How To Present Better

Presentations - it’s the area where so many people fall down simply because they haven’t had the training. 

You’ve no doubt been to networking events and heard the terrible elevator pitches. You’ve sat in presentations where people have talked nonstop or bored you to death with Powerpoint slides that they read verbatim and lacks personality. 

Presenting is a sales skill and, just like the majority of skills in life, it is one that needs to be learned and practised in order to make it great. The problem is that many people do not take the time to attend presentation skills courses, attend public speaking events or even record themselves speaking. 

I do.

I attend many presenting courses, regularly record my presentations many times over so I can see what the audience will see and I get professional feedback on this. This is so I can improve my skills for my own presentations and speaker opportunities – and so I can pass these skills onto my clients. 

When it comes to coaching I am not judged on how well I present, my clients base their assessment of me on the results my training delivers for them. They need to see a positive return on investment and one of the areas they feel helps them most is the sessions on becoming comfortable with presenting. 

These useful tips will help you next time you present and are a small taste of what I offer with my group sales training and 121 coaching:

1. Allow time to pause every minute. Just for a second. It allows people to think, Barack Obama is a master at this.
2. Slow your speech down. Speaking too fast gives the impression your lying or nervous.
3. Practise in your outfit that you will wear on the day.
4. Make sure it’s an outfit that reflects your personality and makes you feel amazing.
5. When you’ve written your speech, record it on video and watch it back. It will be cringeworthy, however, that’s how you improve. Making small improvements every day.
6. No ums or ahs.
7. No basically, honestly, or to be honest with you.
8. People connect with stories, so use as much storytelling as possible.
9. Make it funny, dramatic, insightful or shocking – whatever is best for your personality. The first 90 seconds and the last 90 seconds are the most important.
10. Cut back on text and add more visuals.
11. Most important, arrange a follow-up meeting before you leave the room.

Niraj Kapur is an expert sales coach, keynote speaker and author of the Amazon bestseller, Everybody Works in Sales. He’s trained hundreds of clients from SMEs to further education like the University of Buckingham, to corporates like Barclays, Santander, Headford Group and Lyonsdown.

To generate more sales in your business, Niraj can be reached on + 44 7733179854 or email [email protected]