Sales Presentation Seminar
These days, business is charging ahead
at breakneck speed, and the climate couldn’t be more
competitive. Your sales force has to take advantage of every
opportunity by giving sales presentations that are powerful
and effective. This is harder to do than it sounds, when you
factor in the fact that most people experience stress and
anxiety any time they are up in front of a group. The secret
to an effective presentation is a relaxed, confident and
capable presenter who knows what his audience needs, and who
has the skills to get them excited about the opportunities.
Our Sales Presentation Seminar will give you those skills.
Presentation Training
Skills Article:
Allowing the audience to ask questions
after your presentation is an excellent way to reinforce
your message and to continue to sell your ideas. In
addition, because listeners can ask for clarification,
audience members are less likely to leave your presentation
with misconceptions about the concepts you delivered.
Because of these benefits, the question and answer period is
actually another presentation and vital to most speaking
situations.
Here are some suggestions to more effectively handle the
question and answer period. Create the right mental set
among your listeners by telling them early in the
presentation that you will have a question and answer period
at the end of your speech. If you have an introducer, tell
that person to mention your willingness to answer questions
at the end of the presentation. People are more likely to
ask questions if you tell them at the beginning that they
will have this opportunity.
Show that you want queries. Say, “Who has the first
question?” Look expectant after you ask the question. If no
question is asked, “prime the pump” by asking a question.
Say, “A question I’m often asked is….” Ask the question and
then answer it. If there are then no questions, you can
finish with “Are there any other questions?” Some of the
enthusiasm for your presentation is lost if you have no
questions from the audience. Usually, “priming the pump”
will motivate audience members to ask questions.
Look at the person asking the question, and repeat it,
especially if there is a large audience or if you need a
moment to think. By repeating the question you also insure
you understood what the person asked. However, do not
continue looking at the person once you start to answer the
question. Remember that you are still in a public speaking
situation and that the whole audience should hear your
answer—not just the person who asked the question. In
addition, continue to stand where you are equally distant
from all members of your audience. Avoid the temptation to
move directly to the person who asked the question. Visually
this will make the rest of the audience feel left out. As
you end your answer, look back at the person and his/her
facial expression will tell if you answered the question
satisfactorily.
Keep your answer concise and to the point. Don’t give
another speech. The audience will be bored if you take too
long to answer a question. In addition, possibly the only
person interested in the answer is the one who asked the
question! If you can answer with a “yes” or “no,” then do
so. This keeps the tempo moving and will help keep the
audience’s attention.
One of the toughest challenges is the loaded question. Don’t
answer a loaded question; defuse it before you answer.
Before answering a question such as, “What are you doing
with all the money you are making from increased prices?”
defuse it by saying, “I understand your frustration with the
recent rate increase. I believe what you are asking is, ‘Why
such a sudden increase in rates?’” Then answer that
question. You only get into arguments when you allow
yourself to answer the loaded question. If the person is not
satisfied with the changing of the question’s wording, tell
him or her that you will be glad to talk about it following
the question and answer period and move quickly to the next
question.
Sometimes you will have a listener raise his or her hand and
instead of asking a question will make an extended
comment—or a speech. This person has no question. A way to
handle this is to watch the person’s speaking rate, and when
he or she takes a moment for a breath interrupt with “Thanks
for your comment….Next question?” Look to the other side of
the room and the long-winded speaker is not sure whether you
interrupted him or whether you really thought he or she was
finished. Do not allow the person to continue with the
“speech” because it will deprive other members of the
audience of the opportunity to ask questions.
Don’t evaluate questions. Avoid saying “That was a great
question,” or “Good question.” If the next person asks a
question and you give no positive adjective, then the person
may think you did not approve of the question and that could
stifle others from asking questions. If you want to affirm a
specific question, simply say, “Thanks for asking that
question.” Make everyone feel equally good about asking
questions.
Consider having your conclusion after the question and
answer period. This technique allows you to control the end
of your time in front of the audience. Instead of the last
question, the audience receives your prepared and planned
conclusion. Say, “Before I make some concluding remarks, who
has a question to ask?” Then when you take the amount of
time you want for the question and answer period, go back to
your conclusion. Thus you can end in a positive and upbeat
way rather than trailing off with “So if there are no
further questions, I guess that’s it….”
Always maintain control of the speaking situation. When you
open your presentation for audience participation, there are
risks of losing control. Anticipate the unexpected. Plan
ahead as much as possible. Look at your content and think
about likely questions the audience will ask. Prepare your
own questions to ask. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t
know,” and move on to the next question (You might add that
you will be glad to get back to them with an answer at a
later time). Be up front with a questioner if you think the
question is not relevant and in a kind way say so. Your
response might be, “Actually, that question doesn’t the fit
the context of our discussion.” Work hard not to lose your
temper with someone who is trying to make you look bad by
the question asked.
Remember that many speaking situations really involve two
presentations: the formal presentation and the question and
answer period. Insure success with both presentations by
using these techniques for the question and answer period.
Stephen D. Boyd
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