Presentations Lessons at 35,000 feet

Louis J. DiGiusto, III of Louws Management Corporation
Executive Trainer and Coach – Stellar Meeting Presentation Skills

“I’d rather be the guy in the coffin than the guy giving the eulogy…”
Seinfeld


The Secret has been long out

Most business executives dread having to do it. It causes sleeplessness, ‘the sweats,’ nausea, anxiety, panic attacks and even the back of your neck to turn red like a thermometer- from the bottom up. Given a choice, most people would choose anything else- even a trip to the dental chair. And yet, mastering the skills needed to do it well can be the most important step an executive can take towards achieving their career potential.

It’s giving a presentation or speach. To prospects, clients, stockholders, board members, peers and the boss.

Almost everyone in business at some point in their career, is called upon to stand up and give a presentation. Yet very few executives are effectively trained and prepared to master the skills necessary to give a presentation. Correctly. So that it Captivates, Inspires and Convinces an audience of the point being made.

The Learning Ground

When I go to work , Delta, American, America West gets us to the “office”.

Flying is something I don’t take for granted.

My partner Toni and I couldn’t do what we do without flying to our next client workshop. On almost every flight, I see business travelers working away at their laptops putting together or polishing their power point on the way to give a presentation.

I know that most of them really believe that their job as presenters is to get through all 87 power point ‘slides’ perfectly… and that they’ll get up in front of their audience and focus most of their attention on the screen.(their laptops).

When a presenter gives most of their attention to the screen and just gets through the slides, those of us in the audience feel like we don’t even need to be there.

I have seen some of the basic mindsets and skills needed to be an effective presenter
at 35,000 feet.

Delta’s flight attendants actually do many of the basic skills that an effective presenter needs to use.

If you want their attention you’d best make sure you are giving yours first

Like “paying attention to individuals.” I get bumped upfront a lot with my Gold Medallion Skymiles and it makes me feel great when the Delta Flight Attendant gives me a lot of attention and calls me by my name. They are there “for me.”

That’s what great presenters all share in common- they pay attention to individuals in their audience. They talk to people (as opposed to reciting what their slides say). It’s not about “eye contact.” I’ve asked people to close their eyes, I talk to them and they still pay attention to me. Sight-challenged individuals can be wonderful presenters. It’s about paying attention to someone- talking to people.

Making certain that they ‘get the message!’ It’s not about punching through all 87 slides and getting on the next plane.

When a presenter pays attention to individuals in the audience- talks to people- the audience pays attention back.

“At 35,000 feet it’s not just about getting me a cup of coffee… Delta Flight Attendants know their job is really to make sure I’m safe, comfortable and enjoy the flight on my way to where I need to be. Hot coffee is just a part of that"

Effective presenters know that their job is to make sure every individual in their audience ‘Get’s It.’ Understands the message. That means that if the presenter gives the presentation five times and they present it differently each time but the audience gets the message- they’ve done their job.

Interest begets interest

One of the principles we coach is that an effective communicator is interested in interesting the audience they are talking too. A way to look at this is think of yourself as the presenter “hosting” ones audience as their “host”.

The audience is their “guest.”

When you throw a party and greet your guests, who is the most important person in the room? Your guests are. You’re there to satisfy their needs, take care of them.

Actually, the folks at Delta & American are pretty good at applying this presentation skill too. They’re good hosts and treat me like their guest. It’s a skill that really works when you’re flying and I’d recommend it to anyone who travels.

If you treat others like a guest in your home… you’ll be surprised at the effect you cause. In a presentation, hosting skills become “interest” - your audience ‘feels your interest’. They give you their attention and interest back… and those are two keys factors you need to get a message through to them.”

An involved audience is a buying audience

“Another skill that’s essential to a good presenter can also be experienced at 35,000 feet and that’s “involvement.”

If you get your audiences involved you can change them from sitting out there being passive and turning into a critic to becoming active and turning into a buyer.

The person who is talking is being sold’ is a maxim taught by Louws and very well understood by all great sales people.

Get the customer to talk. Great presenters get individuals in their audiences to talk, they get them involved. Try it on your next flight. Initiate a conversation with the passenger next to you by asking an open-ended question- a “where, what, why, how” question that relates to something you both might share in common. (where are you flying to? Or What were you doing in town? are prefect ice breakers.)

