A Presentation No-No

Here’s the situation:

You’re cruising through a presentation to a client or prospect committee. You go through an important piece of information. Let’s say it was a detailed description of how something works in your system, which is different than how your competitors’ systems work. But it could be anything. And, you transition to the next section.

One of the committee members interrupts you and says, “Excuse me, could you go over that last section again?” Or, “What was it you just said a minute ago?”

Good sign or bad sign?

Here’s the question: Is this a good sign or a bad sign of how the presentation is going? Are they really interested in this piece or were they confused by how you presented it? Did you just nail a hot button issue or did you just touch the third rail in their organization? Is the person asking the question doing it for himself or for someone else in the room (or maybe even not in the room)?

Answer: You don’t know. It could be any one of those things. I’ll tell you the safest thing to do in a minute but there are a couple of things you definitely don’t want to do.

Definitely Don't Do This 

You don’t want to apologize for what you said, “Sorry, I probably didn’t make that clear earlier. Let me try ” Or, “Clearly I stepped in it, let me try to step out of it…”

And, you most certainly don’t want to accuse them of not listening, which is what it would sound like if you said, “Well, as I mentioned earlier…” Or, “If you recall what I said before…” or “To repeat…” Throw in a sigh before your answer and you’ve just nailed being condescending.

You can’t afford to answer based on your guess of what they mean because that guess can be wrong & you can instantly go from a positive impression to a negative one without even knowing it.

Try this instead 

The safest answer? Give them what they’re asking for. They asked you to repeat what you just said. So do that. And show them you’re glad they asked. It’s an opportunity to emphasize your differentiation. “Happy to do so. It’s an important piece of what we do differently…”

As you’re re-presenting, look for their reaction. Are they smiling, talking to each other and nodding? Or are they talking to each other and frowning? Their body language will give you a better indication of why they asked for the redo.

After it’s all over, if your coach is in the room, you can get some feedback on what that interaction meant and whether it was significant. And you can use that information to update your strategy.  

Have a great weekend!

Bob

P.S. This is a brief example of content covered in two of my programs – Developing & Delivering Great Presentations and Developing Multiple Coaches at Multiple Levels. Just send me an email: [email protected] if you’re interested in learning more about either of these programs.