Archive for Management
Going Online with your Training? Four ‘Must Haves’
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Your training calendar looked phenomenal. Until now. Why? It was all ‘live’. Yes, ‘live’ training is best, but it’s impossible now. So, how are you going to pivot to effective online training?
Just Turn on the Camera–Not
We can get away with a lot when we are ‘live’. We can wander a bit from the outline the audience will forgive us. After all, we have an audience with whom to interact. We take questions, we create debate, we tell those great war stories.
Is Your Course Really a ‘Course’?
I’ve taught real estate professionals and affiliates how to train for over three decades. I’ve seen dozens of their ‘courses’. Unfortunately, most aren’t courses. They’re streams of information. They’re not well-organized. They don’t have the end in mind–objectives. They don’t have various delivery methods (teaching methods other than that old boring lecture). Even though those problems don’t show up so badly in the live classroom, they show up with a vengeance when going online.
You’ll Need These Four Strategies in your Online Course
How are you going to avoid droning on until you get to the end of that hour you’ve booked to train? Here are the four things you need in your online presentation or course:
- An blazingly good course organization, created from learning objectives (having the end in mind)*
*See my 3 models to create your presentation or course in Train the Trainer, my online version of my training course
2. An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested (methods to avoid droning on forever in a lecture) (self-analysis, reflection, case studies to complete)
3. Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course (adults learn from others)
4. Action plans and reviews so you can see your attendees putting your concepts and skills to work
Before You Choose that Seminar Guru’s ‘Training’ Course
You may decide to go outside your office to find online training. Does that course have those 4 attributes I listed above? Who is the course for? Does it have accountability? Does the course have a method for you to coach the agent to the course? What will the agent accomplish through taking the course?
Choosing the right online training can make the difference between ‘still in recession’ three months from now or ‘back up and running’ to profits.
Call me at 425-392-6914 if you have questions about how to switch successfully to online training.
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, the proven business start-up program for new agents– Up and Running in 30 Days.
Catch a sneak preview here.
This online training for new agents (and seasoned agents who want a jump-start) has the attributes I listed above. There’s one more important component left out of others’ online training:
YOU
I want you to be able to fully support your agents’ success–and grab their loyalty forever. So, I have waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of Up and Running in Real Estate) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the Up and Running in Real Estate program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
Questions? Call me and we’ll discuss whether this program would be a ‘fit’ for you and your agents: 425-392-6914.
Engagement: How to Drive It in a Screeching-Halt Market
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Engagement: Do you have a plan to drive engagement with your agents in this shifted market? Or, are you waiting for your company, your association, or …… to take over? Or, do you think you just don’t have to engage?
Sometimes it takes years! I don’t want you to lose your agents–or your business.
Concrete Methods to Re-Engage Your Agents
Every week, I’ll be giving you specific actions to take to re-vitalize the communication and the activity levels of the agents in your office. I’m not just drawing these out of a hat. This is what I have done for years to encourage, tell truth, and get agents into action in challenging markets. This will set you up for great profitability, retention, and a wonderful recruiting tool. How do I know? I’ve done it several times. It works.
First: Set Up Your Plan
Don’t wait for your company or some outside force to do this for you. All well and good, but you need to step right in and be the one who literally LEADS right now. That’s right–leads. Oh, boy, I just thought of what I don’t want to happen for you: DON’T just send them to some training guru site and hope all works out (that includes me!).
What Your Plan Should Look Like
First, when I say ‘meetings’, of course I mean via Zoom or Go to Webinar, or a similar program!
As a group (and groups):
- New agent training at least weekly with actionable items they are to complete–must be high accountability
- Advanced agent training at least weekly with guests sharing best practices for this market
- Mastermind groups of various experience and/or production levels
- Office meetings weekly with guests
In other words, your training calendar must
- Address the needs of the various levels of your agents
- Be consistent and well-thought out to serve your agents with actionable items–which you then can get permission to share
- Create a compelling reason why your agents should re-engage frequently
You DO have a training calendar, don’t you?
With individuals:
- Quartile your agents using any weighing variables you feel are important (4 points for production, 3 points for culture, etc.). See who you can help (probably not the bottom quartile, but you make that call. It’s your time and energy. You deserve a pay-off…..)
- Look at what you’ve been urging these agents to get done for the past 6 months (or more!): their website, their bios, their databases, their presentations, etc.
