Ten Ways To Sell Your Ideas To Anyone

You have a great idea you know is a winner. All you need is support from some key people. You prepare your material, get some PowerPoint slides together and make your presentation,

Phut! No interest. No questions. No support.

What went wrong?

These are the ten commonest mistakes presenters make and how to correct them.

1. You didn't take time to define your audience clearly and address them personally.

Your audience has one question in their minds all the time: "What's in this for me?" If you don't answer it obviously, they tune out.

Be clear about your audience and aim your pitch solely at them. Anyone else is a bonus.

2. You opened your presentation with the idea itself.

Wrong!

Always lead with the clearest, most powerful benefit to that specific group.

Which would you listen to first?

"I'm going to talk to you about some new ideas in presentation technique."

"Here's a simple way to make your audience eager to buy into your ideas."

You must get people to pay attention. What grabs them? A sure-fire solution a problem they know they have. Not an idea they can't see how to use yet.

3. You took too long to get to the point and gave too much detailed explanation.

People's attention span is short. You either catch them fast or you don't catch them at all.

Don't work up to the key issues. Get to the point. Forget explanations until you have their interest. Once hooked, they'll listen. Until then, they won't.

4. You didn't get all your key points in quickly and people lost interest.

List your key points at the start, right after you've caught their attention with big, specific benefits.

Present your points starting with the most important. Always begin with the essentials. If people get bored, they'll still have heard the most important points.

5. You were wordy, you didn't sound confident and you went off at tangents.

Brevity breathes authority. Don't waste your audience's attention on anything that isn't essential.

Less is nearly always more. Cut it to the minimum. If people have unanswered questions, give time for them at the end. You can end on a high note, not the typical embarrassed wait for someone--anyone--to ask something.

6. You didn't stick to a single message.

Every additional message causes an earlier one to be forgotten.

What do you want the audience to hear? Say it clearly and with confidence...then shut up.

7. You didn't work on building a fan base first.

It's easier to present with fans in the audience to support you. Brief them in advance and encourage them to come along as supporters. Nothing convinces people as much as seeing others already convinced.

8. You didn't practice enough.

If you're not presentation perfect in practice conditions, performance stress will make you into an idiot.

If you're using technology, assume it's going to break down or mess up.

People who aren't properly prepared easily get anxious and nervous people aren't convincing.

9. You got the timing wrong.

Don't schedule your presentation when key people have something else on their minds. Don't hold it on Monday morning (they're dreading what they'll find on their desks) or Friday afternoon (what are you planning for the weekend?).

10. You didn't give them time to grasp your idea.

How fast can they take it in? Who else will they want to consult? Catch their attention, explain only what you have to explain, remind them of the big benefits, then sit down and let them think about it.

Never push for a decision unless you're sure it's the one you want. As long as the decision is open, you can make another attempt.

Follow this advice and next time you'll have an audience that will be right behind you.

Adrian W. Savage writes for people who want help with the daily dilemmas they face at work. He has contributed more than 25 articles to leading British and American publications and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Chicago Tribune.

Visit his www.adriansavage.com">blog on the ups and downs of business life.

RELATED ARTICLES

---

10 Tips for Effective Proofreading
Proofreading may not be terribly fun, but it's one of the most important parts of writing.Have you ever read a web page or a document that had typos, grammatical errors, and punctuation mistakes? This reflects badly on you and your business, and you could easily lose a customer over a simple spelling mistake!Here are some tips for quick and effective proofreading:1.

---

Want a Web Site that Turns Lookie Loos into Buyers? Seven Passion Copywriting Tips
Web Site Blues? Need one, don't know where to start? Got one, but aren't getting enough sales? If you need a Web site soon you may be wondering where to start and who to trust. All Web masters are not equal.

---

10 Great E-Commerce Businesses You Can Start Now
If you've been thinking of starting a business on the web but you're not sure what type of business to start then this article is for you. You could be wasting valuable time trying to make your first move.

---

Increase Business Profits - Ten Ways
How do you increase business profits? Answer the following questions carefully, and you'll have a good start.1.

---

Top Ten Things to Do to Make your Signature File Sell
Always include a powerful signature on every email you send out, even to friends. It's even more important when you send out articles to opt-in ezines (no spam) and top web sites in your field--more important than your article's message.

---

Get Your Mailing Noticed - Seven Tips for Effective Direct Mail Pieces
When sending mail to clients and potential clients, make your mailing stand out from the stacks of "junk mail" they receive. Here are a few easy ways to get their attention.

---

10 Ways to Develop A Free Agent Attitude
Whether you are self employed or you work for someone else, it is useful to have a free agent attitude. The past few years have shown us that working for someone else is temporary at best.

---

Top 7 Tips For Writing Your Marketing Plan
A lot of people are at a loss when it comes to deciding how to approach the marketing plan process and how to stay within time and budget constraints. To make for a less stressful marketing plan process, keep these 7 tips in mind:Think Strategy First An overall marketing strategy drives many decisions.

---

Event Planning: Seven Best Practices Successful Planners Use
Do you plan events for the corporate world like product launches, conferences, seminars, etc? If so, check out these seven practices of successful event planners.It's easy to dismiss these points thinking they're trivial.

---

Famous Business Strategies
Either simply a looker-on or a player in the world of business, you see millions piling into the accounts of world's most famous businessmen and naturally the question pops "How?", wondering what is the alchemy they've discovered? Yet, there is no magic here - it's mostly pure strategy. And what it takes to spot it and make it real.

---

Top 7 Ways to Profit from Foreign Trade
Here are seven excellent ways to earn income from international trade.1.

---

10 Compelling Reasons Not to Downsize
Almost daily, newspapers, business magazines, radio and television carry reports of corporations, large and small, that are downsizing. Their attention is chiefly focused on the impact to the employees, as they are the ones most acutely experiencing the immediate effects.

---

7 Money Saving Tips to Decrease Home Business Expenses
We all know that running a home business is highly satisfying, and at times downright liberating! No clock to punch, no dress code, and best of all, no boss to answer to. But there are also many facets of business ownership that entrepreneurs must stay on top of.

---

5 Things You Must Do Well When Buying a Business to Not Get Burned
Are you not sure what Business to buy? Need to know what is a fair deal?Martin Smith thought he was buying an established business with good credit and collectable accounts receivable. The day after settlement the surprises began.

---

Top Ten Ways to Manage Interruptions
So many people I worked with said they got more work done at home than in the office. That was because there were so many interruptions in the office.

---

Ten Ways to Manage a Rapidly Growing Business
While some new business owners face the issue of not enough customers, others face the issue of too many customers/clients. Both are serious issues and must be dealt with carefully.

---

Positioning Your Company for Debt Financing
Positioning Your Company for Debt Financing:There was a time in the old days when going to the bank was the only way to get outside capital for your business. These days with the explosion of raising equity investment, many of the guidelines for running a company have been revolutionized.

---

Top Seven Reasons to Publicize your Business with Articles
Do you want to be #1-10 on Google and other search engines? Do you want quadruple your Web sales in five months? Promote your business to the top with these 7 reasons to write and submit how-to articles. 1.

---

Managing Your Major Sales - 7 Steps That Could Change The Way You Pursue Business
Ever lost a sale you thought was in the bag? Not an unfamiliar feeling for many businesses large and small. No matter how good you think your product or service is, everything finally boils down to your ability to convince others that it is good for them.

---

Top Ten Tips: Where to Get the Best Business Books Now!
There are many places you can get books, and I don't pretend to know them all. I've listed a few of my favorites below.