Your sales team has scheduled an hour sales presentation with a new prospect. Your sponsor has gathered together a variety of interested individuals to attend the presentation. Some of these individuals may know something about your company. Other individuals may not have had a chance to learn about your products. Yet, other individuals may be brimming with in-depth questions they are dying to ask you. Each of them could be doing something else with their time.
The first thing you and the sales team needs to understand is that the 60 minutes you have needs to be carefully crafted so that it can capture and sustain the attention of the individuals gathered together. From your own personal experience, you know that when you walk into any meeting, your attention is likely to be on a variety of other concerns. What you may not realize is that unless the presenter does something to immediately grab the audience’s attention away from those other concerns, he/she is likely to never capture the audience’s attention.
Rule #1: Select an opening that will immediately interest all members of your audience.
Of course, this is easier said than done. The tactic I have found most successful is what I call “setting the contract”. In most early sales calls when the sales team hasn’t met the presentation attendees, a typical meeting starts by going around the table and having each attendee introduce him/herself. The “setting a contract” technique leverages this common practice. However, instead of just stating who you are, your title, and what you do, it adds one very important question.
“Setting the Contract” Question: If you could leave this meeting having your most pressing question answered, what would that question be?
Once I present this question, I then “set the contract” with my audience. I promise to address each of the questions the members of the audience want answered in the course of this presentation. I usually write each person’s question on a board and use it to hold myself accountable at the end of the presentation.
Here is why this technique has been so very successful for me.
- It immediately engages each individual.
- It demonstrates to each individual that their concern is heard.
- It promises each individual that if they pay attention to the presentation, their question will be answered.
- It encourages respect among the individuals at the table because each voice is given equal value.
- It shows the individuals that the other viewpoints at the table will enhance the value of the presentation. Often, other questions an individual may have show up on the combined list.
- It diverts individuals from posing their pressing questions early in the presentation and potentially preempting, diverting or derailing the flow of the story you want to tell.
- It eases the presenter (who would normally fall into “tell” mode) into a listening mode frame of mind.
- It offers the presenter insight into what really matters for the individuals who are spending their valuable time in the meeting.
- It helps ensure that the presenter understands the key issues before starting the presentation.
- It gives the presenter time to consider how to enhance the presentation to cover the top-of-mind questions.
- It gives the presenter a check list he/she can revisit at the end of the presentation to make sure that all questions were indeed answered (and the contract honored). By reviewing these questions at the end of the presentation, everyone leaves the meeting with a sense of accomplishment.
You may think that this will take a lot of additional time. The truth is that is does take more time, but that you will often get that time back in the course of the presentation. I have almost never been asked preemptive and disruptive questions in the presentation when this technique is used. Those types of questions can send a presenter down a rat hole and cause the audience’s attention to be lost. With the help of these questions, I customize the presentation to address the audience’s interests. This often results in fewer questions being asked during the presentation.
Obviously, this technique will be unreasonable for large audiences. However, establishing a contract with your audience at the start of the presentation is always a good plan because it helps set expectations. It can be either preceded or succeeded with some other device that helps the audience transition their attention to the presenter.
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