ZEN slides can kill your sales presentation

What do you think of these slides?

 

Aren’t they beautiful? Aren’t these poetic pictures taking you to you a whole new world? Aren’t you so absorbed by these images that you find it difficult to take your eyes off the slides?

That is exactly my point. Those are the very reasons why these ‘Zen’ slides will kill your marketing presentation. 

Let me explain…

When you project these slides to your customers, what kind of questions can you imagine popping up in their head? Here is my guess:

• “Is that sunrise or sunset? Those rocks look like bar graph. Wow!”
• “How are those rocks balancing so well? How are they connected to our software? Is he subtly hinting at modular development of software by using that image?”
• “Hey! This reminds of my trip to Mauritius. I really loved that vacation. I haven’t called Sandy for a long time. Let me note that in my diary.”

As you can see…

None of these questions are going to help them make a meaningful purchase decision. The amusement you see in your audience eyes is not because of the strength of your argument, but because of the beauty of those ‘Zen’ pictures.

Stop killing your chances of winning a deal, by using such pointless but beautiful pictures on your slides.

Instead, create slides that will make your audience ask questions like…

• “What kind of new opportunities have emerged in the market, to support the product launch?”
• “How will this software solve the issues which we currently face?”
• “How does this software compare to the competition? Why should I choose this software over any other?”

These questions when answered will help your customers make a purchase decision. 

I am not against using full bleed images in presentation slides. But, you need to be sure that the pictures add clarity to your message - in an obvious way. When your audience has to ‘think’ for two minutes about the second level meaning of the images you use – stop. When you feel that the images will divert your audience’s attention – save them for your son’s school project.

Remember! In your marketing presentation, YOU are the hero. Your slides are your support. Don’t let your slides dominate YOU for any reason.

Happy selling!

Are you making ‘Flea market’ slides?

Ever wondered what differentiates a flea market display from a showroom display? 

Why is it that one feels noisy and exhausting, whereas the other feels organized and reassuring? 

Why do you feel compelled to bargain in a flea market, whereas you happily give more for the same item in a showroom? 

Why does it feel that a flea marketer cares only about your wallet whereas a good salesperson in a showroom cares about YOU?

The reason is – these two visual formats give you very different psychological cues.

Forcing a decision versus building a relation:

A flea market display says, “This is all I have got. Make a decision quickly and get out. I don’t care about you enough, to customize my display to match your needs”.

A showroom says, “I want to build a relationship with you, so I will take the time to show you what you want to see”

Spreading the attention versus focusing the attention:

A flea marketer spreads the attention of the audience over all his items equally. So, the customer doesn’t have the time to consider any single option long enough to appreciate its value.

A showroom salesperson focuses the attention of the audience on a few items that interests him. He helps the customer to make his decision by providing the necessary information.

Naturally, the results these two formats achieve are in line with the visual cues they provide. For sales and marketing presenters like you, there are some valuable lessons hidden in these two formats.  

Whether you like it or not, the slides that you create for your presentations leave certain cues about your approach to customers. These cues determine the results you achieve.

Let us see the slides equivalent of the two formats:

I call the first - ‘Flea market’ slide format and the second as the ‘Showroom’ slide format. 

Take a minute to see the cues these slides give. 

• One is about ‘My wares’ and the other is about ‘Your needs’
• One spreads and diffuses the audience attention, and the other focuses the attention
• One makes you close your eyes and the other opens your mind

So, choose the right format to sell your value by understanding the cues given by your slides. Let your slides be your ally, not your enemy. 

Happy selling!