Tweet

Present Your Way To The Top: Selling At The Whiteboard

Guest post by: Milly Sonneman

Article Overview: What if sales presentations were easier, faster and better without slides? What if you could engage your clients, create meaningful conversations and collaborate together-from the start? Find out the 3 secrets to unlock unstoppable results.

Present Your Way To The Top: Selling At The Whiteboard

What if sales presentations were easier, faster and better without slides? What if you could engage your clients, create meaningful conversations and collaborate together—from the start? Find out the 3 secrets to unlock unstoppable results.

Selling at the whiteboard revolutionizes what you know about sales presenting.

It’s not just that slides are boring. It’s that audiences are fed up with being passive while sales presenters ‘spit sand.’ There’s a lot of discussion about what makes sales presentations really work.

It’s not as simple as benefits in…sales out. If it were all that simple, sales professionals would take the time to truly distinguish a feature from a benefit. But that’s another topic for another time. Right now, let’s focus on heating up sales conversations at the whiteboard.

If you’ve ever taken a presentation skills training, you know that it truly is possible to learn new skills. It’s the same with whiteboard presentation skills.

Only a few things stand in the way. Belief. Skills. Training.

Let’s look into each one and see how to build skills to successfully present your sales story at the whiteboard…in minutes not weeks.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

1. What Do You Believe?

Have you been repeatedly telling yourself that you’re hopeless at the whiteboard? Do you say it over and over again, with firm conviction?

If so…you’ll realize one thing. You’re really good at convincing yourself!

Use the same talent of persuasion to believe that you can acquire the skills to simplify complex ideas and engage clients—at a whiteboard.

Funny how that works, right?

2. What Skills Do You Have?

When is the last time you picked up a marker? Was it in kindergarten? Was it to draw a picture with your kids? Was it to plan a cool sales training program at the whiteboard?

If it’s been a while since you worked on your interactive visual storytelling skills, don’t despair. These skills are learnable. In fact, it’s easiest to think of it like a language—a visual language.

To speak a language you must learn the alphabet, words, sentence structure and story flow. Just like a foreign language. To speak a visual language for whiteboard presenting, follow the same organization.

Learn visual icons. Discover how to combine words and icons. Organize this symbolic language into ‘sentences’ so everyone ‘gets’ what you are describing. Then, organize sentences into visual frameworks. Finally, learn how to talk ad lib, engage with other people and respond on the spot. This kind of fluidity in speech is why whiteboard presenters learn the skill of facilitating interaction.

It’s real-time visual storytelling. Just remember…when you learned to speak your native language, you had to start at the beginning. A baby learns by experimenting. They rarely start speaking fluid sentences from the get-go. There’s a whole lot of trial and error first.

The same is true for learning a visual language. Don’t miss the beginning steps. Everything else builds on this foundation.

3. What Training Do You Need?

Training in skills is critical—if you’re serious about being poised and professional in front of important clients. Standing with a marker in your hand is something you want to learn well, practice, and get personal training to do effectively.

Many of my clients start out swearing that they are ‘incapable’ of thinking visually, drawing, sketching on the spot, or creating a visual map that guides conversation. They are thrilled when they realize that by following a step-by-step approach, the impossible becomes very do-able.

The most important training is to challenge limiting beliefs, build hands-on skills, and target specific opportunities to whiteboard sales conversations with your customers.

But the key is to start.

Start with uprooting negative self-talk and attitudes that hold you back. Continue to build your skills in a visual language.

Interested in boosting your presentation skills? Get the training you need to push peak performance. Your mood will improve, your skill will soar, and your sales will be your ultimate reward.

Related Articles
  How Whiteboard Selling Skills Get Better and Faster Results
  Are Your Whiteboards Helping Or Hurting?
  Don’t Miss Out On The Whiteboard Sales Presenting Craze
  Selling More With Whiteboard Displays
  Why You Should Ignore That Whiteboard
  Ultimate Truth About Executive Presence At The Whiteboard
  The Best Time to Sell At The Whiteboard
  Stop Losing Money With Poor Presentation Skills
  The Key To Successful Whiteboard Presentations
  Unleash Whiteboard Training For Your Sales Kick Off
  The Truth About Selling With A Whiteboard
  Escape Frustration: Finding The Best Whiteboard Skills Training
  Selling With Whiteboard Conversations Boosts Personal Touch
  The 5 Secrets of Exceptional Whiteboard Story Selling
  Part Eight - Prospecting for More Sales
  The Art of Whiteboarding a Sale
  Field Scripts For Powerful Whiteboard Story Selling
  10 Tips For Learning Whiteboard Selling Skills Online
  The Little Secret To Close 57% More Sales
  How to Monitor Whiteboard Selling Skills in 5 Steps

Article Tags: business presentation skills, online presentation skills training, online presentation training, presentation skills, presentation skills online, presentation skills training, total presentation skills training, total training, whiteboard presentation skills online, whiteboard selling, whiteboard selling online



Related Forum Posts
How to valuate a business - Hi Garth - here is how we did it at Northern Crown Capital when I was helping them raise venture capital for Toronto-based entrepreneurs. Assume the start date is 2003 so 2008 projections are 5 years out: How Northern Crown Capital Valuates a Business 2008 Financial Projections Earnings Before Tax $5,865,000 Tax Rate 42% Taxes $2,463,300 Net Earnings $3,401,700 Amount Seeking to Raise Today $3,500,000 Discounted Value of Future Opportunity, 5 Years Out 2008 P/E Ratio 15 Value of Company in 2008 $51,025,500 Discount Rate Applied 30% Year 2008 $51,025,500 Year 2007 $35,717,850 Year 2006 $25,002,495 Year 2005 $17,501,747 Year 2004 $12,251,223 Value of Company at Investment in 2003 $12,251,223 Less: Investment Amount $3,500,000 Present Value $8,751,223 Discount for Risk & Private Company 40% Less: Discount for Risk & Private Company $3,500,489 Private Company Value $5,250,734 Present Value (What the Owner Keeps) $5,250,734 60.00% Financing (What the Investor Gets) $3,500,000 40.00% Total $8,750,734 100.00% I hope this helps!
Re: Kevin's Case Study #10 - When to become an entrepreneur? - When the bug bite you. A lot of successful entrepreneurs started in their teens or at school. Selling sweets to fellow students or lemonade to firends in the neighbourhood.
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hey GT, I guess this was from a while back, and it'll test your memory a bit but could you possibly elaborate on Unique Selling Proposition? Can you give us some examples of good USPs?
Blog pinging - Thanks Martin - yes, I do ping and it has been very effective. I'm currently on the first page of Google for Mastermind Group and on the second page for Selling to Small Business.
Business magazines - Fast Company is pretty good if you're into technology although it can be very on the edge. Entrepreneur has become one giant advertisement and I cancelled my subscription. Selling Power also has some useful content if you're looking at improving your sales skills / presentations.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Adjusting Your World

Is the Media to blame for losses in super?

Common Sense Stress Management

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.