Your Environments Impact on Your Sales Presentation

The best speakers can rally a crowd to their cause in the worst conditions imaginable. Few of us are such speakers. But all of us can seek to improve the environment our audience is in before we present, to maximize the impact of our sales presentation.

• Speak early in the morning or right after lunch if possible. When people are hungry and ready to go get lunch, those physical needs can detract from even the best presentation. If you are presenting close to a meal time, provide snacks or juice if possible.
• Keep it short to avoid boredom or interruptions. If a long presentation is necessary, give a break after an hour to prevent disruptions like phone calls and bath room breaks from taking away from the presentation. Breaks can be enhanced by renting a meeting or conference room close enough for a dash to the bathroom but far enough from the lobby to avoid undue noise.
• Would you want to sit in that room to listen to this? Whether it is cramped, smoky, over-crowded, or noisy, the environment can often create a negative impression that the speaker must then overcome. Arrange enough space for the crowd expected to attend. A larger room may cost more money, but the alternatives of forcing people to stand or leaving half of the audience in the hall are worse. If there are surrounding events that add to the noise level, you can move the presentation to where there is less noise, try to implement sound dampening, or turn up your volume. It may be possible to ask other parties to turn down their own volume, but that may or may not be practical. Conference and meeting room selection need to be based on comfort as well as on price.
• Late arrivals distract those who arrived on time. They may also ask questions on matters already answered in the part of the presentation that they missed. If major players are rushed from another event, show consideration by moving your event fifteen to thirty minutes later. Move your presentation to avoid them being late. It shows consideration for these attendees and improves the quality of the presentation for all.

It is easy to ask if attendees have questions. Having time for all the questions is a greater challenge. Be pragmatic in setting a question and answer period. Give ten to twenty minutes for questions if possible. Five minutes or fewer feels rushed and can leave attendees with unanswered questions. Too long of a Q&A drags on a presentation to the point of boredom and can cause a time crunch for others. If there are many questions on topics in the seminar, have ready hand outs with details or information on how they could request a follow-up presentation.

 

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