August 2008 Entries
Is it possible to persuade with a PowerPoint? Of course it is. Those of us in sales use PowerPoint to walk a prospect thru the features and benefits of our products every day. In his new book, Harry Mills provides six strategies to optimize persuasive impact in Power Points! How to Design & Deliver Presentations That Sizzle and Sell. Here is a brief recap:
Align PowerPoint with the brain. We all receive information via two channels --- visual and verbal. By combining limited graphics with verbal support, we can assure the best comprehension of the material. Don’t overload either channel, or...
Recent brain research has begun to prove what clever salespeople have known all along:
The brain tunes out after 10 minutes. Your audience might be with you at "hello," but in most cases, listeners stop paying attention within 10 minutes. According to research, studies confirm that "…before the first quarter-hour is over in a typical presentation, people usually have checked out."
The 10-minute rule is an important finding for anyone who makes presentations or does public speaking…no matter who the audience is. To hold the people's attention, I recommend you introduce a “device to engage the audience” sometime in the first...
As marketers, we are constantly focused on creating and building brands…and often extending those brands with additional products. The CPG channel is the champion of this strategy, much more so than foodservice. Lately, however, major brands have been on a rampage to extend their brands further and further from their original base.
A new book dealing with this issue has just been published: “OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder." The author, Lucas Conley, asserts that branding has "jumped the tracks, barreling through popular culture unchecked." He errs, I think, by elevating the argument that consumers are overexposed to commercial messages and impart...
The first five minutes of an initial sales presentation is the foundation upon which all else is anchored. If a strong foundation is not built, the “house” you build on it just might collapse. Clearly, your pre-call planning should include some thought about how you want to manage the building of your relationship foundation. Here are a few components to consider:
1. Your Personal Link: The starting point begins with the establishment of good chemistry. The quickest way to that goal is to create a “personal link”. One way to do that is by creating a quick personal link. Perhaps...
Time Magazine published a piece this week that included an interview with Nelson Mandela. In it he outlines his “8 Rules of Leadership”. I was initially stunned when I first read it, thinking about Mandela and his incredible life. Later, as I summarized these rules for a resource document, I suddenly saw their application in business and in life.
I then began to outline his eight rules and translate them to a business context for this blog. But I quickly decided against that idea. Use the link below to read the entire article in it's original context. Then interpret them as you...