In sales presentations, leadership talks and training seminars, presenters are always looking for precise magic. What’s the right tool that gets you through the toughest terrain and the strangest moments? A Swiss Army Knife.
In presenting, what has the flexibility of a Swiss Army Knife?
The right visual.
Different visuals sell for different situations. And it would be awesome if you had all the different tools you need in one handy item. In fact, you do. You could call it: a sales presenter’s toolkit of visual communications.
Let’s examine a few ways that visuals can help you unlock sales, uncork stuck deals, and slice through objections.
Unlock Sales
The right picture provides a fast and easy simplification of complex solutions. This is why so many people choose to hire an expert presentation coach. Your coach can help define the core idea. And to plan the right visualization to communicate the story.
A visual has the power to unlock all kinds of buy-in. With the right picture, clients and prospects can see the solution, understand how it works in their favor, and say, “Yes!” to what you are selling.
Recently I coached a senior leader on preparing a strategic recommendation. He knew in advance that his team and peers were cynical about his strategy. There was a lot of ‘bad blood’ and recent fights about his proposed direction.
His solution: pick the right visual metaphor and tell the story in simple terms that everyone could understand. He used a story and picture of a duck swimming in a river. The duck could swim in the river. The company already had rights to the river. By adding more ducks to the river, they would make more money.
Simple logic. Simple picture.
Turns out this light-hearted picture helped bypass resistance and unlock a smart strategic decision. The outcome? People who had been died-in-the-wool opponents signed on. The visual did the trick.
Uncork Stuck Deals
Why does every Swiss Army Knife have a corkscrew? Because you never know when you need it! And the same is true for the right visuals in your presentation.
Using pictures can pull out the ‘cork’ or the thing that is keeping deals stuck.
Just last week, I met with a colleague who wanted to design his leadership conference. The absolute fastest way to get the ball rolling was to grab a pen and map out the parts on the whitepaper covering our table.
Over coffee, the pattern emerged. I drew out the pieces and the course of action instantly popped out. The power of a picture – especially hand-drawn on the spot – is just unbeatable. Almost instantly, this usually slow-to-decide gentleman jumped to his feet, saying: “I got it! It’s all clear now.”
When you want to get things unstuck – grab your corkscrew visual. It often is done with a pen, pencil or marker. Whether you draw on a napkin, a tablecloth or a whiteboard, this is what I call a ‘must-have’ skill for serious sales professionals.
Remember: it’s often the drawing that looks a little funky, is hand-drawn, and not suited for framing. But it does the job.
Just like the corkscrew on a Swiss Army Knife – it doesn’t really matter if the cork gets a little mangled in the process. Same goes for your drawings. If the drawing is imperfect, spilled with coffee or not exact, it doesn’t really matter.
The visual interaction hits the spot. The drawing did the job. You got the deal moving. (And now you can celebrate. You can drink the wine.)
Slice Through Objections
Just like a multi-purpose knife, your visual communication skills need to be adaptable and work in different situations. For one audience, you might pick a chart or diagram. For another, a photo is the perfect answer.
How you choose to depict issues, processes, and decisions will change depending on your topic. Most importantly: it will depend upon your audience.
This is not the easiest thing to understand at first. But think about it.
You wouldn’t try to saw down a tree with a tiny blade. You wouldn’t use a bread knife to cut meat. When you have the right tool, you can do a better job.
Using the right visual is just the same.
For every situation, topic and audience, you will want to use the right tool for the job. The more precise you can be, the better your results.
In visualizing your information, think about what you have in your own tool kit. Are you confident that you know all you should about:
• PowerPoint and Keynote slide layout
• Video clips and video testimonials
• Photographic depiction of benefits
• Charts to show numeric significance
• Diagrams revealing steps, stages and sequence
• Whiteboard strategies to involve your audience
These are just a handful of the elements in a professional presenter’s toolkit. The good news is: once you know this, you can watch your effectiveness skyrocket. More sales. Faster sales. Easier sales.
With the right visual presentation skills, you can stop worrying about your slides, whiteboard diagrams and video message. Instead, you can focus where you really want: on giving a rock-solid, persuasive sales presentation.