What would you do differently if your customer was paying you $100.00 for making a presentation? How would you stage it? How would you prepare differently? Would your leave-behinds be more professional? Would you use props? Would you practice ahead of time?
What would you do differently if you knew that your next presentation to a client could be your last one if it wasn’t world-class?
When you leave a presentation, how would you grade your passion, enthusiasm, professionalism? If one is barely alive and ten is Tom Cruise professing his love for Katie Holmes on Oprah, where would your rating fall?
When you present to a client, they may not be paying you for the presentation, but you are spending money just the same. If you started thinking in terms of how much that presentation is going to cost you, would you spend a little more time with it?
The CEO of a multibillion dollar company used to spend hundreds—yes HUNDREDS of hours practicing, rehearsing, editing, scripting and planning for a ninety minute presentation.That level of practice and preparation made it look easy. Easy for Steve Jobs to inspire millions of evangelists and create the most valuable company on Earth.
Quit hurrying through the most important part of your job. Start thinking in terms of your performance as an entertainer, as a professional, as a speaker and as someone who works for each and every sale. Your clients will be inspired by your enthusiasm, by your passion and your belief in your own creativity and problem solving abilities.
Do differently!