Find something to talk about that they are interested in. Be a great host, treat them like your guest. Pay attention to them. Show an interest in them. Be interested in what they have to say. You’ll be surprised at the effect you cause and how enjoyable the flight might be.

“If an individual can improve their ability to get up in front of a group and effectively get their ideas across, the impact can be significant for their customer, their own company and their career … in two words –life changing.”

I hope these insights give you a lay version of how to get this done.

www.louwsmanagement.com

mail@louwsmanagement.com

(520) 664-1881

A Contrarian’s Winning New Business Philosophy

An article by Antoni Louw – C.E.O. and Founder Louws Management Corporation Inc.

The Basics

For agencies that need the “Basics”, create a simple-to-follow “New Business Architecture” game book.

All teams have them.

Then assign a person to ensure that this game book gets executed – team manager or product/traffic manager.

Their job is not the content, although they can certainly contribute. Their job is to make sure everything on a new business opportunity gets done in an efficient, timely and cost-effective manner.

This includes ensuring all people do what they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to do it, and that all materials that are needed are developed and provided to the team.

Common Enemies - Function & Form

When function & form rule in new business, you lose sight of the real stuff of selling and persuasion.

For decades, agencies have successfully won business without having scripts or the right preliminary set-up or following a strict time frame or even rehearsing correctly.

That’s not to say that these things are not helpful – they are. About as helpful as making sure you have a saddle on a horse before you ride. Doesn’t mean you have to have a saddle to ride though.

Instead, Louws follows the motto that innovation leads function and form.

Therefore we start with:

1. “What will it take to win this business?” Then we go to:
2. “How do we convince them that we are the right agency versus all their other options?”
3. Then “What do we need to know about their business, issues, needs, wants, marketing communications, competition landscape, branding architecture and marketing and business strategies that will help us become their marketing communications solution?

Now we have a chance of winning this business. Now we have direction. Now we can do what we do best. Solve marketing problems and capitalize on unfulfilled opportunities.

Innovation’s true place in persuasion

There is nothing like working with a crack team of solution mongers dying to get their claws into a client’s business and come up with innovative solutions to solve the world’s woes. We all know this is exactly what it feels like when we get it right.
Credentials we say – heck without them we wouldn’t be who we are today.

True!

So you were founded in 1986, have 50 employees with 3 offices, bill $50 million and have a really blue chip client roster.

But who really cares? Is it more about what the agency is proud of or what the potential client is interested in?

What about sending that information ahead, in hard copy, CD, links to FTP sites, e-mail, etc. and hope they read it and get on with solving their problems.

And just in case they don’t read it, we’ll find a place in the presentation to sprinkle in these facts, making sure that when we do, each is positioned as a benefit and of value to the prospective client.

The essence of selling – having the right bait

Selling is not about function or form. They are tactical elements of a well-rounded sales effort.

True selling is about knowing what ails the prospect, rolling up one’s sleeves and coming up with innovative solutions that make the prospect think: “Where have these people been all my life?”

Then it’s about making these solutions come alive before, during and after the final presentation – over the net, by CD, by physical examples, by showing real life occasions of your ideas in play, by immersing the prospect into the ideas (physically and mentally).

Then, while they are reeling with pleasure, wondering why they stayed with the incumbent for so long, if necessary, slide in impressive facts and figures that bolsters a prospect’s confidence in your ability to deliver upon these promised solutions.

Think of buying a car

You know that if you go to a Ford or Chrysler dealership, you are going to get something that has 4 wheels, engine, 36-month, 40,000 mile warranty, etc etc.

The last thing you need is the salesman pointing out these facts. Heck you wouldn’t be there if they weren’t called a car, SUV or truck to begin with.

You then examine the vehicle by research, examination and test drive to see if it actually fulfills what you are looking for and if it gives you something beyond what you were expecting. The bonus lucky strike extras that “wow” you.

While doing this, you are constantly comparing your options.

If the salesman is smart, and sees you are an entrepreneurial speed freak on a budget he/she says;

“This 6 cylinder has as much acceleration as the V8, yet gets an additional 10 mpg. At $2 .85 a gallon @ 20 gallons a week over 52 weeks you just saved about $3,000 a year. That’s about $250 a month, which pays your monthly lease payments, which are, as an independent, fully tax deductible in the first year.”