- Choose 5 action items you want to use with each agent, and let each agent prioritize and add to these actions, add dates–so it’s their plan; or, ask each agent to come up with 5 prioritized items
- Set up a schedule with each agent to review actions–I’ll be helping you apply great coaching techniques so they are motivated to keep going!
What I’ll be Providing You
Besides these overview and bigger picture items, I’m going to provide you specific action items (some with templates so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel) that you can drop in in several training/coaching areas
Who Will Survive and Thrive Through this Time
I know today, there are companies and/or managers who have a ‘hands off’ approach: It’s the agent’s business and that agent decides when, how, and how much to do–alone. When the market is going nuts, that works, because the market is driving the agents. But, when the market becomes challenging, the agents are looking for leadership, for guidance, for coaching. They get lost–more easily than they will admit. Those who provide positive, clear, supportive leadership now will come out with a much stronger profit picture, a synergistic team, and a recruiting tool.
Tell me: What are YOU doing to drive action in your office right now?
Let’s Partner to Drive your Success!
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, proven business start-up program Up and Running in 30 Days.
Not just a distance learning program!
No one wants to sit in front of a computer especially now!) and learn neat stuff….
Effective online training has to have 3 things:
- An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested
- Interaction with a real human being once inawhile
- Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course
Ive integrated these 3 critical factors in Up and Running in Real Estate.
- Engaging--I created humor, introspection, and awards to motivate attendees to keep going through the program
- Coaching: I will be personally group coaching agents in the program, and you have a unique opportunity to coach in the program, too.
- Interaction: set up discussion groups so agents can interact and support each other
An Easy Way to Integrate Coaching Your Agents
Your support right now is critical. So, I waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of the program) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
Do It Now! Go ‘Digital’ With Your Training
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Do you need to go ‘digital’? Right now, especially where I am, in Washington state, everyone is huddled in their homes because of the Coronavirus. But, life goes on. This is a great time, to adjust your communication and training strategy to reach out.
I’ve been doing webinars for years, and, I learned so much working with pros like Amy Chorew and the National Association of Realtors doing business planning webinars. I really worked on my technique, and was always rated in the top three presenters.
That’s what many digital attendees say! So, in the next few blogs, I’m going to give you tips on what I learned from the best, the mistakes I’ve made as I’ve learned, and the strategies that will help you create effective digital communications and trainings as we go forward.
Should you ‘go digital’? Yes, if you’re a
- Trainer
- Coach
- Manager
- Team leader
- Salesperson
and in today’s world, we HAVE to communicate digitally–at least for awhile. The good news is that it forces us to get really good at this type of communication so we can reach more people more effectively. I hate it when I ask people what they think of webinars and they say that last Powerpoint presentation was
boring/dull/repetitive/ill-organized/no fun……..
But, if you’re skilled at presenting digitally, you can
- Inform
- Introduce
- Sell
- Increase your image
In this series, I’ll help you through
- the basics of digital communication, including webinars
- The most common digital communication/webinar mistakes
- Some technical aspects of webinars–software, etc.
- How to create your video call or webinar
What can a webinar do? First, what it can’t do. Don’t expect it to
Change people’s behavior (it’s not training. It’s education). Webinars are not the magic training bullet we’ve wished for. There are limited objectives you can accomplish by doing a webinar. But, I’ve discoered some methods to help ‘attendees’ internalize and apply what they’re learning (see my Train the Trainer sneak preview below).
Of course, the upside of a digital training/webinar is that
- People don’t have to travel to get to the an event
- It’s very cost-effective
- It puts you in front of new audiences
- You can make it evergreen (record it and share it)
Some Basic Choices to Make Before You Start
- Your vehicle
Which company will you use to deliver your webinar? There are over 100 companies today offering some type of screen sharing. They range from free to $100+ a month. The free versions companies tout are for a limited number of viewers (usually 5-10). After that, figure on paying for the services. Among the most popular services are Zoom, GoTo Meeting, WebEx, and BrightTalk. Whatever you choose, pick a service that will be easy for you! Getting caught in the technicalities while you are trying to be a sparkling presenter is death by webinar.
- What’s your message?
Boy, this one seems so easy, and yet, it’s where most of us go way off the rails. Why? We try to do too much in too little time with too little organization! (Just like we do in ‘live’ classes). But, it’s more fatal digitally, because it is more challenging to hold people’s attention. So, the next few tips are critical to the success of your training.
