are zen slides killing your presentations

Sales presenters beware: ZEN slides may be killing your ZEN slides may be killing your

presentation

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As a sales presenter the most difficult thing for you is As a sales presenter, the most difficult thing for you is to get the attention of the audience…

Th 2 lid kill di There are 2 ways your slides can kill audience attention

Let us understand this with a comparisonLet us understand this with a comparison…

What do you think of these slides?What do you think of these slides?

Don’t they look beautiful?

Don’t these poetic pictures take you to a whole new world?

Don’t you finding it difficult to take your eyes off the slides?

This is exactly why ‘ZEN’ slides kill your presentation!presentation!

When customers see these slides, the questions that pop up in their head are…

Hey! This reminds of my trip to Mauritius. 

How are those rocks balancing so well? How are they connected to our 

y pHow long is it since I 

called Sandy?

software? Is that a subtle hint on modular development of software?

Is that sunrise or sunset? Those rocks l k lik b hlook like bar graph. 

Wow!” 

Cl l h i h Clearly these questions have nothing to do with making a

h d i ipurchase decision

Hint: This is what you actually need as a sales presenterneed as a sales presenter

So by using such pointless (but beautiful) pictures you are killing your chances of winning a deal are killing your chances of winning a deal

M k lid th t l d di Make slides that lead your audience to ask the right questions…

For example…For example…

• What kind of new opportunities have emerged in pp gthe market, to support the product launch?

• How will this software solve the issues which we tl f ?currently face?

• How does this software compare to the competition? Why should I choose this software p yover any other?

These questions when answered, will help your k h d i icustomers make a purchase decision

1 Learning

Use pictures that will add clarity to your message.

g

Don’t include pictures just because they look attractive.

Warning: Warning: Avoid the ‘clever’ Zen pictures that have a

second level meaningsecond level meaning

Now to the second issue….

Sometimes presenters go to the other extreme…

Can you think of what differentiates a fl k di l f h di l ?flea market display from a showroom display?

Flickr Photo by Juan Pablo OlmoFlickr Photo by Prakhar Amba

The difference….

FLEA MARKET SHOWROOM

Noisy and exhausting Organized and reassuring

FLEA MARKET SHOWROOM

Feel compelled to bargain Pay what is charged

The salesman cares only about your wallet

A good salesman cares only about YOU

The reason is that these two i l f t gi visual formats give you very

different psychological cues

Cue: Forcing a decision vs building a relation

FLEA MARKET SHOWROOM

“This is all I have got. Make a decision  “I want to build a relationship quickly and get out. I don’t care about you enough, to customize my display to match your needs”.

pwith you, so I will take the time to show you what you want to see”

Cue: spreading the attention vs focusing the attention:p g gFLEA MARKET SHOWROOM

The customer attention is spread and he doesn’t have the time to consider

The customer attention is focused on a few items that interests him. Salesperson helps the customerhe doesn t have the time to consider 

any single option long enough to appreciate its value.

Salesperson helps the customer to make his decision by providing the necessary information.

Naturally, the results these 2 formats achieve are in li i h h i l h idline with the visual cues they provide

FLEA MARKET SHOWROOM

These same principles apply to These same principles apply to slides that you create as well. They leave certain cues about your approach to customers.

Slides too, can be…Slides too, can be…

FLEA MARKET SHOWROOM SHOWROOM

2 Learning

Choose the right format to sell your value by understanding the cues given by your slides!g g y y

I l i In your sales presentation, YOU are the hero.

Slid h i Slides are the supporting actors.

Don’t let your slides dominate YOU for any reason!

REMEMBERREMEMBER1. Use images in your slides only to add clarity –not for beautynot for beauty

2. Focus your audience attention by carefully 2. Focus your audience attention by carefully selecting what you want to show them

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