Using PowerPoint during group sales presentations is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. But how you use it, is something else.
The person giving the presentation is center stage not the PowerPoint slides, which is often the case. Your PowerPoint slides should reinforce your presentation - it should not be your presentation.
You know, I do a lot of keynote speeches and sales training programs for corporate America. I can't tell you how many times I've been bored to tears by somebody's presentation. It makes me want to itch!
Look, I didn't wake up in a bad mood today. I was just reading an article in Entrepreneur Magazine about a venture capitalist guy named Guy Kawasaki whose reaction to PowerPoint presentations is just like my own.
So it got me thinking. I thought I'd put together some do's and don'ts to help you, just in case you're committing any of these faux pas's.
Don't darken the room - it really can put some people to sleep.
Don't fall in love with your technology. You don't need glitzy transitions between every slide.
Don't fill up every slide. Less can actually be more.
Don't have sentences that build one after another, and another, and another. It literally drives people crazy when presenters do this.
Don't walk in front of the projector and cast a humongous shadow on the screen.
Don't use a small font size. If people can't see it from the back of the room it doesn't belong on a slide. Use a handout!
Don't use a dark background color on your slides.
Don't use too many slides and make too many points.
Don't keep your slides on the screen during your entire presentation. It becomes a distraction. There's a better way - keep reading.
On the other hand here's a short list of things you should do.
Do turn on all room lights.
Do use a white background color for your PowerPoint sales presentation slides.
Do hit the period key on your keyboard to darken the screen in between slides.
Do hit the period key on your keyboard when you want to show your next slide.
Do move around a little so your audience doesn't get the impression you're tethered to the podium or anything else in front of the room.
Do follow Guy Kawasaki's recommendation of 10/20/30. Keep reading.
Do use no more than 10 slides. Focus on what you want people to remember. You can make it stick if you use fewer and better slides.
Do set aside 20 minutes for showing your 10 slides. People have shorter attention spans today.
Do use a font size no smaller than 30 points. Bigger fonts lead the way to making better points.
Do be brief and to the point when you're making your key selling points.
Do have a sales conversation with your audience by asking them for their reaction to your key points.
Make your next PowerPoint sales presentation a more powerful one by using fewer PowerPoints!
And don't overwhelm your audience with nauseating details.
Always leave them wanting more.
Use this link to sign-up for Jim's F-R-E-E The Start Selling More Newsletter and to get your copy of his Special Report titled, "The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do."
www.startsellingmore.com
How To Use PowerPoint During Sales Presentations - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Meisenheimer's Website.
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