Decide on your topic. Is it something that would lend itself to a webinar? To find out, study webinars you’ve attended. Do some seem too wishy-washy to have been worth your time? Are some so full of facts and figures you snooze off?
Decide on your objectives. In other words, start with the end in mind. What do you see, hear, and feel the attendees doing at the end of your presentation?
To write your objectives, start with this sentence,
As a result of this webinar, attendees will____________________________. Examples of objectives for a business planning webinar could be:
- Understand the flow of the strategic business planning process
- Be able to differentiate between a vision and a mission statement
- Be able to pinpoint 3 areas of concern about their business from the previous year
After I’ve written my objectives, I know the basic structure of my webinar. I can prioritize those objectives and start arranging my webinar in the right presentation order.
Your Topic: Overview or Detailed?
Is your topic an overview, or is it more detailed? Decide on the scope of your topic, and your objectives, before going further.
Common webinar mistake: Either being so global there is little information, or being so detailed you lose the audience in facts and figures.
Sound Familiar?
If you’ve taken my Instructor Development Workshop or my distance learning version, Train the Trainer, you’ve learned what objectives are and how to write and apply them in creating your training/presentation/digital class.
After deciding on your desired delivery company, and drafting your topic and objectives, you’re ready for the next step. In the next blog, we’ll discuss best presentation methods–and common presentation mistakes.
See What a Digital Course Looks LIke and How it’s Organized
Necessity is the mother of invention!!!! Oh, boy, have I learned that! I decided to put my distance learning program in new course software. In doing so, I’ve found out how to help people internalize important concepts and apply them to great, concrete, immediately-useable results. Here’s a sneak preview of my Train the Trainer program. It fulfills the requirement for attendees to teach clock hour approved courses in Washington state, and is accredited for 15 clock hours.
Train the Trainer Sneak Preview
In later posts, I’ll share some strategies I’ve found work really well in creating online presentations and courses that involve, inform, and entertain.
What’s Wrong with This Training?
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What’s wrong with this training?
Most of us managers train……along with the other 100 things we have to do each day. Too often, we tend to ‘grab and go’……our training is not too well thought out–with good reason!
In my Instructor Development Workshop (live) and my online distance learning version of the course, Train the Trainer, I show attendees how to deliver their courses without droning through them.
case study
In case study, we create a situation that reflects real life. This case study can be rather long and complex. We use it to help students grapple with the ‘gray areas’ –just like we have to do in real life.
What is a ‘case study’?
First, it isn’t what the attorneys tell us. It’s not a case that you, the instructor, talk through and give the answers. Instead, it’s a written situation that asks the students to come to several conclusions.
When is the case study used? It’s used toward the end of your course or module.
What is the case study for? To test the students’ judgment, understanding, and application of what you’ve taught.
Who can (and should) use the delivery method (teaching method) of case study? Anyone who wants to ‘test’ students’ understanding, judgment, and ability to draw conclusions from the course. It’s great for mortgage lenders, title and escrow, attorneys, and home inspectors to use. in my classes, I ask students to create an appropraite case study for their course.
What does a case study accomplish? It throws the accountability to the student. It lets the students interact, to team build, and to learn from each other. It shows you, the instructor, how well you’ve taught and what you need to review.
Here’s that case study for you. Take a look at the case study I use in my train the trainer courses to see how well students have internalized the concepts taught in my classes. I assign the case study at the end of one class, and we debrief in small groups and then generalize in the large group. (And it helps attendees see an example of a case study and how it is used–so they can create their own case studies easily and quickly).
How did you do? Could you name 10 things ‘Sally’ did wrong?
Grab Great Teaching Methods
Get some new training strategies and step your training up to the next level. See my online program, Train the Trainer, in new course software. It’s fun to do and you learn great methods (plus I give you 8 ready-to-use teaching strategies).
Take a Sneak Preview here.
Do They Fall Asleep When You Open Your Sales Meetings?
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Managers: Do they fall asleep when you start your meetings?
Are your sales meetings knocking their socks off? If not, help is here! Start your meeting with the tips here, and watch your agent count go way up for your sales meetings and training presentations.
Who Is a Presenter?