Now, what about the agency buyer

What prospect goes to an agency not knowing that they are going to an agency?

There are basic core competencies that are just plain “price of entry expecteds”. The more time you spend on selling these, the more leery becomes the prospect of the agency’s ability to actually deliver these expecteds.

As with all buying scenarios, the prospect examines the agency, constantly comparing notes with others on their team and evaluating you against your peers. (including the incumbent)

Thinking to themselves:

Ø It’s obvious they have smart people - listen to those great ideas.

Ø They obviously know something about my business – how could they come up with such smart ideas if they didn’t.

Ø Wonder if they have sufficient production capabilities to deliver these ideas to all our franchises nationwide?

Question:

“Do you folks have a national capability in terms of a field force to deliver these ideas to our 6 regions?”

And so the dance continues!

But you have them on the “solutions hook”

If you want parity, follow function and form. Everyone and their Uncle’s in love with this approach.

It’s easy. You slap together a standard power-point, agency reel and CD, throwing up all your great credentials in the hope that something you say will sufficiently impress the client into either hiring you or getting you ahead to the assignment stage.

It takes almost no preparation since it’s an off-the-shelf canned approach that allows the agency to volume pitch, with the occasional “formulaic tweak” to give the appearance of a customized response to the RFP or RFI or pitch.

A prospective client need only see three of these to immediately recognize that, closing his eyes and listening carefully, all agencies are basically saying the same thing, just the names, dates and places are different.

The real answers

Be radically Innovative. Do not follow convention. It is a loser’s game.

With an average closure rate in the agency business hovering between 20% – 30%, it’s no wonder many consider their involvement in new business as a “necessary evil”.

Contrary to popular belief, winning can be one of the greatest highs of all times, a feeling that does not need to be experienced only one out of every 5 times.

Do what any salesman and saleswoman will tell you.

First provide the bait – Solutions (Ideas). This gets them to dance.

Then worry about the functions – do we have it well structured, planned, casted right, politicized well, competitively appealing, etc. This is the strategic positioning.

Then worry about the form – is it well choreographed, visualized, timed etc. This is the product management.

Think 70 – 20 – 10

70% solving their issues
20% putting it all together – function
10% getting it packaged and ready for delivery – form

So if you are going to err in something err in reverse order.

Err first in form, then in function but never in Solutions (Ideas). This is why they come. This is why they stay. This is why they leave – when the agency runs out of them.

What about chemistry?

Of course chemistry plays a major part but you will be amazed at how many corporate clients have privately admitted that they really thought their agency counterparts were; “some of the most egotistical, arrogant, self-centered geniuses I have ever met. And thank God for that!”

The true answer to building great chemistry is to first give the client what they are expecting from the agency and then some. Great ideas that solve their marketing problems, beyond their expectations. This will make people love you.

Then worry about the schmoozing and boozing. That’s the icing on the cake.

Don’t make the mistake and think the icing is the cake – the innovative solutions are.

Clients find nothing more disturbing and wasteful of their time than a really nice fellow who has nothing between his ears.

Antoni Louw
C.E.O.
Louws Management Corporation Inc.

10 Secrets to Selling the Agency’s Credentials

An article by Antoni Louw – C.E.O. and Founder Louws Management Corporation Inc.

"How the heck do we sell our credentials without coming off as a bunch of bragards?"

Sound familiar?

Well, here are your answers.

1. How you say things tells the prospect who you’re thinking of.

Avoid using the first person phrases, “We think....” – or - “Our People....” credentials type statements. Instead replace with the second person “you” or “your” statements. This will ensure that you present the benefits of your credentials to the potential client instead of bragging about them.

2. A promise of "outcome" sells ideas.

Whenever presenting ideas, start the section with an “outcome” of what you believe the ideas will do for the potential client’s business.
Examples of this include:
- (for PR) showing a newspaper headline for a future date stating the outcome you intend to achieve for the potential client such as “XYZ company pulls ahead of the competition”.
- (for advertising) showing a retail store with their shelves devoid of the potential client’s products.
- (for promotions) showing a store filled with customers using the potential client’s products.

3. Leveraging the one truly unique asset of the agency – its people!

Start credentials presentations with an introduction of outstanding “accomplishments” by each of the members of the agency team, preferably of relevance to the potential client’s business.

