THE BARD GROUP, LLC

OBJECTIVES

Create a presentation that makes the buyer feel like there is total alignment between their challenges and your solution.
Design the right pages, making the right points, in the right order so it is easy for the client to stay engaged and understand your value.

CHALLENGES

There’s something daunting about the process of starting with nothing and needing to move your thoughts from your head to paper or to a series of PowerPoint slides. As a result, it’s common to procrastinate until you run out of time to do it well, leaving little time to structure the meeting, prepare your talking points, and plan for how to engage with the client.
You don’t know where to start so you look for shortcuts, pulling slides from other presentations at the risk of creating a standard presentation that doesn’t tell your story well. You include a lot of details around your solution in an attempt to differentiate but they don’t link to your client's challenges.
85% of executives believe that sales meetings are a waste of time because they are not about them and their needs, but all about the sales team and their sales pitch. They see this pattern time and again.
Your client’s memory is limited to three (3) new chunks of information at a time. More than four causes cognitive backlog that increases your client’s anxiety and frustration and impacts their ability to remember your message later on when decisions are made.

TECHNIQUES

Whether you are proposing a set of new solutions or building a story that is unique to this client’s situation, the process need not be daunting.

Ultimately the presentation you build should be about the alignment of your strengths with your client’s challenges. It is not solely about you, but about how you are uniquely positioned to meet their needs.

Here are step-by-step techniques that will make it not only manageable but rewarding to build a new presentation.

A. Understand your client and what’s important to them

What do they do?
What’s happening in their company and their market?
What challenges are they facing that you can solve?
What do they hope to accomplish in meeting with you?

B. Do, Know, Feel, Learn

1. What do you want the client to do as a result of this meeting? Said another way, what is the ideal but realistic outcome or next step?

2. What do you want them to know and remember?

Your presentation is not about everything you do, or every detail of your solution. It’s only about what matters to the client.

Keeping in mind they will only remember three things, narrow down your content by applying the Rule of 3. Imagine yourself saying at the end of the meeting,

“If you only remember 3 things from today, I would want you to remember 1., 2., and 3.”

3. How do you want them to feel when it is all over?

Imagine they meet up for dinner 5 hours after your presentation, and they are talking about how it went. What do you want them to say?

Examples:

“I really liked them because…”
“I feel like they were a good fit for what we are looking for because.”
“They feel different from the other firms we’ve talked to because…”
“I feel like they really “get us” and understand what we need.”

When you create awareness around how you want them to feel, and you set this intention beforehand, you will engage with them differently and more meaningfully.

4. What do you want to learn from them?

What you don’t know going into a meeting can be as important as what you do know.

Think about what will help you understand them better and help you shape your story moving forward?

How are they thinking and feeling about their challenges?
What is in the way of them meeting their business objectives that you are not aware of?
How will they make their decision?

As you are building your presentation, keep in mind what you don’t know. Rather than making assumptions, plan to engage them with intent to learn more.

What questions can you ask to learn more?
Who might seek out these answers during the meeting?
What are the likely next steps?

C. Focus on 3 key messages

1. Knowing that they will remember very little, focus on the 3 things that differentiate you and align what you do uniquely well with what is most important to them.

2. Be confident that these are the right three things that are most important before you continue creating your presentation.

3. Put your 3 key messages through this test. You must reply ‘yes’ to all:

Is it unique to you?
Important to the client?
Defensible (can you prove it)?

4. You will now build your presentation around these 3 key messages.

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D. Articulate the ‘So What’

1. For each of the 3 key messages, put into words how they benefit or why they should care. We call this the ‘So What’.

2. Be able to finish this sentence, “This is important because….”, or “The reason this is critical is...”

3. The more specific you are about the ‘So What’, the better.

E. Select your proof points

1. For each of the 3 key messages, select data points or facts to validate what you do works.

2. Facts can come in the form of case studies, real-life examples, statistics, or other quantifiable results.

3. Strike the right level of detail. Be specific enough to be convincing but not so detailed that you lose their attention or add to cognitive backlog.

