Not Your Father's Presentation
March 28, 2008
Cutting-edge tech solutions can help you seal the deal
By Izabella Iizuka
The person who's never slept through a presentation may cast the first stone—maybe that ought to wake up the guy snoring in the fifth row!
The goal of a sales presentation is to deliver a clear, concise and consistent message to your prospects about your product and your brand, as well as why you're better than the competition. Doing that and keeping your audience's attention for longer than 30 minutes is the real challenge. Cell phones, text messaging and portable Internet viewers present new challenges for sales presenters, who must overcome multiple distractions during a presentation.
Today's spoiled, information-overloaded prospects demand a richer presentation experience, one that takes creativity, careful planning and the application of the hottest technologies available. You can't fill your prospects' heads with unnecessary, useless information, and you have to capture their interest fast or risk losing them forever.
To accomplish your communications goals in 10 to 20 seconds and pique your audience's interest, you must take into account the fact that prospects today can find a lot of information by themselves from media that's readily available on the Web—and not only about your products, but also your competitor's.
As a result, you must deliver your message in a more engaging and compelling way than your competition does, and you must deliver more information in less time via flexible, customizable and updatable presentations that have a long shelf life. Damon Alberts, executive vice president of eCity Interactive, recommends that presenters "focus on the important stuff and be quick about it. People remember concepts illustrated with pictures better than just words; video footage or animation is even better."
"A good sales presentation is one that conveys with absolute clarity the benefits of the product being touted," says Bill Nordgren, president and CEO of Dryfork Media Corporation. "Visual stimulation that helps a person understand the need for the product or service being presented is vital in any sales presentation. When a person can 'see' why a product or service will help them do their job better or make their life easier, the sale is made."
In the opinion of David Paradi, president of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com and the co-author of Guide to PowerPoint, a good sales presentation is primarily focused on the needs of the client. "Presentations should use visuals that encourage conversation, rather than endless text that leads to the audience reading the slides," Paradi says. "They must also provide the ability to change the flow of the presentation based on what the client wants."
Today's New Standard
In the old days, standing out from your competition and leaving a long-lasting impression depended largely on the public speaking talents and the mood of your sales reps. The only thing that could save you from a poorly delivered presentation was the stack of really expensive brochures you hope your rep didn't forget to pass out.
A "presentation" nowadays goes beyond what happens in a closed room. The image of your company now depends heavily on multimedia presentations on your Web site and DVDs handed out at trade shows. In addition to meeting all of the traditional challenges, you need to develop a message that can be used beyond the conference room or your Web site—one that can be taken to key decision-makers within your prospect's organization.
The problem with traditional presentation tools is that they use a lot of static text that makes them too long, too common and just plain boring. PowerPoint changed that for a while, but with technology changing so quickly, some claim that even this beloved presentation tool doesn't cut it anymore.
But Paradi disagrees. "I don't think PowerPoint is becoming obsolete," he says, "because while all these new technologies allow for a higher entertainment value, a good sales presentation should be focused on informing and persuading." Paradi adds that PowerPoint is still the most widely used presentation tool because, with an installed base of over 500 million copies, it is the most accessible medium for sales professionals and for clients. He points out that new presentation technologies carry a high price tag and an even higher cost if there's a steep learning curve.
Sales professionals and executives must weigh the benefits of a new presentation tool against the potential for more sales, and it might not be worth taking on the added effort and expense. "Busy sales professionals who want to get their jobs done quickly and effectively will continue to rely on the tool they already know and are comfortable with," Paradi says. "In addition, there is a vast array of PowerPoint resources available, from books to CDs to online learning, that a busy sales professionals can access when they have questions. With newer technologies, that ready library of knowledge in easy-to-access formats just isn't there."
The New Breed of Tools
 Nevertheless, there are a lot of new tools that can enhance your presentation. Hitachi Software, for example, now offers a line of interactive whiteboards, panels and portable tablets that offers dynamic and engaging ways to grab and hold the attention of even the most technology-savvy meeting attendee.
