Have you ever made a presentation to a group of people that you have invited in order to make a sale?
Have you ever prepared mailers, did follow up to ensure the people would show up - confirm their reservations, and went to the expense to have a catered meal of high quality prepared for their dining pleasure?
Have you planned these events with expectations of generating sufficient sales to obtain a return on your time, your financial investment and to at least generate positive PR with the people that did not buy?
We have all attended seminars as described above. Some of us have organized such seminars with the expectation, as described, to generate a positive return on our time and financial investment. Therefore, we all know what these types of seminars are like. They are selling opportunities that for the draw of a good meal people will listen to your sales pitch and evaluate if they want to buy or take the next step or at least meet with you.
The results are easy to measure - how many take the next step and sign-up for an appointment.
I had the dubious pleasure of attending two such seminars this week: one for financial services and the other for business software systems. Both fell way short of my expectations and those of the attendees around me. Did the companies which spent a good dollar getting me and the others there get a positive return on their money - NO WAY. They did not even generate any positive PR nor referral business which would have been the very least expectation. Why? Because the presentations fell way short of the goal.
Now when you think about that statement it does not make sense on the surface of it. How could the presentation, which the presenters knew they were going to make, fall short? They knew the presentation was going to be held on a certain date. They knew they were going to present a specific subject. They knew what was expected in terms of their goals - generate interest and purchases.
Then why were they ill prepared? This posting is not about others, although that is the context I am using. This post is about each of us. Do we go into a presentation prepared or just winging it since we are so darn good we don't need to prepare? Or, do we use the tried expression that we did not have time to prepare and do it right?
The financial seminar was a farce from the start. The room was poorly lit. The sound system consisted of a small speaker that sat on the floor - thereby not being able to send the sound out to the audience. The PowerPoint (always a snore) was not set up correctly and the presenter had to stop and start it a few times to get it right. The presenters had no rapport with the audience and the actual presentation was done in a halting speaking style that conveyed that the guy did not know what he was talking about but tried to memorize a script - at least he did not read it. Well, I take that back, he did have us read along with him a paragraph or two from the fancy brochure - boring!
The computer system presentation was held at one of the best restaurants in town - great food, and expensive. The lighting was poor but the ambiance was nice. The speaker started by apologizing that his counterpart was delayed in an airport and, therefore, there would be no live demo of the software. He acknowledged he had to fill in for the planned speaker and was not totally prepared to do so. OKAY - what is wrong with this? You are a tech company and you cannot get your technology to convey your message and your humans are uncomfortable doing so. The guy tried to present a few different PowerPoint presentations - thank goodness they were short. His presentation skills were poor - he shifted from side to side and his eyes kept glancing to the floor - not his audience.
He tried to field some questions from the audience but was not able to answer the technical questions so said, "We'll get back to you on that." However, I did not see anyone capturing who asked the question so that the question could be answered fully and the person responded to.
The other attendees at my table, who had finished feasting on steak and cheesecake, also expressed their disappointment in the content of the presentation.
Would it be unrealistic to expect that a salesperson would anticipate the possibility that the tech guy would get hung up at an airport and that he should have a backup plan that is solid? I think not.
Both of these presentations conveyed very clearly that the companies were unreliable. Their promises could not be relied on. They had less than professional people interfacing with customers. And, they do not take the time to get it right.
Now based on that:
- How many sales can be expected?
- How many referrals?
- How much goodwill?
- How many will respond to the next invitation from the company to either read their promotional emails, materials, or take their calls?
Not me.