4. Making your case studies “generically relevant™”:

Lead case credentials with an overall statement (40,000 ft) of what you accomplish for businesses.
Examples of this might include:
- re-ignite brands
- create buzz
- redefine a business
- re-generate interest
- re-capture business allure/position/place

5. Making your credentials saleable.

List credentials with what you do for a potential client’s business instead of what you have to offer.
Examples include:
- Creative Package Design versus Creative Department with 25 people.
A useful technique is to list these out in Chinese menu form so people can get a quick view of the benefits you have to offer since these are the things on which buyers are making their decision. You can still indicate the “tool” or “discipline” from whence these benefits are obtained as a sub- point.
An example of this might be:
- Changing buying behavior at retail (in-store promotions)

6. Advertising your key credentials during prospect tours.

A very useful tactic in new business is Scrim signage (3 – 12ft long and about 2 – 3’ wide) free hanging down from ceilings and flat down surfaces of walls.
Their use includes the promotion of agency:
- client logos
- mission and vision statements
- discipline benefits

7. Creatively bragging about the agency’s creative.

A fabulous tactical method of showing the agency’s pride in their work comes from a very creative agency – in the new products business. It’s the wearing of a “patch” sewn onto jackets or shirt sleeves.
Each time they completed an assignment - “mission” - for a client they would present each of the team members with this mission accomplished badge each of which showed what they had accomplished for the client. One example was a patch proudly promoting “soaring to new heights” with the client’s logo in the centre.
Clients all received this same badge.

8. Creatively bragging about the agency’s current work.

Another wonderful promotions tactic I have seen a highly creative agency use are “Flags” all over the agency, to show latest projects they are working on extending from walls, down from ceilings and off vertical poles. One could also include cases in this format versus the typical “white board” approach.

Another method is to put work in transparent plexi holders outside the key staff doors. This is also a wonderful way to boost morale.

How about the agency that uses an “Idea Wall” where all the latest concepts and big ideas are posted weekly for the world to see, including all staff, current clients and prospective clients while taking an agency tour.

9. Seeing is believing.

The “Agency Tour” is by far the best way for a prospective client to get a hands-on feel for what the agency is capable of. Stops along the way (well choreographed and practiced) allow the agency to speak to the interests of the prospect while showcasing both case work and ideas for the specific prospect. It also allows the prospect to meet as many of the people who would work on the business as possible without all of them unnecessarily crowding the final presentation room or location, leaving that up to the key team only.

10. Knowing the role of the New Business Director

The new business director, Chief Marketing Officer or Lead Solicitor of the agency should play the role of host and matchmaker. That is by far the most productive role for this person to play for two reasons.

1. It gives them a certain “autonomy” and thus prospects are more likely to confide in them both during and especially after initial visits with the agency. The advantage is obvious. The more the agency can learn about how they are being received, the better.
2. It allows the matchmaker to position themselves as the one to ensure the prospect will be served by the best team to their best advantage. This person is frequently the person who does the initial introductions to the team members who will work on the prospect’s business.

11. Bringing life to the agency’s credentials

The internet is both our best friend and our worst nightmare but when it comes to promoting the agency’s capabilities, its showcasing ability is unsurpassed.

* Create FTP sites.

* Create mood videos.

* Create presentations on line, show your research on line in creative and innovative ways.

* Develop flash presentations of the key agency POD’s (points of difference).

Clients love this. By necessity the agency has to quickly make its points and the clients revel in the fact that they do not have to listen to superfluous jargon and bloviation.

12. It’s not just about the final pitch

One of the hardest learned lessons is recognizing that the final pitch is about “validating” previous decisions by the prospect.

Inevitably, the prospect has made up their mind who the favorite is going into the finals. For the favorite, (and I know many do not like this saying, but that doesn’t alter the reality that), “It’s now theirs to win or lose”.

Competitive advantage is also managed and gained within hours of the final sale.

One of the most impressive examples of this was a presentation being given to the executive members of the “Milk Board”. Agency knew they were all flying in on a Southwest flight that morning so arranged with the airline to make an on-board public announcement that the men and woman responsible for bringing America the milk mustache were on board and introduced them. Didn’t end there. Upon disembarking, everyone was greeted with milk and cookies.

Now, who do you think that prospect was thinking about when they arrived at the agency? Why’s this important? Other than the obvious, it’s about gaining Competitive Advantage.

