90 Minds Community

I know I'm a long way from perfect but I would like to suggest something for sales presentations ... If you are presenting to a single company, it makes a lot of sense to ask questions during the presentation to keep the audience engaged, get confirmation of benefits, and make them feel like you give a shit. I'm listening to Enbu present their project management add-on for Sage CRM to one of my clients and I'm wondering ... are they even on the call any longer? He has been rapid firing feature after feature (with no direct explanation of how those features relate to customer benefits) and I'm dizzy. So ... lesson learned: 1. Never let Enbu directly present to my customers any more. 2. Engage your audience. 3. Tie features to benefits. This isn't rocket science really.

Obviously rules are different if you are doing a webinar with multiple audience members. You should still tie in benefits. You should also still ask open ended questions to engage them - just don't wait for a response - use them to get the audience thinking.

Ditto @PeterWolf. At least when you're in front of an audience, you can see yawns or deer-in-headlights looks and adjust accordingly. Remote sessions require asking something like, ""does this make sense? or ""do you do this?"" after every feature or point made. Thanks for the reminder.

During the demo, it might be helpful (depending on how well you know the presenter) to interrupt them. ""Excuse me Presenter but Customer, what are your thoughts on this?

Good call @ThereseLogeais! The presenter was on a roll though - I don't know how he didn't pass out. He didn't even pause to breathe!

In that case, ""Wow, Presenter! You're showing a lot of features! Customer, which do you find interesting?

The presenter might actually appreciate the break!

Did you send him feedback? I feel obligated to especially if I didn't feel a connection was made. I mean, you are the one that brought them to the table. If you feel the product has potential for the client, try for a do over with a different presenter. I've done that. I also try to touch base with before the session to review the client, their needs and what your expectations.

Enbu must be missing Noelle, who was great at demos.

But whole heartedly agree with @ThereseLogeais about asking the questions during the webinar. Another technique I have used is to have chat sessions with both the presenter and the audience asking them behind the scenes how things are going.

I couldn't remember her name! Thanks @JohnHoyt . I was wondering if it was her but thinking not.

Noelle left Enbu in December to ""launch a personal venture in 2015"".

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. As an instructor, I know I've found myself just plowing through and not stopping to ask questions, usually when I had difficult students.

Yes, I need to give them feedback. And in all fairness, it's 10 at night Dublin time so they definitely went the extra mile! Strike the snarky bit about Enbu, the other items are still good tips for presentations.

@PeterWolf It's our problem they want to be in Dublin? They already have all the good Guinness.