Powerpoint presentations are both an art and a science
It’s an unfortunate reality that it’s not just what you say that’s important: it’s how you say it. And that’s never more relevant than in the context of sales presentations, where the product or service itself can too frequently come second to the pitch. Most businesses use powerpoint presentations or similar to get their message across, but the downside with this approach is that your pitch is necessarily only as good as your Powerpoint design. Essentially, it doesn’t matter how good your company and product is, if there’s a weak link in the chain somewhere else.
Good presentations are memorable. They stick in the mind and leave people thinking that the company is professional, competent and conscientious. Bad presentations have precisely the opposite effect. They leave audiences assuming that the company can’t afford or can’t be bothered to get such a fundamental step right – so what does that say about the way they will approach a business relationship? It’s worth reiterating the truism that a forgettable sales presentation will be consigned to the mind’s dustbin in short order, along with any hope of a contract.
As a mainstay of such presentations, Powerpoint has a lot to answer for. It has become something of an industry standard, but a tool which is misused, or used in an unhelpful or mediocre way, more often than it is used to make a presentation shine. Some people know how to use it well, either through experience, instinct or training; others do not, and this can scupper an otherwise strong pitch. The moral is that it’s not worth glossing over the Powerpoint slides when it comes to preparation: visuals are strong and attention grabbing: make sure they grab the attention the right way.
If you don’t have the in-house talent to come up with the kinds of powerpoint presentations you will need to make worthwhile sales presentations, it’s worth knowing that there are companies out there who can do them for you. They may also be able to offer training in Powerpoint design, so that you can up-skill your own people rather than rely on outside agencies for the foreseeable future. Either way, this is an area of client interfacing in which it simply isn’t worth doing anything less than your best. It doesn’t matter how regularly people complain about spin overshadowing substance, or claiming that their product will overcome any deficiencies in presentation: if there are other companies doing the same thing, then you need every competitive edge you can get.
Please visit http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.
http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/
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