Other than showing their unique benefits, differentiations and ideas the goal of any great adversary in the sales game has, the single minded purpose of “making themselves the centre of the buyer’s attentions”.

The lesson. Sell as hard, if not harder, before the finals versus just during them. Like an exam, it’s what you do before you take it that controls the outcome.

The Five taboos of new business:

1) Bragging about agency accomplishments, clients or resources before you know what the prospect is looking for in an agency.
2) Addressing what the agency thinks the issues are and not what the client briefed the agency – thinking that obviously the client doesn’t really know what the problems are or are just plain wrong about their knowledge of their issues and situation.
3) Bashing current work, approach or systems thinking “why not, that’s obviously why they are looking for a new agency” – Remember, some key decision maker on the prospect’s side was responsible for approving these things you are now bashing publicly. Who’s the fool now? Be guaranteed it will be the agency’s hide and not that of the prospect.
4) Offering recommendations instead of options/alternatives/ideas on the client’s business before one has built a relationship and trust.
5) Assuming what the client tells you are the issues, are in fact the issues, especially if that same client is junior or middle management. Oftentimes, senior management does not tell others in the organization what their true requirements are. And in other situations - due to internal politics - you get only 50% of the story, stubbing your toe royally during the presentation of ideas.

This is not, by far, a complete list of do’s and don’ts however it’s a good starter list to kick start a new era of success for your agency.

www.louwsmanagement.com

toni@louwsmanagement.com

(520) 664-1881

Differentiating Your Agency with Intelligence

An article by Antoni Louw – C.E.O. and Founder Louws Management Corporation Inc.

This document addresses the age old question asked of by agencies world wide, “How do we differentiate ourselves from our competition?”

There are 4 areas in which to immediately focus the agency’s attentions and resources.

Decide which will be most appealing to your specific prospective buyer and then do your homework.

Here are the 4 areas to investigate:

1. DIRECT competitors’ products and services;
2. INDIRECT competitors’ products and services;
3. The Consumer;
4. The Media being used.

This is how you ensure your agency brings Value Added Ideas to a prospective client.

THE DIRECT COMPETITOR

If you are Dell, then it’s Gateway or Apple. If you are Target, then it’s Wal-Mart and K-Mart.

Don’t just find out what and how the prospect advertises and promotes, find out how they do things, make things, position things. Then find out the same for the direct competitors. You’re looking to answer this question:

“What competitive behavior or situation can we help the prospective client take advantage of?”

Example 1:

Before the advent of Starbucks, who owned 6:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. in a 24 hour period?

Answer: Folgers’s

Who owned 8:01 a.m. – 5:59 p.m.?

Answer: No One

Now Starbucks does.

Example 2:

In the early ‘80’s who owned the space between Ford, Chrysler & GM and the premium auto manufacturers - BMW, Mercedes, Jag?

Answer: No One

Then, along came Lexus and Infiniti “the affordable luxury” which in the crash of ’87 was a blessing for both, especially for Lexus who rolled out in ’89.

Even today, look at Kia, a fully-equipped low-end vehicle for $15,000. Who’s smiling all the way to the bank?

So look closely at the prospect’s direct competitive landscape. Find out where they could be leveraging themselves or how they can take advantage of another’s weakness or lack of distribution and the like.

Bring this to the table, along with ideas of how you might help the prospective client capitalize on these opportunities.

Is it possible to find a direct competitive opportunity for all companies? Unlikely, however, with companies being so close to their own business and limited by their own tunnel vision, you’d be surprised how many times what is obvious to you is downright amazing to them.

It is purported that McDonalds got into the burger business because Leo Burnett asked Ray Kroc (business man who made McDonalds an international phenomenon), “What business do you want to be in? – Do you want to sell hot dogs and own every baseball venue in America or do you want to sell hamburgers and own the backyard of every home in America?”

THE INDIRECT COMPETITOR

This is the least likely to be investigated when trying to learn a client’s business. However, this is one of the most fruitful areas to investigate for an agency looking to differentiate itself from competitors.

Example 1:

Scott’s Lawn Care is about making lawns look beautiful. The weather (indirect competitor) plays havoc on people’s decisions as to when to buy and apply the product.

Question: How do you help them with this dilemma?

Example 2:

iPod’s direct competitor is HP. However, you don’t see Apple’s iPod positioning itself against HP.

