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Presenting Smart: Are You the Victim of Sales Typecasting?
July 01, 2008
By John Windsor
Back when I was a budding actor, my fellow performing hopefuls and I hated being typecast. We wanted to be recognized for our talent, not how we looked, sounded or dressed. But we rarely escaped typecasting's grip—how you looked, moved and sounded was critical in 98% of the auditions, even down to hair color and height. You could gauge your chances of getting the job based on how close your looks were to the sketches on the storyboards.
Now, though, as I view things from a persuasion perspective, typecasting makes perfect sense. We are ALL hardwired to make snap judgments about someone from a single glance—especially when it comes to sales and making decisions about where to spend our money.
So think about that: You're about to make a presentation or a sales call—or go ahead with that press release or marketing campaign—and the people you want to reach are going to decide whether they'll accept you and your pitch in the first second. That's right, one second. All that effort, and they may summarily dismiss you before you even open your mouth.
Yikes! Unfair, right? But that IS the reality. Social psychologists have been detailing for years our tendency towards snap judgments, and Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book, Blink, is devoted to just this subject.
So what do you do?
The first step is to determine how you are being typecast. Are you coming across as a salesman, a vendor, someone with something to pitch? Or are you viewed as a partner, an advisor and someone who can help them achieve something? If they're asking you lots of questions, nodding their heads and are actively engaged in the conversation, then you are likely in the "partner" role. Congrats! This means you're on your way to success.
But if they're sitting back, arms folded and not saying much, then it's highly likely you're in the salesman/vendor/"me" category. And if you are in that category, a new suit or fancier words in your press release won't help you. You need to step back and look at how you come across. Is it the words you use? Is it the direction of your conversation or the agenda of your presentation? Are you leading with features, and using "benefits" to justify those features?
There are all kinds of ways you could be coming across as self-serving and self-focused. And that's usually expressed in the first slide of your presentation or the first sentence of your call script. To break that mold, ask yourself, "What's the one thing they really need to know?" Then build your pitch from there.
For more help on this subject, read my previous column The Trap of "Features & Benefits", or read The Presentation Quick Guide and The Cocktail Napkin Presentation. The ideas in those posts go far beyond just presentations, as well.
And even if you are squarely among the partner/advisor set, it's still very helpful to think about how you are being perceived. Look at the first 15 seconds of your presentation and see if there's anything that smacks of "me." If there is, take it out. You don't want to give your audience or prospects any reason to move you toward the just-a-vendor category.
John Windsor, an online columnist for Sales & Marketing Management, is President of Creating Thunder, a Boulder, Colo.-based communications training and consulting company. As author of the popular YouBlog, John offers a unique mix of innovation, communications, sales and marketing ideas. An award-winning marketer, John has held vice president positions in marketing, sales, and business development and has worked with companies like American Express, Reuters, Staples, and Knight-Ridder.
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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