We’re all presenters: Any time we are in front of two or two thousand, our goal is to persuade the audience to our point of view. However, most of the time, we just get in front of people and say whatever we think of first. That lack of attention to presentation organization leads to some big presentation mistakes, and costs us sales. Instead of stumbling through a presentation, why not organize it to grab their attention, persuade them to your way of thinking, and motivate them to action?
Grab Their Attention in the Opening
Have you thought about your opening? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting?
, like:I won’t take much of your time, but
We have a lot to cover today
We won’t get through the outline
I know you don’t want to listen, but
I’m not really prepared
Attributes of Great Openings
Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever comes “naturally”. Instead, make your openings
Provocative
Interesting
Different
Engaging
Here are some ideas:
- come in a costume that gets their attention
- Start with a musical group
- Ask a provocative question
- Have 2-3 people do a little playlet at the beginning
- Have a drawing and then use the results to springboard into a discussion
Recently, I was in Napa, California teaching a large home inspection sales company how to create persuasive presentations. I first taught them the process and gave them ideas. Then, we broke into practice groups. Finally, we all meet again and debriefed. They had some great ideas and their practice created team building and sparked creativity.
You don’t have to settle for boring old meetings. Use your creativity and shake things up! You’ll get better attendance AND you’ll involve more people.
Let me know what you come up with!
One Easy Way to Add Pizzazz to Your Next Office Meeting
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Here’s one easy way to add pizzazz to your next office meeting.
As owners and managers, you’re a meeting planner when it comes to your sales meetings. Interestingly, you have dozens of experts right in your midst that you can spotlight to bring insights and excitement to your next event. Yes, those are the great agents and leaders you work with. So, how can you use that expertise right? Hold a successful panel discussion.
But, too many panel discussions go off the tracks because of these five fatal mistakes. I’ve seen these mistakes and have developed a system and the experience as a facilitator to assure that your panel discussion goes spectacularly well.
(Note: At the end of this blog, be sure to grab my one-page panel discussion rules of the road, too. Use these to prepare your participants and create an event they’ll rave about).
The Five Fatal Mistakes–And How to avoid Them
- Too few or too many panelists
The Rule: No fewer than 3; no more than 6. Why? If someone doesn’t show up and you have scheduled only 3 people, you won’t have a panel! And, if you have more than 5-6 people, you won’t have time to drill down with any of them.
- Too general a topic
Choose a topic that’s specific enough that you encourage real action steps and advice that the audience can take. Example: Not ‘How to sell Real Estate’ but “Best Marketing Ideas from the Experts’.
- Not getting the written bios/introductions from the panelists prior to the discussion
One of the facilitator’s jobs is to concisely introduce each panelist. Facilitators need a written introduction to do that properly. Don’t try to wing it! If you do, you may inadvertently make mistakes and a panelist may correct them in front of everyone!
- Not providing enough time for each panelist to talk.
You want a combination of panelist ‘lecturette’ (about 5-10 minutes each) and Q and A between the facilitator and panelists and the audience.
Note: The panel should last about one hour.
- Facilitator talks too much!
It’s not the facilitator’s show! It should shine a spotlight on the panelists. Facilitators should prepare 5-10 questions in advance and share those questions with the panelists, so they know what to expect. You can also ask panelists what they want to be asked.
Avoiding these 5 fatal mistakes will assure you create an exceptional panel discussion, and reap accolades for your event.
Click here to grab my one-page panel discussion guide.
How can Carla help you with your presenters and instructors? She applies the principles she learned as a performing musician to the stage to help presenters and trainers create great presentations, get enthusiastic audience participation, and reduce presentation anxiety. See more at www.carlacross.com or contact her at carla@carlacross.com
Sales Meetings: How to Stop your Guest Presenters from Going Wrong
Posted by: | CommentsDo you arrange and/or lead sales meetings? If you do, you’ve probably seen this happen:
Your presenter rambles into the presentation, wanders around in a vast wasteland of information during the presentation, and then kind of dribbles out of the presentation–no call to action, no close. After that happens a couple of times, your agents don’t want to hear from any more guests or affiliates!
Don’t Assume the Presenter Knows How to Structure his/her Presentation!
I’ve led or attended hundreds of real estate sales meetings. Usually, I find the guest presenter (an affiliate or vendor) is anxious to get up in front of our wonderful team and present.