What does iPod focus on? Style, cool, white, scarce. Each of these is a tangential, intangible and hidden competitor that HP never looked in on.

They (HP) went on price and storage.

Yet who rules the portable music storage waves?

Example 3:

Possibly one of the most remarkable cases of addressing indirect competition came from the Spritzer category.

Wine was boring, beer fattening and blue collar, and hard liquor was just “out”.

The hidden competitor?

Social stigma – hello Spritzer.

Look at the Food Network – part of the recipe’s world. “Fragrant Rose Wine Spritzer – by Rachael Ray.”

Look for the unobvious, hidden, unfrequented or just plain “out there” competitor that would give your prospective client a possible competitive advantage.

Yes they might have tried some of these; however, their thinking may have been limited by their own exposure and experience and not seen from the advantage of an exterior point of view.

This may just be the catalyst needed for them to see these opportunities in a new and innovative light.

THE CONSUMER

As with most analysis of a prospective client’s customer, we’re after key insights (motivations) that if addressed would produce a positive response to our communication.

Focus groups, 1-1 interviews, mall intercepts certainly have a role, however, I’d not be wasting my money on them.

Think about it. As so eloquently pointed out by Rick Stone, partner at Lindsay, Stone & Briggs, their strategic and branding “guru”, “people say what they believe you want to hear.”

True all the time? Of course not. But experience has taught us that it happens often enough to be worth acting upon.

What happens when you have guests over? You clean up don’t you? Is that then really you or the “social you”?

We all know the routine of functional benefits, emotional benefits and social benefits. Frankly, this is a waste. There are two:

a. Real benefit
b. Social benefit

Function sometimes falls into one of the above.

Example 1:

The Wonderful iPod
- 6 megabytes of memory
- 1000+ songs
- 6 hours on 1 battery
- But who cares?

Maybe those who regard music as sacred as the sacraments.

But, for the average Joe and Jane, “that’s cool” but will it make me look like I’m “current”, “hip”, “part of the in crowd”.

Example 2:

McKinney, the agency who led Audi to a dramatic rebound through the 90’s and onwards, has a remarkable planner.

In his quest for finding the “real” motivation behind the purchase of premium vehicles, instead of using focus groups, he commissioned friends from around the nation to take pictures of “vanity plates” on Mercedes, Jags, BMWs, Audis, and the like.

Eureka - albeit that the words were different, it was very clear that BMW was about “performance, speed and edge”, Mercedes was about “status, societal judgment and privilege”, whereas Audi was about “individuality, exploration and independence”.

Now think of a focus group of Mercedes owners being asked “what adjectives come to mind when you think of owning a Mercedes?”

“Privilege? Better than You? – I doubt it!

Instead, German engineering!

And there have they thrown their hat. Just look at the new Daimler Chrysler 300C – 347 hp, well equipped, optional GPS and a slew of other amenities. Holds the road like a Formula One. Status? Unlikely, not against the likes of Porsche, BMW 7 Series, Rolls Royce. This is a $39,000 list price automobile. Since when is status so cheap? Yet, the salesman will keep telling you; “Lots of Mercedes inside”.

Price it at $60,000, say the same thing, and you may get converts.

So look for the “real” motivations, not the “cleaned up” versions and you’ll have the key to stimulating consumer action.

THE MEDIA USED

One of the most telling things about a competitor’s advertising is the media they choose to communicate their sales messages.

And again, look for “what are they - the competition - missing?”

An example of this comes from a Media Director, David X (you’ll know who you are) who has spent years with big shops like DDB, working on accounts like Busch and having to sell to the irascible August Busch himself.

Recently his agency pitched a blind manufacturer. Their largest competitor, Hunter Douglas, owns 80%+ of the market. TV, the principal medium used by the competing agency, was flat out not working. Why?

The key target (woman 25-55) only watched TV between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. prime time. (that’s what the other agency bought) and 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. early morning (also bought).

However, no one on the competing agency dug into the real “Mary” (coined name for her) and recognized that she was watching very specific early morning and prime time programs, based on one motivation – “staying current”.

Therefore, it wasn’t the early news, it was Katie in the morning. It wasn’t E.R., it was Oxygen.

Hand in hand with the media goes fully understanding the mind and heart of the consumer one is reaching, so consumer insights and media are inextricably linked.

