It’s Time To Enhance Your Presentation Skills!

By Author: Dharmendra Ahuja
Total Articles: 9
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Are you missing out on potential clients despite your perfect blend of good content and best presentation design? Well, maybe you need to work on your presentation skills. Many a times, due to anxiety to impress clients, many corporate firms fail to pay adequate attention to their presentation skills. This may seem a small matter initially, but it can impact your business in the long run heavily. It may cost you lot of time to enhance and develop your skills, but a good start costs you nothing. Confused about how to start? Well don’t worry, we are here to help. Follow these five steps, polish them and ace yourself at presentations.

Be conversational:
Do you remember back in school where lousy speeches in assemblies used to make you yawn and sleep? Well, that happened because it’s difficult to engage the human mind in one direction for a very long time unless of course there is a very interesting movie going on. So, it’s best to keep your presentation conversational. It helps keep the client’s mind active and it also helps you stay energetic throughout the presentation session. Also, keep it casual (keeping ...
... the professionalism alive) and add some humor (only if you are good at it) in your content. Many corporate firms tend to lose clients because of their inability to hold the attention of their clients for a long time. Therefore, being conversational is of utmost importance.

Don’t be in a hurry:
“Do not be in a hurry to succeed. What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you”. This famous quote by the renowned English novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray says it all. Most business presentation designs are well organized, well composed, well comprehensive, yet it fails to attract clients. Do you know why? Probably because they are in a hurry! They jump from slide to slide wanting to accomplish their task quickly. This leaves a bad impression on the clients. They might have questions to ask, but you are a way too fast for them to reach you. Be calm, focused, go slow (yet not so much), enjoy the process and you just made a client for your service already! Isn’t that just simple?

Answer patiently:
You might be well versed about your product or service, but your client isn’t. They might ask questions to gain clarity on the presentation. It’s your responsibility to answer them calmly, patiently and confidently. Don’t forget to wear your smile while answering. The more clearly you answer, the more likely you are to impress the client. Therefore, it’s also imperative to have all your answers ready honestly. Many corporate firms at the end of their presentation include a separate question and answer round, which often fetch them points. It shows that you have really worked hard on your presentation and is ready to face any challenge ahead. So, decide a time frame, say around three to five mins at the end of the presentation and the day is all yours!

Conclude well:
As much as you need to focus on your introduction, you need to focus the same on your conclusion or sometimes, more! This is because about 70% people remember how things end rather how things start. Therefore, a wise and a positive conclusion can surely cast a spell on the client. There are certain important things that corporate firms should understand while setting up their presentation viz, their presentation design should be best among other competitors, it should convey all the necessary information about your product or service that you offer and most importantly, it should have a positive ending. It is bound to leave a huge impact on the client and who knows, they’ll be all yours.

Practice, practice and practice:
You all must be aware of the fact, “Practice makes a man perfect.” Well, yes it applies here too. We understand that you are already running short of time, but how about working after the normal working hours? Yes! to make your presentation a success you need to go that extra mile! Specially if you are new at your job and lack experience. The number of hour’s corporate companies spend in designing their presentation to achieve the best presentation, they need to invest the same amount of hour in practicing their presentation. This generates confidence, boosts your energy levels and creates connection with what you have written in those slides. The more confident you are, the more likely you are, to win the client’s attention.

To sum up, a good content and a good presentation design properly blended with the above tips can help you credit your business and further build up your firm’s reputation. In addition, be warm, be comfortable, work on your inefficiencies, improve them and you are finally ready to deliver your presentation and win over your client’s heart.