RISMEDIA, April 11, 2008-SmartDraw.com, makers of SmartDraw, a program that automates the process of creating business graphics, released its list of “Top Ten Sales and Marketing Presentation Tips.” According to the company, SmartDraw is downloaded by more than 2 million people every year and is widely used to create compelling, professional-looking graphics and charts for sales and marketing presentations.
1. Less is More
When designing your presentation materials, remember that as a visual medium, less is more. Avoid cluttering the slide or handout with lots of text and bullet points. Have a few main points highlighted, and let your verbal presentation fill in the blanks.
2. People Like Pictures
Use charts and graphics instead of tables. SmartDraw, for example, includes dozens of sales and marketing graphics that you can edit with your own specific data.
3. Focus on Benefits
When preparing your presentation, steer away from getting into too many details of the product or service you are selling. Instead, focus on the benefits it will provide your audience.
4. Keep it Short
This will leave time for questions from your audience, and it shows them you appreciate how valuable their time is.
5. Leave a Little Something
Leave your audience something to remember you by. This goes beyond business cards and could include bound copies of your presentation or handouts with the pertinent information highlighted. It could even include pens or stationery with your company’s information.
6. Attention on You
When using presentation slides, try blacking out the screen when you want attention directly focused on what you are saying. Leaving up old slides while you are trying to make your point can distract your audience.
7. Bland PowerPoint®
Steer away from traditional PowerPoint slides. Create unique graphics that will capture the attention of your audience.
8. Tell a Story
Before getting to the cold, hard facts of your presentation, help your audience warm up to you by telling a personal story. It could be related to the product or service you are selling or it could simply be a general story about a shared life experience. Whatever the story, making it personal and relatable will help to engage your audience.
9. Humor is good
Catch your audience off guard by starting with a humorously off-topic slide or a funny story. This will help loosen up the audience and hopefully open them up to what you have to say. Humor is subjective, so keep clear of any subjects remotely questionable.
10. Enthusiasm is great
If you like what you are selling, your audience is more likely to too!
SmartDraw, which offers a free trial on its website, offers hundreds of sales and marketing charts and templates that users can modify to quickly create the graphic they need. This includes sales territory maps, marketing matrixes, interrelationship diagrams, step charts, affinity diagrams, flowcharts, bar charts, and much more.
For more information, visit www.smartdraw.com.
