Here’s how to create a great opening for effective Presentations
Do you have to get in front of 2 (or 200) and capture their attention immediately? If you’re an agent and you do buyer or seller presentations, you certainly do. And, if you’re in management, you do every time you start a sales meeting. You affiliates certainly have to quickly capture attention when you get in front of a sales meeting.
Have you thought about how you start your presentations? Most of the time, we just get in front of people and say whatever we think of first. That leads to some big presentation mistakes, and costs us ‘sales’. Instead of stumbling through a presentation, why not organize it to grab their attention, persuade them to your way of thinking, and motivate them to action? You can.
In my resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make Your Best Presentation Ever, I show a simple three-step format to create your persuasive presentation. No matter why you’re in front of people, we need to be
persuasive
Think about it. Real estate salespeople: When you’re doing a listing presentation, what do you want to happen? You want them to sign the listing agreement when you’re done. So, it’s extremely important that you organize your listing presentation using a persuasive format, not just an information-heavy dialogue flow.
In this blog, we’ll discuss great openings–one of the 2 most important parts of any presentation.
Grab Their Attention in the Opening
Have you thought about your opening? Or, are you nervously standing at the sellers’ door, worried about what you’re going to say? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting? When we haven’t organized our presentation, we come up with some really boring, off-putting openings, like:
I won’t take much of your time, but
We have a lot to cover today (boy, that sounds exciting and motivating, doesn’t it?)
We won’t get through the outline/presentation (then, why do we have that outline?)
I know you don’t want to listen, but
I’m not really prepared (this happens in many presentations in front of 2 or 2000!)
You just open your presentation book, point to the pretty pages, and say, “here’s a keybox” (I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it….)
Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever comes ‘naturally’. Instead, make your openings
Provocative
Interesting
Different
Engaging
Motivating
The First Two Minutes are Critical
Recently, I attended a Train the Trainer’ session (yes, I still learn great stuff every day!), where the trainer said it was important to engage the audience in a meaningful way in the first two minutes of your presentation. I think that’s a great rule to follow today, because people’s attention spans are the length of a gnat’s eyebrow. So, the next time you attend a presentation, see how much time elapses before the speaker/presenter/trainer gets the audience into meaningful action. I don’t mean to ask a rhetorical question, either!
Want many more presentation tips for your next meeting, listing or buyer presentation, or sales presentation? Check out Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.
In the next blog, we’ll talk about the other 2 parts of the presentation, and how to make them sizzle, too.
What mistakes have you seen presenters make in their openings? Let me know.
What do you do to grab their attention and interest in the first two minutes?
Let Me Help Your Trainers Refine Their Skills
I help associations and companies help their trainers become masters, try new methods, keep their audiences, awake, and become more creative. Contact me and we’ll talk about how I can help you.