He/she doesn’t know what interests or challenges the audience. He/she doesn’t know how to begin the presentation to get the audience’s attention, how to build a motivating story, and how to create a call to action.This Presentation Planner Will Help Presenters Organize
After an especially painful group of presentations (5 all in one meeting!), I decided to create a presentation planner for affiliates/guests to use to prepare their presentations. It is based on the concepts and skills I teach in my Instructor Development Workshops and my distance learning version, Train the Trainer.
Note: I just returned from giving my presentation Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make Your Best Presentation Ever, to a national home warranty company. I was so impressed because they wanted to learn the skill of crafting persuasive presentations AND they had set aside time to practice the skill and de-brief. Great skill building and team building session.
Three Big Questions to Ask your Would-Be Presenters
- What’s the challenge agents (or your audience) are facing that your product/service will solve?
- Why should the agents (or your audience) listen to your presentation?
- What outcomes will agents (or your audience) have as a result from taking the actions you suggest?
Screen Your Presenters BEFORE You Let Them in Front of your Audience!
Here are three things you’ll want to do to screen would-be presenters:
- Have them complete the presentation planner here
- Ask for a bio from them with testimonials of those who have used their service or product
- If the presenter is going to do a course for you, get the course outline (and not just a PowerPoint presentation!) prior to engaging the presenter, along with at least 10 testimonials of those who have attended his/her session (I learned this the hard way after letting an affiliate teach a ‘class’ to my agents and found the course had no outline and the instructor had no real idea of what he was presenting…..)
Following these guidelines and using my presentation planner will assure your sales meetings are a ‘hit’ and your audience walks away with exceptional value.
Grab your Presentation Planner here.
Who Is Your Training For?
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Who is your training for?
In this series, I am spotlighting training and trainers.
We segment our consumer markets when we design our marketing plans. We need to segment our ‘market’ for our training plan, too. In this case, our ‘market’ is our agents. When I ask seasoned agents about whether there is a training program in their company, they say ‘yes’. It’s for the new agent. What? Are those seasoned agents in the office chopped liver?
Use the analytical tool below to see who your training program addresses. It’s likely your training program meets the needs of your largest segment of agents. But, what about the other segments?
How to Use the Career Life Cycle. Write each of your agents in the career development phase you believe they are in. Now, underneath each column, write the training programs you have to address each phase. The Training Calendar Evaluation, which you’ll get at the end of this article, has questions to guide you in your analysis.
Note: Its really intereseting, too, if you have your assistant manager or coach also do this exercise. Then, compare the results. You will find some differences of opinion!
What did you find?
Are you ‘lop-sided’ in your office? Are you only providing training to one segment? Perhaps that’s why you’re finding it difficult to recruit those you really want. What needs to be in your training plan next year to better balance your offerings?
To get my analytical tool, Training Calendar Analysis Tool, click here. Let me know the changes you’ve made based on your evaluation. I want to help you create training with impact, with less work from you!
Help for your Training and Trainers
Do you provide training for your presenters and trainers? I’d love to help you, and them, learn and practice these types of great, quickly applicable strategies. I do trainings and presentations for Realtor trainers, trainers of real estate companies, and affiliates.
Get in touch with me and we’ll talk about your needs. I customize each presentation, too, for YOUR specific audience needs. My background as a performing musician, coupled with my real estate sales, leadership, and training experience, gives me a unique ‘take’ on training trainers. I’d love to help you!
Are You Sure You’re Offering the Right Training?
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Are you sure you’re offering the right training?
For the next few blogs, I’m offering tips on making your training work better. And, I’ll be offering tips for trainers, too.
Look at your training calendar. If you don’t have one, simply take a 3-month calendar and write in the training you’re providing.
At the end of this article, I’ll give you my Training Calendar Evaluator—a tool to use to see what your training really looks like. I developed this tool when I was regional director for a very large franchise. I wanted to help managers and trainers improve their training programs and calendars.
What’s the ratio of business-producing vs. business supporting training modules you have now in your training plan and calendar?
When I see some training calendars, I can see why their training is not increasing productivity. Most or all of their modules are concerned with business supporting subjects (technical knowledge): Home inspections, the law of agency, websites, social media, etc. That’s all nice, but what does it directly do with creating productivity? Here’s the path to a sale:
Excerpted from What They Don’t Teach You in Pre-License School (Carla Cross, Noteworthy Publishing, Inc.)
