When your firm has the opportunity to make a presentation on some new business, it may be tempting to think it’s in the bag because of your skills and experience. But, while your ability and related experience can get you on that short list, it’s the power of your team’s presentation that may win or lose you the business. You have a double challenge. You need to deliver a comprehensive and compelling team presentation. And the other and often bigger challenge is the effectiveness of your “people skills.” Clients who are in search of a vendor don’t just want someone who can do the job. They’re looking for trustworthiness, commitment and chemistry with the project team. Despite the fact that a vendor search may be based on a rational, objective decision-making process, the bottom line is clients are going to select people they like. No matter how well you meet their criteria, if they don’t like you, it won’t matter. So rapport building is an important strategy in the team presentation.

Here are six strategies to consider in your rapport building to enhance your likability:

1. UNDERSTANDING. How well do you understand not only the client’s business and project needs, but their constraints, their challenges, their difficulties? Be sure to focus on your knowledge and understanding of the client’s needs, not just on your strengths and assets. 

2. ATTITUDE. Having a confident, can-do attitude is extremely appealing. You exhibit confidence when you answer questions knowledgeably, speak positively — “we can take care of that” — and don’t put yourself down and sell yourself short. Clients want to work with pleasant, positive people. The dark side of this coin is “arrogance.” Projecting a sense of “fait accompli,” or worse, criticizing or putting down the competition, could spell a death knell. You want to project a sense that you want the business and can do the job, not that no one else could do it… 

3. LISTENING. Good listening skills are potent. Remember to use “active listening,” the three-step technique of using your EAR — Engage the speaker, Actually hear what’s being said, and Respond appropriately — to engage others and let them know you’ve both heard and understood them. When your prospect talks about their issues, problems, and objectives, your ability to show you’ve heard and understood has immeasurable impact. 

4. NONVERBALS. It doesn’t matter if you feel pleased and proud to be there. What matters is if you look pleased and proud. If you’re leaning back in the chair, with your arms crossed and a bored or distracted look on your face, that’s what the client will believe you feel. So watch your body language — make sure it’s open, relaxed, and interested. Lean forward when someone speaks to you, make eye communication with every member on the team, put some energy in your comments. Show your pleasure at this opportunity. Smile easily, have enthusiasm for the project. 

5. INTEREST. Without a doubt, showing interest in others is one of the most powerful likeability factors. Make sure that the focus of your presentation is not entirely on you and what you offer. While you certainly want to communicate your positive points, keep in mind that everyone else is doing that, too. What will impress the client and be more memorable is how much interest you took in them-as individual members and as a company. This starts well before that final presentation, of course. You want to take every opportunity to meet with the decision-makers beforehand and show genuine interest in their business and their projects. Keep in mind that the client isn’t interested in how tough or difficult it will be for you to pull this off. But they’ll be sincerely impressed if you’re interested in their challenges-and can offer ways to solve their dilemmas. It’s a fact of basic human relations that we’re drawn to people who are interested in us. 

6. TEAM COHESIVENESS. Any time someone’s ego takes over on a team, it’s usually disastrous. You’re there as a team because the prospect wants to see a representative sampling of your expertise and skills and wants a feel for the chemistry between your group and theirs. When one person tries to hog the spotlight or insists on correcting or contradicting team members when they say something wrong, that person — no matter how right or bright — will doom the team to failure. 

People do business with those they like. So exhibit these traits to show your commitment to a project and you’ll increase your “win” factor.

Giving a great presentation isn’t magic. But… how do you know what works and what doesn’t?

Many of us have learned from our own mistakes-which is the hardest way to learn. I’m going to share some of the most common traps and pitfalls of speakers and what you can do to avoid them. Ahhhhhh… this allows you to plan and deliver your next presentation with less stress!

The 10 biggest mistakes include:

1. Not analyzing your audience. You’re almost guaranteed to embarrass yourself if you walk in to present without figuring out who your audience is. For example you need to consider:

a. How many people will attend?

b. What do they already know about your topic?

c. What are their general demographics? (Age, gender, education level, occupation, etc.)

d. What is their attitude about your topic?

e. Why are they attending your presentation? (Forced to, want to learn something, etc.)

