"We did better by far than we would have without your coaching" the Senior VP exclaimed as he recounted his team's presentation to a desirable customer.
He cited two reasons that you should consider when preparing a presentation for an important customer:
- An outsider can say things and be heard in a way that an insider cannot/will not. If the feedback comes from a boss, it's threatening and critical. If it comes from a peer, it can be heard as competitive. And the risk of hard feelings that linger is high.
- An speaking expert who coaches provides a skill and depth of knowledge that the team simply does not have. A working speaking coach who does this day after day develops and eye and ear for all the details and learns how to deliver feedback and recommendations in ways that an member of the team or an executive can't.
Your team has the subject matter expertise, the management skills and the knowledge of the customer or prospect. Bringing those things to the table along with an experienced presentations skills/speaking coach magnifies your chances of wowing the customer audience.
Before you think it costs too much or takes too much time consider this recent engagement: I spent 2 hours on the phone with the team as we looked at a draft slide deck. Then I spent 6 hours thoroughly reading the proposal, the slides and the requirements and writing up about 5 pages of recommendations which I emailed to them. I spent one day (9 hours) face-to-face with the team. We finalized the slides, then they practiced their 2 hour presentation two complete times, with feedback and comments following each practice.
The result of these 17 hours was a presentation that was, by the client's own estimate, at least 150% better than it would have been without my contribution.
What are you hesitating for? When you have an important presentation to a desirable client, bring in a full-time, professional speaking coach to help you with your slides and your presentation. You will absolutely improve the likelihood of winning the sale.
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