Coaching and Training for Public Speaking and Effective Sales Presentations

The FiveDon’ts of Sales Presenting

When transforming your house into a dream home,talk to three architects.

When getting heart surgery to transform thequality of your life, talk to three surgeons.

And to transform your sales presentations intoreally good sales presentations, talk to three consultants.

I have three people in mind. The first is Ford Harding, a sales consultant toprofessional service firms and the author of Creating Rainmakers, (Wiley 2006) andother books on selling professional services. Ford has helped umpteen thousandprofessionals get over themselves and bring in business.

The second is SuzanneLowe, a marketing consultant and author of MarketplaceMasters: How Professional Firms Compete to Win. As Fordsays, she can get a burlap bag full of cats, dogs and canaries to hum the sametune.

The third is me, Sims Wyeth, a presentation coach whosemission is to transform the personal impact of business presenters.

To officiate, we have assembled a panel of fifteenobjective judges selected for their diversity along multiple dimensions.

Here are THE FIVE DON'TS OF SALESPRESENTING in no particular order.

Don’t even go to the presentation if the client won't meet withyou ahead of time so you can learn what they want and why they want it. Yourtime is extremely valuable, as is theirs, and you should not waste either theirtime or yours by pursuing an opportunity for which you are not suited, or bytraveling to recite information they could read in a brochure, e-mail, orwebsite.

Don’t assume that the presentation begins when you stand infront of the room and open your mouth. In reality, you began presenting whenthe prospective client first encountered you and your team—perhaps monthsbefore, on the phone, on the web, or in person, when their search for aprovider began. Your behaviors, and your tangibles (including your brochure andoffice) throughout the preliminary discussions and scheduling of thepresentation play a significant role in their ultimate decision

Don’t be late, unprepared, sloppy, rude, poorly dressed,or tense when you enter the meeting room. People want to do business withpeople they like and trust. A sales presentation is a formal socialoccasion as much as it is a business transaction. Therefore, be attentive toall aspects of the conversation. Show interest at all times. Do not slouch inyour chair, Blackberry under the table, conduct side conversations, scowl, beboring, or dominate the conversation. A bad dinner guest is the same as a badsalesperson.

Don’t elevate prospects to a higher status than yourself, norshould you look down your nose at them for any reason. You do the potentialpartnership a disservice on both counts. Treat your prospects asequals—partners with whom you can be yourself and speak your mind.

Don’t go there to sell them anything. If you do, they will smellit. Go there to help them. Don’t make the presentation all about you. Make itall about them.

If you would like to submit additional SalesPresentation Don'ts, Ford, Suzanne, and I are glad topass them on to our totally objective board of fifteen judges for rating.

To see a marketing expert’s choices forpresentation Don’ts, go to SuzanneLowe’s blog

To see a sales consultant's, go to Ford Harding's blog.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.