2. Not knowing your purpose. As silly as this sounds, it happens too often! Decide, upfront, why are you speaking. Is it to:

a. Inform/teach

b. Persuade

c. Sell something

d. Inspire

e. Entertain

Without this basic foundation, your presentation is likely to ramble all over the place leaving the audience wondering, “What is the message?”

3. Cramming in too much information. We’ve all heard the KISS principle. Keep it simple and your audience will love you! What is your absolutely essential point that you want to get across?

a. What are your supporting points? (Three is ideal.)

b. Avoid throwing in the “kitchen sink”! It’s tempting to add more and more content. Don’t fall into that trap. Keep asking yourself, does this add or detract from my main point(s)?

4. Choosing the wrong visual aids. Ask yourself, “What will enhance my presentation?” If a visual aid will make your point more clear or memorable then use it. Many speakers wouldn’t image speaking without PowerPoint slides. There are a multitude of choices when it comes to visual aids. Once choice is to use nothing if that gets your main point across the best.

5. Death by PowerPoint. Audiences around the world are fed up with boring PowerPoint slides. I can’t think of too much worse than beginning a presentation with a slide that is full of bullet points and text. This confuses the audience! They aren’t sure if they should read the slide or listen to you. Keep the slides extremely simple. One of the best books on this topic is Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.

6. Not practicing. This is the biggest sin of all! Many presenters believe that if they’ve put their ideas into a PowerPoint slide that all they have to do is click through the presentation and their work is done. Wrong! Nothing… nothing takes the place of practice. Practicing out loud or recording yourself is worth its weight in gold!

7. Not doing your homework. Here I mean taking the time to know the essentials of your presentation:

a. Where will you be speaking?

b. How will attendees be seated (classroom style, lecture hall, round tables, chairs only, etc.)?

c. How early can you get into the room to set up?

d. What equipment will be available to you?

e. Will someone introduce you or will you introduce yourself?

f. Will there be someone available to assist with technology issues? (This is a very frequent issue.)

g. And so much more…

8. Poor delivery/appearance. How will the audience be dressed? (Casual, business casual, jeans, coat and ties… ?)

a. The rule of thumb is to dress one notch above how the attendees will be dressed.

b. Looking your best will give you that added boost of confidence.

c. Using good eye contact will keep your audience engaged. You appear more confident when you include everyone in the audience-you do this best by using eye contact as you sweep the room with your eyes.

9. Going over time. Please don’t do this. If you were asked to speak for an hour, be sure to stop before the hour and allow time for questions and answers, if appropriate. Most listeners appreciate ending on time or a few minutes early. It’s painful to be trapped in a chair beyond the scheduled end time.

10. Not using a summary or conclusion. Have you ever attended a presentation where the speaker stops after the last point and ends abruptly? “Thank you.” It leaves the audience feeling confused. A short but powerful conclusion will make you look like the professional that you are. Reinforce what your message is all about-inspiring, calling to action, entertaining, etc.

For those organizations that plan large local events they know that they must have a grass-roots marketing plan and strategy in place if they want the attendance to be outstanding. Of course, most large local events occur annually.

Thus, they are always looking back into the past for ideas for the upcoming event and they often copy the types of marketing they have done previously. Generally, when outsiders are presenting a grassroots marketing plan to a large community event committee, they are not taken as seriously as someone else that’s within the group regardless of their experience level in marketing or lack thereof.
 
You see, someone that has been with each annual event for many years to prior has an intimate knowledge of the event, the people and the general characteristics; they know what to expect, but chances are they know little about marketing. Of course, all large local events are interested in turn out and attendance, which is paramount and they are likely to attribute to their ultimate success to the number of people who show up.
 
Large local event committees know that they need a maximum amount of turnout in order to turn a significant profit. After all, if the local large nonprofit event raises money for a community charity or community charities; the more money they raise the more successful the event was also. 
 
So, when presenting your grassroots marketing plan to the committee you must talk about last year’s attendance figures and the amount of profit made per person visiting. Then explain how your marketing plan projects to have a specific percentage increase in attendance. Again you must be specific, as in 10% or 25,000 additional attendees. Please consider this.