Sales and Marketing Performance Blog

Resources for Creating Engaging Powerpoint Sales Presentations

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In May this year I posted an article entitled "A Guide to creating engaging Powerpoint Sales Presentations"

This article attracted above average interest and I thought I would follow-up with a short list of high value resources and advice on Powerpoint content creation and delivery, to assist marketing and sales professionals in more effectively communicating value to customers. Please add to it if you have a link to great advice, consistent with the above goals.

Start by answering the buyers WIIFM question

Any successful sales conversation, whether a presentation, whiteboard session or cross table chat using a flip-chart, should start with an understanding of the most important question on the customers mind, "What's in it for me." If you need help answering this question, start by developing the buyer persona; if you are selling novel technology or attempting to influence mentors in the buying organization to initiate a sales opportunity, value identification could also be useful in answering this question.

Resources

1. Here is Seth Godin's original 2007 post Really Bad Powerpoint that spawned hundreds of follow-on articles and thousands of comments.
2. Check out Carmine Gallo's Youtube video, "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"
   
   
3. For a complete one-stop shop for Powerpoint resources including a free Ebook, visit Olivia Mitchell at Speaking about Presenting for presentation tips. See Olivia's well researched list of presentation skills books.
4. Most Powerpoint sales presentations fall short of achieving their sales objective...have you ever thought not doing a Powerpoint presentation? What are you actually trying to achieve in making the presentation in the first place? If your goal is customer engagement and active discussion on your ideas then maybe a white-board session could be more useful. Check out WhiteboardSelling.com for an education on how to engage and convince customers without using Powerpoint.
5. If you are not using a mind-mapping tool to help you think through and create your story, then you could be missing a trick. I have been using and recommend Mindjet MindManager since 2004 and you can get a free 30 day trial download here.
6. Learn more about the 4MAT system and how to get your message across so it sticks, by watching the introductory video on 4MAT concepts from the creator of 4MAT Dr. Bernice McCarthy. Note: this video is heavily slanted toward teaching school-kids, but the techniques apply to any discipline in getting ideas across and 4MAT works. Instead of asking students why they need to learn this, we need to answer the question our prospects are asking at the outset...why should I listen to this presentation?
7. We have met the enemy and he is Powerpoint, New York Times article of interest on US Army use of PowerPoint for briefings.
8. For a completely new approach to Internet based presentations, that does not include Powepoint, take a look at Prezi.
9. Finally, if you would like some help in creating clarity in your message and tuning your story to the buyers WIIFM antenna, regardless of the presenation medium, we would be pleased to discuss Value Identification and aligning messaging around buyer needs.