If you want to increase productivity and profits, your training calendar needs to reflect your training in these business-producing areas.
What are you training to that will make a real difference in your productivity and profits next year? Put that in your business plan.
To get my analytical tool, Training Calendar Analysis Tool, click here. I’ve added some questions, too, in most categories, to help you think through these decisions and come up with a blazingly good training program.
Let me know the changes you’ve made based on your evaluation. I want to help you create training with impact, with less work from you!
Help for your Training and Trainers
Do you provide training for your presenters and trainers? I’d love to help you, and them, learn and practice these types of great, quickly applicable strategies. I do trainings and presentations for Realtor trainers, trainers of real estate companies, and affiliates.
Get in touch with me and we’ll talk about your needs. I customize each presentation, too, for YOUR specific audience needs. My background as a performing musician, coupled with my real estate sales, leadership, and training experience, gives me a unique ‘take’ on training trainers. I’d love to help you!
Getting in Front of People: Are you Riveting and Persuasive or Boring and Pedantic?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you do presentations in front of people—such as in real estate offices? You may be a title rep, a home warranty specialist, a mortgage rep, a real estate manager, or a salesperson. In fact, almost all of us must get in front of people and present at some time. But, it’s not something we’re trained for. We probably don’t even realize we CAN gain a process, and get some training, to do a great job! So, we just haltingly get up, open our mouth, and hope something comes out…..
As a long-time speaker and member of the professionals’ National Speaker Association, and trainer of trainers, I’ve learned the importance of presentation—no matter what we do. Here are three big mistakes ‘amateurs’ make in presentations, and three major presentation tips that assure your sales presentations will be professional—and effective.
{See a description of my presentation to teach how to craft and give a persuasive presentation here.}
Mistake #1: Launching Right in Without a Great Opening
Recently, I was at a real estate sales meeting. I heard 5 presenters in a row all start their presentations by ‘rambling’ into them. I wasn’t sure what they wanted to say, why they were there, or why I should listen!
Solution #1: Grab a Great Start
What’s your ‘hook’? How are you going to begin your presentation? With a provocative question? With a relevant story? How does that beginning tie to your theme? Sit down and write down your beginning.
Start with a great ‘hook’—something that grabs their attention.
For example, I give a presentation (usually to affiliates) to teach people how to do a persuasive presentation. As a ‘hook’, I start at the piano. They certainly aren’t expecting that, and it gets their attention right away. Of course, then I segue to the rest of the beginning: Pose the problem, suggest your solution, and build a rosy future for following your recommendations. This works great, too, in an open house to grab the attention of the ‘looker’ who’s trying to avoid you.
Mistake #2: Not developing a cohesive solution to the problem and developing it in the middle of your presentation. Instead, these presenters I heard wandered around in a vast wasteland of incohesive facts, figures, and stores with no relationship or relevance to the ‘theme’ that should have been developed at the beginning.
Solution to #2: Get Persuasive
You need to be selling your point of view always to your ‘audience’. That means to structure your point of view persuasively. What stories, statistics, and facts do you have to shore up your solution—the solution you promised at the beginning? How persuasive are you here?
Mistake #3: Not Crafting a Great Ending
In some of the presentations I heard, there was no ending. The presenter just ran out of time and sat down! What if you heard your favorite tune and it ended about 4 measures before the ending? It would feel and sound weird, right? Well, a presentation without a logical ending feels and sounds ‘weird’, too.
Your ending should re-state your solution that you developed throughout your presentation. It should motivate your audience to action.
Solution # 3: Bring it Home with a Great Ending
Have you ever been at a presentation that just puttered out at the end? The speaker said, “Well, we’re out of time.” And you thought, “Good”. Remember, a persuasive presentation is just like a popular tune. Bring back the theme at the end. Close by reminding your audience of the rosy future they will have by following your recommendations. Your job during the persuasive presentation is to persuade.
Here’s my point of view: All presentations that anyone gives should be persuasive. You’re up there to persuade your audience to YOUR [oint of view, not just to regurgitate facts and figures. Otherwise, the audience could simply read a scientific report or watch a video (well, the video may be more interesting than a boring ‘live’ presenter…..)
Does your company ask their reps to do presentations? Are your reps trained, confident, and professional at them? I can help! Check out my presentation, where I teach you how to craft a great persuasive presentation. I offer this to local, regional, and national affiliates and trainers. See it here.