According to John Glad, product manager of Hitachi America, Ltd., "Operating the StarBoard software is simple for any presenter, and encourages group interaction with visual feedback immediately appearing on screen, which enables group contributions to a presentation as it is given." The StarBoard BT-2G freedom tablet has a range of up to 65 feet and a 24-hour battery life, so it can be passed around a room during a presentation. This enables meeting attendees to annotate directly on the presentation screen to maximize audience participation and contribution.
Dryfork Media Corporation has a new presentation software that gives the presenter greater visual impact and understanding, thanks to the 3D OpenGL technology used in the Microsoft Vista operating system. "Products using 2D can only provide 67% accuracy in visual space," Nordgren says, "while 3D provides the ability to use all 100% of visual space, allowing ideas and concepts to be understood to a greater degree.
"For example, if you are trying to sell the idea of a new heart catheter and how it is more flexible than current catheters on the market, a 3D image can make a difference in helping customers to 'see' the improvement."
The product can integrate video, sound and 3D animations into the presentation environment. "Object-oriented technology allows the re-use of page designs, 3D worlds and fly-throughs," Nordgren says. "Once you design a 3D space, it can be used over and over again and can be combined with other 3D worlds."
Kaon Interactive's solutions promise to make sales and marketing presentations more engaging by letting prospects and customers interact with products like they never could before. With Kaon, users can investigate moving parts; rotate, view and measure products from every angle; sample color options and explore unique features.
Not exactly multimedia, the technology is Java-enabled and can be used within a number of platforms, from PDFs to Web sites to PowerPoint presentations. Users can combine 3D interactivity with relevant product information and messaging. In addition, the supporting content can help reps walk through the sales process.
According to Alberts, Flash is the most powerful software tool today to leverage technology in sales presentations, and Flash interactive sales tools can serve multiple purposes. You can send them in advance of a meeting to prime your prospects and pique their interest, or you can leave them behind after the meeting to help your contact sell your product and service internally. Interactive tools that involve your viewers make them want to talk about you and show your presentation to key decision-makers in their organization.
"Presentations developed in Flash now have better integration of video, back-end systems and other Web-based technologies," Alberts says. "One benefit of this greater integration is the ability to incorporate dynamic information and develop modular presentations with a focus on user experience and usability. These changes allow for more interactivity, flexibility in customization and a richer experience for the prospect."
The Cost of Doing Business
Although creating these presentations can be costly and complex, even short-term rewards (such as reducing reps' travel costs) can be substantial. These presentations can be run by reps from their own offices and shown to prospects around the globe simultaneously through Webinars, for example.
To offset creation costs, Alberts recommends that you build solutions to last. "Flexibility, customizability and updatability are key requirements in every presentation development project," he says. "Look beyond the short-term scope of a project and consider strategies that will allow for growth and changes in products and services. Develop solutions that are flexible and evolve with your business. All of those things will contribute to a longer shelf-life for your presentation."
He suggests designing the content of your presentation with a modular approach, which can give you the flexibility to customize and tailor your presentation specifically for each prospect's goals, needs and unique business challenges. You can create "evergreen" elements and use easier-to-update and customizable media like text, links, PDFs and Excel workbooks for the more detailed information on products and services, as well as to detail competitive advantages and ROI.
"Make sure everyone who uses the technology is familiar with best practices," Alberts recommends. "Provide solid training at launch, and make sure there is someone in the organization assigned to provide support for those using presentation systems."
If you don't have the necessary capabilities in-house, you can partner with a company that has extensive experience leveraging new technologies for sales and marketing applications. It takes working with a creative and imaginative team—one that understands your business and target audience—to find new, interesting and innovative ways to market your company while making the shift.
By effectively utilizing new Web and software technologies in every aspect of your sales presentation, you will not only overcome the challenges presented by modern demands, but also reap other advantages, such as being able to track your prospects' habits and make up successful sales initiatives based on the data collected online.
You can measure the impact of your presentation and collect data to track your campaigns by using JavaScript tagging schemes, which can track the entire online experience with great precision and generate a custom report on the data. "This allows you to learn what your users are interested in so you can target products and services that best meet their needs," Alberts says. "It also allows you to measure the impact of specific marketing initiatives and compare their effectiveness at producing results."
As expectations have risen, so have the rewards of a good presentation. The greatest advantage of investing in great presentation tools, however, is that frees us your sales reps to focus on what only they can do: build relationships that increase revenue.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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