Look at placing a client where others won’t. – billboards for Target outside of Wal-Mart; BET (instead of Vogue), TV Land instead of USA, Tech TV instead of Discovery Channel.

Look at the CPLs (cost per lead). In the case of TV Land the CPL is 30. Home & Garden is 100. This is what marketers want. Reduced CPL while ensuring efficiency and you have it made. (at least for the first quarter)

FINAL COMMENTARY

The new model is not how much you can spend, it’s how strategically you spend it.

The big boys are starting to realize this and are challenging their agencies to raise the “strategic” bar.

An agency’s real opportunity lies in thinking like the client, living a client’s life and demonstrating a keen understanding of what plagues and stimulates clients.

And possibly the best truism in the business of marketing is “you’re only as good as your last performance”. If the incumbent fails to live this lesson, why opportunity knocks for all who bother to do so.

A true competitive advantage can be achieved by any agency taking a close look at how “contemporary” the incumbents’ thinking is in terms of the direct and indirect competition, the consumer, and their media choices.

And knowing a companies “real” customers’ motivations will allow you to literally rip apart a competitor’s media plan – unless of course, they’ve also read this. Then, it’s two Olympians going head to head and may the best win.

http://www.louwsmanagement.com

toni@louwsmanagement.com

(520) 664-1881

Presenting in the 21st Century

An article by Antoni Louw – C.E.O.and Founder
Louws Management Corporation Inc.

Presentation Skills training. Oh, how this conjures up being trained in “eye contact”, “voice modulation”, and "gestures" – great phone and PDF file presentation applications are they not?

Or worse yet, remember being informed you were going to “charm school”, the product of the 70’s and 80’s presentation training out of New York? I am ashamed to admit I was part of the group - fortunately not for long - that was awarded this dubious accolade.

And how about the trainer who sits in the back of the classroom and counts the number of “ums” inexplicably escaping your jaws. Yes, and this as late as 2005. Can you believe it?

How agencies sell to clients is now so dramatically different to as recently as 5 years ago.

Power Point has been replaced by PDF files. In person is replaced by teleconference. Boards replaced by streaming video and e-mail attachments.

So where does that leave the individual presenter and their persuasive skills in presenting agency recommendations and getting them sold in?

It’s what happened to mechanics with the advent of fuel injection. Carburetor training became antiquated. Those who survived went back to school.

And so do those who’ve been trained “the old way” in presentation skills. Reschooling, reteaching and repracticing with contemporary tools have become paramount to survival.

In the past 10 years, the average age profile of the thousands of students Louws has trained has dramatically changed:

40+ in 1985,
30+ in 1995,
20+ in 2000, and
30+ in 2003 onwards.

We are finally seeing the advent of the re-training of those initially trained back in the '90s.

In 1998 Louws started the arduous but vitally necessary task of completely overhauling its approach to presentation skills training.

By 2003, it had a prototype well on its way to completion.

It’s now 2005 and it’s finally done.

A “Stellar Meeting Presentation Performance™” training program that is customized to meet the demands of today’s presentations, today’s businesses, selling in today’s environments, in today’s formats and styles.

Following is an introduction to each of the critical elements taught, drilled and coached to practical on-the-job application.

Persuasive Communication Skills:

Fortunately, communication is still communication. Its delivery systems are the only real changes.

Louws addresses how to efficiently and clearly deliver a communication that is both understood and bought by the intended audience.

Lessons are taken from the theatre, the humanities, contemporary communication modeling, salesmanship, formats and styles of today’s most watched and highest rated shows and today’s “time starved” audiences.

Persuasive Organization Skills:

This component has had dramatic changes made to it.

The premise:

¨ tell ‘em whatcha gonna tell ‘em,
¨ tell ‘em, and
¨ tell ‘em whatcha jus’ t’ol ‘em”

and the eternal agenda are no longer workable formulas.

The Issues:

Audiences have no time to listen to anything other than the immediate answers to the questions they had walking into the meeting presentation.
Groups in organizations listen to information differently (as do individuals within those groups); and
if you can’t persuade, but only inform (the tell ‘em format) your contemporary audience quickly gets a case of the “I’ve no time for this drivel” syndrome.

For any of you reading this, you know today that you must poignantly and efficiently prove your point or go home.

The Solutions:

Learn how people listen and evaluate data;
Learn how to structure an argument (not to mean being argumentative) in such a fashion that it becomes “obvious” that the presenter’s P.O.V. and recommendations are well evidenced and stand up to scrutiny.