Remember, every detail you share should build abridge between your world and theirs — between what you do and what they need.

F. Outline your story

1. Outline your story before diving into designing your presentation. Once you have the big picture it is then much easier to build your deck.

2. Follow a standard outline format:

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3. Keep in mind your presentation is simply a tool, a visual to support you and your story. It is not the main attraction.

G. Structure your presentation

1. Create a natural and logical flow of topics based on your story outline.

Which subjects flow in what order? You will find there are natural groupings where one section ties nicely to the next.
What key points should be made in each section?
How do you transition from one slide to the next?

2. Your opening will typically not have any slides because this is a high engagement part of the presentation.

3. The first slide in your deck should offer a thought-provoking stat, quote, or recent headline intended to engage your client around their challenges.

This creates an unexpected “awe” moment that points to why a new solution is needed and why now, making them want to know more. You will flip to this slide after your opening.

4. The last slide should headline your 3 key messages.

Use three bullets to state the 3 key messages succinctly, without using full sentences. This slide will be your backdrop while you summarize what they said about their challenges and link that to your solutions.

Your close should never be standard or totally pre-planned because you want it to reflect what you heard the client say during the meeting. But it should always tie back to your overall messaging.

H. Design your slides

Good design makes it easy for the client to track with you. It keeps them focused on you and your message — on listening, not reading. Your goal is to keep your slides crisp, clean, and visual. Here are six guidelines for designing an optimal presentation:

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1. Few words and few bullets

Use clear and simple language.
Apply the 6x6 rule — no more than 6 bullets, each no more than 6 words.
Avoid complete sentences. Given a choice between reading and listening, people will read. You want them to listen.

2. More visuals

A picture is worth a thousand words. They will make your client think, are more likely to be remembered, and have the power to inspire.

Keep your visuals simple. If you feel like you need to say “I know this is a busy slide but...”, then rethink your visual or the entire slide.

3. One key point per slide

Build each slide to the key point you want to convey.
Multiple messages, charts, or boxes are distracting to your client while they try to make sense of it all.

4. Clear and enticing titles

Titles help you communicate your message by giving the client a sense of what is coming.
Keep titles crisp, not wordy.
Make them thought-provoking to entice the client to want to know more.
Avoid mundane, topic titles like “Key Points”, “Case Study”, or “Results”. These are easy to write but ineffective. Instead, offer more emotive assertions like “Strong Drivers of Success”, “Proof That It Works”, or “Results You Can Expect”.

5. The ‘Billboard Rule’

The client should be able to grasp what the slide is about in three seconds or less which is the time it takes to read a billboard as you drive by.
Once they get the gist, they are free to listen to you tell them why they should care.

6. Eye-catching

Use graphics, color, fonts, and contrast to draw their eye to your main point.
Avoid stock pictures or photos as fillers. Instead, work to create visuals that tie directly and creatively to the key point of the slide. Ensure that it highlights your point.
Apply your design elements consistently across the entire presentation (fonts, sizes, colors, etc.).

ADVANTAGES TO YOU

Thinking it all through ahead of time allows you to feel good about your message and boosts your confidence at the meeting.
You can engage the client because you have been selective about the content and are clear on the story. You are not trapped in the details of your product or the complexity of the slides.
Being thoughtful makes the creation of the presentation deck easier because you are clear on what you are trying to communicate.
Good design eliminates confusion on their part and the risk that they will interpret all that text and data in a way that you do not want.

ADVANTAGES TO THE BUYER

They feel like the meeting is custom-made to their situation.
It is easy for the client to focus on you and how you are different because they are not trying to decipher busy or complicated slides.
They are free to listen, think, and engage with ease, letting the importance of what you are saying sink in.
They understand why you and why now.
They remember your story and are able to repeat it to others inside their organization.