“Begin with the End in Mind”
Stephen Covey’s famous principle applies to just about every aspect of life which is why Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) courses place such emphasis on setting effective goals using Time Line Therapy® and NLP techniques. It certainly applies to your presentations.
An effective presentation is not simply a clear and coherent presentation of information, it is actually a sales process even if you are actually selling an idea or concept rather than a product or service. This means that even if you are delivering a keynote at a professional conference your goal should be to structure that speech and to present that information so powerfully that every person in the audience would (metaphorically speaking) “buy it.” If every speaker and teacher followed this principle, then their audience would be highly engaged.
The 5-Step Sales Process is Like a Waterslide
The Tad James Company teaches a 5-step sales process in their Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) courses which acts rather like a waterslide for your presentation. When you bake this process into the structure of your presentation you listener cannot help being drawn through the thinking. Their only valid reason to opt out of your offer is because they do not need it… ergo, they are not your target market.
What is the 5-Step Sales Process?
- Develop Rapport with Your Audience.
The process of developing rapport with individuals is taught in almost every NLP course and it is a very useful technique to master for all areas of life. Developing rapport with a group of people (particularly a group which is not in the same room) is a more sophisticated skill which few courses teach. Tad James Company teaches this in Trainers’ Training program for speakers.
- Ask Questions and Listen to Answers.
This is rarely effective during a presentation because often people will take it as an opportunity to interrupt rapport and take control. It is your responsibility to know the questions people usually ask and to build these questions, and your most convincing answers into your speech.
Your goal is really to help your audience feel that you have answered all their questions before they had a chance to ask them as this further establishes your credibility. The most effective presentation would not be succeeded by questions.
- Find Their Need.
Once again, you need to know your target audience when you are delivering your message to a group because you cannot ask the audience to tell you what they need. Your speech must highlight this need and help the audience feel the extent of the pain it is causing them before they will be motivated to solve it. In general, people do not take action unless they feel a great sense of pain and urgency.
- Link Their Need to Your Solution
Throughout your presentation you need to be drawing clear parallels between the pain (or need) your audience is experiencing and the solution you are offering them. You will be creating a mental awareness that they need to act if they are going to solve their problem, and an agreement that your program or framework is a logical solution.
- Ask for the Sale.
In a presentation, this is the call to action and may not literally be a ‘sale’. It is the goal that you set prior to preparing your speech. Of course, there will often be people in the room who are not your target audience, but your entire presentation should have built up a significant level of compliance.
Creating Exciting Outcomes from Every Presentation
If you build this 5-step sales process into the structure of your presentation and use your NLP linguistic techniques to disarm resistance, then every speech or presentation becomes another opportunity to build your business and extend your influence. In fact, you will probably discover that one-to-many presentations are your most effective sales arena because you control the conversation and the outcomes far more certainly than you can in a less formal setting.
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