Virtual sales presentations aren’t going anywhere. COVID-19 has forced us to get better at virtual presentations and virtual meetings of all kinds. This camera-to-face contact is going to be a common way of selling for quite some time. Today is part 2 of my series on how to have an effective virtual presentation. Last week we went over 5 tips, and today I’ve got more for you.
Be Animated
Being animated allows your personality to display over the camera. A subtle or nonchalant persona can be effective in person; however when you are on camera, it is a performance and you are the performer. I’m trying to convey a message to you and get you to buy in to my facial expressions, to the tonality in my voice, to the way my eyes move. All of that is calculated. So to ensure that you’re engaging and getting the most out of your sales presentations, step up the animation. It’s a performance. You have to act like it, you have to deliver it because you are competing against a million distractions. In the pre-covid world of ace-to-face interactions, I can captivate and I can grab a prospect’s attention. When we’re in virtual presentations, I can’t see what’s going on your side of the screen. Maybe your phone’s vibrating or you are at home and yo ur kids are doing something silly. In a virtual sales presentations, I have to give a better performance than all those possible distractions. Being animated helps keep your prospect’s attention on you.
Pace Yourself
Good pacing will help ensure that your presentations are effective. It is natural to get nervous when we feel we have to perform, as I just said a virtual sales presentation is. So in order to prevent that, you have to be mindful of the rate you’re speaking. If you publicly speak, one of the general rules is simple: slow down. That’s because you are already speaking faster when you’re addressing an audience in a formal setting— even if you think you aren’t. So you always need to remind yourself to pace yourself. Put landmarks in your presentation by dividing it into thirds- either in your mind or on a piece of paper nearby. If you’re doing a slideshow, know what slides you should be on at the first third, second third and final third of your presentation. Don’t make the mistake to try to cram a lot of information in a short presentation. When you do that, it’s not as effective as giving valuable information and making your prospects say, I want to hear more. The best sales presentation has your prospects saying, tell me more.
Sound Check
There is no excuse for bad audio. If I can’t hear you, I can’t buy from you. If I don’t understand what you’re saying, I have no desire to do business with you. That is the reality of when you don’t have quality audio. There’s multiple ways to get quality audio. Right now I’m using a professional microphone; however if I’m doing a presentation with the sales presentation and I don’t want the microphone ’cause I feel it’s a little gaudy, I have a small microphone that goes right below me so you can’t see it in my face. There’s a lot of ways to get quality, affordable audio. You can get a desktop microphone, you can get a lapel microphone, you could even use your earset. Do yourself a favor, do not use the laptop audio. Do not use the desktop audio from the built-in microphone. It sounds horrible, and it doesn’t cost a lot to upgrade to an external mic.
Engage With Your Audience
In the world of sales, we’re always taught to ask good probing questions and qualifying questions. Whatever sales process or sales methodology you follow, question asking is a part of it; however when you’re doing a virtual sales presentation, there are questions you want to ask to engage your participants and can build rapport. Here are some examples:
- “Hey does that make sense?”
- “Before I move on any further, what are your thoughts so far?”
- [In a large-group presentation] “Hey before I go any further, would you guys all just type in a number one on the screen so I know that everyone can hear me loud and clear.”
If you’re in a position of sales leadership or business leadership or marketing leadership and you’re presenting to an audience, you want to engage your participants. You can let your team know ahead of time that you’ll be calling on people to answer questions. That’s all you need to say because nobody wants to be the person that gets called on that doesn’t have an answer because they weren’t paying attention. Engaging your participants helps things go more smoothly and helps your presentation pass quickly. It can make a 45-minute presentation feel incredibly fun and enjoyable because your participants feel actively involved in what is going on.
Internet Speed
It is 2021. There is no excuse to have bad internet if you are doing a virtual sales presentation. There is nothing worse than having a valuable presentation and not having an audience that can hear you because you’re cutting in and out. If you have this problem often, you may need to upgrade your internet package. If you’re not in a position to do that or you live some place where you can’t get better coverage, there are a few ways to speed up your internet without even investing in a better internet package.
- Use a direct modem connection
- Close down all windows and programs running on your computer
- Purchase a Wifi extender
- Make sure no one else is using your wifi
But if you’re in that position and you can afford to boost your internet, just do it. It’s 2021, you are going to need fast, reliable internet.
Be Yourself
And the final thing to ensure your virtual sales presentations kick butt in 2021, you have to be yourself. Have fun with this. It is okay to mess up during a virtual sales presentation. As a matter of fact, I value when someone messes up and just says, hey hold on guys, let me compose my thoughts. I know that person’s human and I relate. I record content every week and 95% of what I mess up, I put out because I want my audience to know I’m being authentic. So just be yourself and enjoy it. If you aren’t having fun delivering your sales presentation, you know who else isn’t having fun? Your prospects. And you know what prospects do when they don’t have fun? They don’t buy. So make your presentation enjoyable, be yourself and captivate your audience.
Now if you have a virtual sales presentations, you want to test it out or you want to talk about it, go ahead and connect with me. Reach out to me in the Catapulting Commissions community. Text me at (661) 228-8967. That gets you connected to the Catapulting Commissions community. If you have questions, reach out to me. I’m on there every day.
https://youtu.be/CoF4TVBdwYI
