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At Phoenix we always place a great emphasis on understanding exactly what it is our clients are trying to achieve.  This part of the training process is so valuable and yet it is so rarely done as effectively as it might.  At best, it involves a meeting with a selection of key stakeholders, whereupon broad objectives are agreed and content is designed around these.  In many cases it is simply based upon managerial observations and anecdotal feedback which does not always get to the root of the real development issues.  What’s more, the participants themselves are rarely involved in this process which is also not ideal.  By consulting with at least some of those who will actually be attending the training, you not only get a better chance of designing something relevant but also of establishing participant “buy-in”.

This is a particular concern when designing content for telephone sales workshops.  We are often told that the participants need help on a particular skill – for example, closing, negotiating or questioning.  No problem – we’ll design something around these and in many cases, what we design will work pretty effectively and provide the participants with some key tools and techniques that will improve their results.  But how much better could it have been, had we been able to do some real analysis and actually listen to the quality of calls that the participants have been making to their potential or existing clients.

Call recording equipment has been around for many years, however, it is expensive to install and has usually only been utilised at larger call centre operations.  Improved technology has however now made it very easy for any type of organisation to benefit from call recording and here at Phoenix, we have really begun to see just how useful it can be.  Phonecoach provide a very straightforward system which enables call recording simply by adding a prefix to the number dialled – there’s no hardware involved and all the recorded calls are automatically saved as MP3 files.

By being able to listen to exactly what is being said, by both sales person and customer, we are in a much better position to identify what’s working and what skills need further developing.  From a design point of view this “reality check” enables us to focus only on those areas that really need it, ensuring that the training is lean and extremely relevant.  Where appropriate, we can even use the recorded calls to illustrate key learning points during the training itself – which can also be very powerful for the participants.

For just £24 + vat, we can record up to 500 minutes of calls, which is usually enough to get a good selection of a team’s telephone sales activity over a week or so.  After some thorough analysis, we report our findings back to the client and only then, will we design a course based on what’s actually happening.  This ensures that any sloppy techniques can be instantly identified & addressed, leading to a direct impact on an individual’s sales performance. Which is, after all, exactly what any high quality sales training should do.

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When most people are asked to do a presentation, their first reaction is to panic.  This is even the case for experienced sales people.  The culture these days is to move more and more towards using technology to help us sell or make an impact.  I still hold the view that to make a really strong powerful impact presenting in person is still the answer.

The most important tip that can be given to a would be presenter is to make sure you prepare well.  Lack of preparation is the single biggest reason why presentations do not work.  Having a quick “run through” on the train or in the back of the cab on the way to the venue simply does not do the job.  Sometimes people bemoan the lack of time they have and use that as an excuse to present without preparation.  Whatever time you have use it wisely.  In simple terms, if you only had one hour to prepare, use twenty minutes to research the subject, twenty minutes to develop the content and put it into useable format (i.e. slides) and twenty minutes to practice it.
Too often presenters spend hours thinking about what they are going to put into the presentation and then create incredibly complex and sometimes dramatic slides but fail to practice it at all.  If they do practice, it will be at the end of many hours putting the presentation together and will therefore be in no mood to make any changes!

The general rule is to work out roughly what you want to put in, knock that into to some basic slides and start practicing.  What you will find is that the practice (out loud, not mumbled under your breathe in the shower) will help to mould the presentation.  You will get used to the material, the flow, the slides and the whole thing will grow organically.

Simplicity is generally the key to success in presentations.  Too complicated a message will be difficult to deliver, the presentation will too long and it is very hard to maintain attention once an element of confusion sets in.  Think of simple themes and to accompany that, simple slides.  By working to a pre-determined objective, the presenter can apply a simple rule to what is included in the presentation.  “The only elements to include are those which help me achieve my objective”.   It is a bit like holiday packing; ask yourself the question ‘do I really need it?’  Far too many people take far too much with them on holiday, as presenters do, they put far too much in to their presentations, they over complicate, over elaborate and over fill slides.

Powerpoint in essence has a simple format.  It has a heading, followed by bullet points.  This format is often totally abused by presenters, generally trying to be clever.  Animation is fine – if appropriate.  Do not have spinning logos and chequer board titles unless you can safely say it is helping me meet my objectives.  Too much time is spent animating and generally filling slides, when it should be spent practicing.  The main mistake people make is that tend to use “bullet paragraphs” and not bullet points.

This means that they put everything that they are going to say on the slide and then proceed to read it.  This is very boring for the audience.  They will have probably read the slide before it has been presented.  If you only put up a few key words or an image on the slide, you are able to present around it.  This is far more interesting, remember you are the presenter, not the slide.  The reason people put lots on the board is because they think they will forget what to say if there is only a few bullet points to work from.  This is not true.  If you practice you will know exactly what to say.  The other thing to remember is that the audience do not know what you are going to say, so you have a degree of flexibility with bullet points that you don’t have when it is all up on the board.

To make the presentation “sit up and take notice” interesting, you must ensure that it is relevant.  The audience must be connected to the content.  The more you can link the audience to what you are presenting the better.  In sales we talk about creating the benefit, it is the same when presenting.  “What’s in it for me”, is a well used phrase in presentation.  This is particularly relevant when making a specifically sales presentation.  How will it help me, why do I need to know that, what will it do for me, are the types of questions an audience will be asking.  When practicing keep a check on how many times you can answer those sorts of questions.

Finally, think positive.  See the presentation as an opportunity and not something to simply get done, survive and move on, it will make a massive difference to your performance and impact.  People rush presentations because mentally they do not want to be there.  If you try to view it positively your pace will be better, your movement better and the overall impression far greater.
Written by Bill Osmond