and offer a set of options so that the customer feels he has a choice. By offering options, you come across as a trusted advisor instead of a pushy salesman, and the customer feels safe and respected.

Cold Calling for Introverts

Most sales people I know are pretty outgoing people.  They are the “talkers” and calling a random person out of the blue with little more than a name, a company, and a phone number doesn’t phase them in the least.  From my perspective, when I hear “salesperson” I’m thinking of an extrovert.

And then there are the “introverts” – those of us that tend to be more reserved, quiet, and less outgoing.  We don’t fit the sterotypical sales person mold.  And though we may not admit it, cold calling scares us to death.

That’s why I was intrigued when I saw this article on Top10SalesArticles.com (kind of like Digg for sales-related articles): Cold Calling for Introverts.

It has some interesting tips on how to make a cold call less nerve-racking and, ultimately, more successful.