To wit: the advent of the legal profession’s “Winning a Case” approach to organizing presentations has now been introduced for broad publication and use.

Always knew those lawyers were good for something. After all, who’s more skilled at taking a group of people and convincing them that someone other than their client did the dastardly deed.

Presentation Aids:

For this, we started from scratch and discovered that going back as far as rolled cellophane overheads and slide projectors, the same mistakes were as relevant then as they are today. Albeit the mediums have made dramatic advances, messages are still messages.

Hollywood, Disney and Broadcast became our new teachers. After all, it’s what they do better than any “pundit” of the famous Power Point™.

Reinvented, restructured and repurposed, this training now addresses two major components.

The real purpose and use of aids in selling one’s point.
Where and how are they more powerful than the speaker?
When does the speaker really need them?
When does the speaker do a better job than an aid would?
How do you integrate a variety of aids in a seamless and powerful rendition of your points?
How to think outside the traditional confines of Power Point™, boards and video.

A simple illustration of this is Power Point™ where really the “point” is the power, not Power Point™.

Tools for selling digitally, remotely, telephonically, telepathically (only kidding) are explored with specific and tactical tools provided for next day use.

And yes, we do teach how to better use Power Point™, but not only in person, remotely, by CD or even conjointly through the web.

Handling Objections and Tough Questions:

Fortunately, we’ve previously had much of this subject well researched, explored and conquered.

However, today “consensus” is what drives decision and action, unlike the McCarthy era of orders and commands.

We also have the issue of manners. Yes manners!

Remember when an audience stoically waited for you to finish speaking and then kindly requested permission to ask gentle yet pointed questions?

If you don’t, then you’re under 40.

Therefore we have liberated “negotiating skills” and “group moderation/facilitation skills” from the confines of their individual and compartmented training programs and liberally sprinkled their tenets, principles, and techniques into the skills necessary to handling difficult people, objections and questions.

The new format – Presentation Meetings™:

The final adjustments to the training were made based on a collection of over two decades of observations on both the agency(marketing - sales) and client (manufacturing - delivery) sides of the business.

Formal, group, stand-up and staged presentations have dramatically given way to informal, sit down, unstaged group meetings.

However, the classic business purpose of both has remained the same. Inform for the purposes of persuasion to a P.O.V. or action.

Again, function remains, form has changed.

On the other hand they are quicker, livelier, less structured and most importantly, more critical in terms of what they must accomplish today.

Unfortunately, without the necessary skills, those used to a more controlled presentation environment are now faced with constant interruptions, cell calls, blackberry emails, and wireless memo writing in a tense, unstructured, busy and often loud and cramped environment.

Unequipped with the necessary meeting management skills, persuasive abilities and required “presence” enhancement, the uninitiated remain flummoxed and can’t wait to get back to their own computer terminals and, “in quiet and seclusion” restate their case through e-mail and the obligatory PDF and Jpeg file attachments.

The Solution:

Manage this chaos by:

1. Managing the message. Poignancy versus blah! blah! – trying to make the audience submit through the sheer volume of content we can shower on them.
2. Managing priorities of message. Building one’s case is only as practical as one has the audience’s attention while doing so – therefore seek to reprioritize “critical content” in order to maintain group attention and interest.
3. Managing inattentiveness. Speaking louder has been a favorite fall back technique. Nothing could be further from practical in today’s meeting room. Instead, manage a) beneficial relevance of content and b) how interesting you are making your delivery.

The art of content and presence management are critical success factors in both remote and live meeting and presentations.

Epilogue:

So, no, presentation skills training is no longer making sure you don’t jiggle change in your pocket or mercilessly stare at your audience.

Today, presenting is the subtle, highly technical and persuasive skill of working through live and remote electronic mediums and a cacophony of interruptions to ensure your message, as intended, is heard, understood, consensually agreed to and signed off on.

These are the new presentation skills, for a new decade of business men and women who have little to no patience for the skill sets of the antiquated.

Louws has been there, has left there and emerged as the leader in today’s new era of live and remote Meeting Presentations.™

www.louwsmanagement.com
toni@louwsmanagement.com
(520) 664-1881

Toni doing what he loves most - fresh air, mountains, 5 foot off the ground.