Getting the most out of presentations

One of my big bugbears has always been and continues to be presentations, both from a supplier perspective and now from a consultant’s perspective when representing clients.?

It still amazes me just how poor they can be and how unprepared presentation teams sometimes are. Presentations can change the outcomes of tender awards; I have seen people lose and win bids on this element. The importance of presentations shouldn’t be underestimated or undervalued.?

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Reaching a presentation is a milestone in a tender programme, generally, there are only 3/4 bidders left in the process and in some cases, it really is like splitting hairs, for others the gap is wider. So, it’s important to put every effort into getting it right and this isn’t about rehearsing every line, it’s about knowing your subject and your business, as well as what the client is looking for!

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The tender submission we know is written by sales and bid teams, these people are hugely skilled in solutioning and writing bids, they are pretty well informed, well most are, in knowing what the desired output from the question being asked. With this in mind, the presentation stage for the client is about digging deeper into the solution and ensuring that what has been written, is what is going to be delivered.?

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I guess the first important tip is don’t fill your presentation team with salespeople, fill it with the people that the client is going to see regularly delivering the service. Generally, this needs to be people from the operations team and, to some degree supporting resource and subject matter experts, eg HR or equivalent, Environmental, Social Value. Of course, who you select from the supporting functions will be driven by what’s important to the client, so align your team accordingly. Is a senior person required you may ask, again, when weighing this up, consider what the contract value is and what value they can bring to the presentation. In a lot of cases, a short video from the MD, COO, or CEO would be far better than using up a headcount space from the presentation team.

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When talking about subjects like Culture, Human Resources, and Social Value, written on paper they generally come across positively. The test is whether your operations team uses similar language when talking about the day-to-day operations and this is where it tends to fall down. During the presentation, we are looking for that consistency, is what you write truly delivered into the everyday operations – it’s amazing how many times we see people not communicating this well, equally, some are awesome at it.

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Another point, and wow I cringe every time this happens! Whoever your Account Manager, Contract Manager, Account Director, etc is, you get what I’m saying, make sure they deliver a large portion of the presentation. Don’t let a Senior Director or someone more confident deliver it for them, ultimately the client is buying this person, this is the person who they have to believe in and build a rapport with. I have sat in many presentations where the person who will be responsible for the daily operation sits quietly, or senior people from within the organisation deliver for them and even worse, cut them down when they talk – oh how I dislike that!

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These obvious tips should go without saying, but scarily they are so often forgotten;

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• Deliver what the client is asking for in the brief, not what you decide they want to hear. If there is something that you feel is beneficial to get across, find another way of doing so, maybe a handout.
• Keep your eye on time, and nominate someone to keep you on track equally, they don’t have to cut people off, but they need to retain a balance and wrap conversations up kindly yet with intent.
• Don’t cut over team members, wait to come in. This equally means that your team needs to be aware of each other and read signs of when they need to allow someone else to talk – don’t take people who are not self-aware.
• Arrogance versus confidence – the panel knows that you are the experts, that’s why you are there, no one likes arrogance, it switches people off - if you have a team member who can come across as arrogant, help them by telling them – no matter how senior! Tough I know, but you want to win the contract, right?!
• Engage the room –

• Recognize when you have lost the audience, wrap up, and move on.

• Make sure that you are positioned so that you can see everyone, share your eye contact, and read the room!

• Don’t ignore the difficult person, engage them and if they are taking over the presentation, politely request that you address their concerns during the Q&A time.

• Again – read the room!!

• It's okay to think about an answer to a question posed, if you think you are going to blag it, look for someone in your team who may be better at answering but DON’T just drop them in it, make sure it’s their subject area! It’s okay to ask if you can revert back, give yourself some thinking time – but don’t forget to address it, again nominate someone to keep track of such items.

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I could ramble for hours on this subject, but I won’t because I’ll resemble a bad presentation all I will say is;

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Train, train, and train again, presentations are a skill, typically salespeople through the very nature of their personalities, tend to be good at them but we don’t want to see a room of salespeople. Equally, I don’t just mean training for the pending presentation, run a course specifically for your operations and SME colleagues, and help them with the skills.

And remember, when you are asked to bring the operations team in place of salespeople, this is no excuse to deliver a bad presentation. Clients and Consultants are not looking for the hype of salespeople, they are looking for;

• Confidence in service delivery.?
• Personality and people who they can connect with – it’s not only salespeople who can be excited and passionate about their job and output.
• A partner who will take them on a journey, working collaboratively.?

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Good luck – I hope this has been an insightful read!