My new client read my recent blog post about our conversation regarding increasing his firm’s hit rate (What is a 10% Increase in Your Closing Rate Worth? and Cost of a Bad Presentation) and told me about the soft costs of winning proposals. He had an addition to the firm’s increase in revenue – morale. He said the company’s 20% hit rate was depressing. They dreaded preparing for presentations because they didn’t think they’d win and that they were just wasting their time. This made for worse presentations and the problem perpetuated itself with each failed presentation. Since working with me this past month, they are already 2 for 2 with their presentations. The presentation team is confident and morale at the firm is at an all time high! He said the increased revenue from the new work is great and that they’ve already passed on two opportunities because they don’t
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My husband and I began watching “Shark Tank” about two years ago and we were both immediately hooked. Of course with me being a presentation coach, my attention is two-fold because I critique every pitch, even when I just want to enjoy the show. There are things to be learned from watching the good and bad pitches on “Shark Tank” and this past week I had a revelation that there are certain aspects of presentations that can have TOO MUCH! 4 Ways You Have a TOO MUCH Presentation: Too Much Energy- Believe it or not there is a such thing as too much energy. On this past weeks episode, there was a pitch where the entrepreneur has too much energy and it showed more because his partner didn’t have enough. Watching him almost scream, it was almost like he was at a pep rally and it was just annoying. Even
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I understand it doesn’t always happen, but some times presenting with a team of people is necessary. Especially when new business is at stake, the bidder wants to see who exactly will be handling the account. Just like I have stressed for individual presenters, preparation and strategy is the cure! It is commonplace to divide the topic up into enough parts that each person in the team gets a piece. They in turn go on their own and research their part and make sure that they have developed a script. After time passes, the presentation goes live and all the team members come up with off the cuff ideas on how to execute the team presentation. Sadly, it never seems to go off well. It partly goes back to the preparation, preparing for a team presentation individually is only part of the problem. Working closely with the other members of
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