Balance: The Key to More Persuasive Presentations

The best sales presentations contain the right mix of information flow and interactivity, and are uniquely balanced to best fit audience interests, needs and priorities.

However, while this approach might seem straightforward, people on the listening end frequently report a high percentage of presentations are woefully out of balance. Some are weighted down with too many facts and figures, while others lack supporting examples or testimonials; most are too long and contain few, if any, questions; and far too many conclude without a call to action or consequential next step.

Assuming sufficient preparation and effective delivery — that is, appropriate levels of enthusiasm, eye contact and tone variation — the ideal selling presentation, regardless of length, should contain a strategic balance of seven key ingredients:

1. Statement of purpose or clear objectives
2. Information: features, facts and data (properly researched)
3. Benefits: how the information will solve audience problems, satisfy needs or improve situations
4. Supporting documentation: examples, stories and testimonials
5. Interactivity: questions to engage listeners and to confirm their understanding and buy-in
6. Summary: a concise reminder of objectives and identification of conclusions
7. Call-to-action: the specific next steps we would like our audience to take. It's not a selling presentation if it doesn't include a close!

Whether making an "elevator pitch" or a formal presentation, we will be significantly more persuasive and will most assuredly enjoy greater success if these seven elements are incorporated into our delivery.

Balancing Worksheet If you'd like to measure the degree to which your presentations are balanced, you might use the worksheet below. While the best mix of "ingredients" will vary depending upon the audience and circumstances, approximate guidelines are shown on a percentage basis.

Goals or

Objectives

5%

Facts

20-25%

Audience

Benefits

20-25%

Examples

20%

Questions

15-20%

Summary

5-10%

Call to Action

5%

The easiest evaluation method is to record a presentation and, while listening to the recording afterward, enter a check mark into the appropriate column on the worksheet each time a fact or benefit is stated, a story or example related, a question asked, and so on. Alternatively, or as a quality check, a trusted colleague or friend can be invited to listen to a presentation (or ride along on a real sales call!) and make notes on the worksheet while doing so.

Either way, the objective is to increase awareness of the actual degree to which current presentations are balanced, and to continually improve delivery and communication skills so it becomes natural to incorporate all of the elements into every selling presentation.