You may have the best idea, the best product or best proposal. However, if you cannot present it in a professional manner it may never be recognized as valuable. There are four simple steps for giving a successful presentation, called the four cornerstones methods:

1. Understand your audience

2. Understand your purpose

3. Understand the material

4. Understand yourself

Mastering these four areas will give you the skills needed to prepare and deliver a more effective presentation.

1. Understand your audience

Understanding your audience allows you to determine what and how you need to present. You are also able to address their interests in a tailored fashion. Take the first step by creating an audience profile that includes roles and responsibilities, age, knowledge Base, learning styles, culture, number of participants, purpose of attending or expectations. This will facilitate the preparation of appropriate content/material, incorporating all necessary learning styles, etc.

Gathering information about your audience does not have to be complicated. There are various ways you can gather the audience information:

• Arrive early to talk to members of the audience beforehand

• Distribute a survey before the presentation

• Talk with the organizer

• Review evaluations from past presentations

• Attend a presentation before yours to get a sense of what the group is like

• Request for information or written materials that describe the audience

2. Understand your purpose

It is essential to know your purpose for doing a presentation. Writing a simple sentence can be a means for defining the purpose. You may always ask yourself why I am doing this presentation? To provide information (create awareness) or to change attitudes (create emotion) or to build new skills.

3. Understand the material

One way to increase your confidence as a presenter is to know where your content information is coming from (understand your source). Tap into what you already know about the subject by reviewing content. To identify what you need to know by conducting literature reviews and searches using credible sources. You may also use data/statistics that is relevant to the audience, etc.

4. Understand yourself

Building confidence as a speaker starts with understanding yourself. This includes knowing “Your style”. For example: use humor, use stories, prefer to stand behind a podium, etc. Knowing “Your skills/strengths”. For example: ability to build rapport with audience, great graphical designer, etc. Knowing “Your weaknesses”. For example: use filler words, talk to soft, nervous in front of a group, etc.

Every agent has their own twist on what works when presenting their listing presentation to a prospective seller. Below will outline some important criteria that you will need to incorporate in some fashion in your listing presentation. You can make it fancy by using MS Publisher or you can make it factual and straight forward. What matters the most is that you show your client that you are professional, have done your research and are proficient in real estate. By the end of the listing presentation, you should fully understand the seller’s goals and objectives and what it’s going to take for you to get the listing. Use any or all of these ideas:

• Discover the seller’s objectives, priorities, expectations and concerns.
• Explain the services you and your company provide.
• Educate the sellers about the home selling process, and explain their

role in it.
• Discuss the important issues of market value and home enhancement.
• Demonstrate your professionalism and differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Begin to build a strong working relationship with the sellers.

The Listing Presentation can be used in three ways.

Pre-listing package

You can either send a pre-listing package to the sellers prior to your listing presentation, or leave with them after the initial visit of a two-meeting listing
approach. This is an opportunity for you to:

• Present background information about yourself, your company and your services, and to establish a
professional image.
• Gather essential information about the sellers and the property.
• Pre-condition the sellers to the realities of pricing, marketing and home enhancement (which you will
discuss in depth during your presentation).

Presentation visual aid to use during the listing presentation.

• Helps keep your presentation “on track.”
• Focuses the seller’s attention and provides visual reinforcement for the key points you explain.

A leave-behind package for the sellers to keep as a reference throughout the home selling process. The seller’s copy of the Listing Presentation will:

•Reinforce the marketing, pricing and home enhancement information you discussed with them.
• Remind the sellers of their vital role in preparing and showing their home.

How to Develop an Effective Home selling Proposal

• Include information about yourself and your local company.
• Reflect local real estate practices and terminology.
• Add personal touches, such as the seller’s names and a photo of their house.
• Keep in mind that an effective listing presentation is a two-way interactive dialogue, not a one-way sales pitch.
• The key is asking questions that encourage the sellers to give you candid information about their
concerns, objectives and priorities, and then showing them how you can meet their needs.
• Use descriptive words and ideas as a starting point for building your own unique listing presentation, based on your personality and style, and tailored to the needs of your sellers.
• Practice really does make perfect. By consistently applying and practicing your listing presentation, you will become proficient and increase your chances of getting the listing.

Are poor presentations costing you business?

The ability to deliver a presentation to potential investors or clients is an essential skill for any budding entrepreneur, sales professional or consultant.

Whether it’s a ’15-second elevator pitch’ or a more extensive presentation, winning over and persuading audiences is vital in today’s competitive capital raising and sales environment.

Learning the art of making powerful and persuasive presentations in any business situation and you will win more work.

My premise is every start-up entrepreneur, seasoned business operator or consultant can win more business by being a better presenter.

Here are the Seven Deadly Sins of Business Presentations and How to Avoid Them.

1. Not Having a Clear Goal.

It is essential to know what the objective or end outcome of your presentation is. Is it to raise funds, educate and inform, build relationships, to sell or build credibility?

2. No Structure.

This is an absolute must for any presenter – at the very least have a beginning, middle and end. You may be the best presenter in the world with outstanding delivery skills but poor structure will lead to a poor presentation.

3. Not Connecting with Your Audience.

Building empathy and rapport with your audience is critical. Connect with them on three levels – head, heart and hip-pocket.

4. A Poor Beginning.

First impressions always matter. If you have to raise $8 million in 8 minutes, make every word count. I learnt this tip from attending Patricia Fripp’s speaking school recently and I think its brilliant. For business presentations she says avoid using ‘Thanks, its great to be here’ as your opener. She rightly points out you’ve just wasted 10 seconds. At a million dollars a minute that equates to nearly $167,000!

5. Too Much Content.

The cardinal sin of all business and technical presenters. In my media career, I estimate I have attended more than 300 conferences, events and seminars. That’s 1500 hours worth of presentations I’ve had to sit through and the most common mistake I’ve seen is presenters rush and overload the audience with too much content. Remember, presentations rely on the spoken word and the visual – use the written word and a handout to provide more detail.

6. The Presenter’s ‘I’s’ Are Too Close Together.

We all like to talk about ourselves. As a radio manager, I spent hours listening to and providing feedback to broadcasters. Those that really connected with their audience talked with them rather than at them. I observed they used the word ‘you’ a lot more than the word ‘I’. This led to the saying that with some presenters their ‘I’s’ were too close together! Here’s another great tip I learnt from Fripp. Record your presentation and have it transcribed. Every time you see the word ‘I’, cross it out and replace it with ‘you’. She calls this working on your ‘I-You Ratio’.

7. Poor Closer.
Again it is beginning and the end that is the most important part of any presentation. With your closer – what is the key message or action you want the audience to take away with them as they walk out the door? In business presentations the closer is often the ‘call to action’. When I heard Bill Clinton speak at a Fundraising event for sick children, his closer was ‘I want you to help’. Simple, direct and effective.

Here’s another tip I learnt from Fripp. If you want to take questions, take them before your closer, because ending on question time is a poor and weak way to end a presentation. Worse still, you are unlikely to be able to control the last question. Take questions for a set period before the end, wrap that section up and then end with a strong closer. I’ve already tried this on several audiences and it works a treat!