Tip 8 – Develop an eye-catching presentation. 

Sometimes the best meetings don’t involve you even opening a laptop as this can allow for free flowing discussion. But it’s always important to be prepared, as many clients will insist on this as a preference. Using a poorly prepared and visually unattractive presentation can decrease the overall value of your pitch. This is particularly so in larger sales cycles, or where the nature of the service you are selling is linked to quality based technology or creative solutions. A few simple rules to avoid this happening are: 

– Make the presentation visually interesting. 

– Do not overuse words and bullets. If I can present or read the content of your presentation without you being there, then it is a poor presentation. You want to help bring your discussion to life rather than distract from it. Only rely on key phrases or topic headers. Additionally, keep it punchy – a maximum of 10 slides should suffice to cover key agenda points. 

– Always have a backup. This speaks for itself. If your laptop does not work, you need to have some mechanism for transferring your presentation onto a client workstation instead. 

– If the client reduces the time you have to pitch, do not rush through a 30 minute presentation in five minutes. Discuss the most salient points or re-appoint to another time. Make sure that you know in advance how much time you will have and plan your presentation accordingly.