How to use PowerPoint to win new business pitches
Posted by Olivia Chute in Marketing & PR, Technology on Fri, 17/06/2011 - 10:00
- Overview of presentation skills and how PowerPoint can enhance them
- How to build your slides to create the greatest impact
- Tips for preparing your presentation to increase confidence levels
Olivia Chute offers some tips and tricks to get the most out of PowerPoint as a tool for new business presentations.
PowerPoint is a very popular and useful means to an end. It's an excellent tool when used to present a marketing or financial plan or a new business proposal. The key is to use it in a manner that will attract interest, create desire and pave the way for an action to be taken; hopefully in this case a contract for work.
We have all heard about the AIDA acronym. Let’s look at it in detail and see how it can be applied to a real life example, and how PowerPoint can be used to enhance the true purpose of your presentation and increase your chances of winning new business.
Say your company is pitching for new business. The good news is that you should know in advance who your audience is and usually how much time you are allowed for your slot. These two factors alone are a great start for gauging the level of content of your slides and how concise you need to be.
Presenting in itself is a skill that can be learnt. My tip is that confidence is key. This will come from being genuinely passionate about what you are saying and being well prepared. Allways do a practice run to a group of colleagues, friends or even family. This will help you cut out any unnecessary detail. One tried and tested tip is to have key colleagues from your company delivering relevant slides of the presentation for their area of expertise; this is known to provide greater credibility.
Attract
First Impressions:
Intro slide: Put the names of the people you are presenting to, your name(s) with your logo and the logo of the prospect client on it. Then move onto a good first slide – this should summarise the main points.
Building the content to get your audience motivated to listen to you:
Think about raising and answering a series of questions with your presentation using bullet points. This is where PowerPoint comes into its own as there simply isn't enough room for wordy slides. Each main idea should have a separate slide and some small sub bullets. You can always use the 'notes' option of the slides to add more detail should this be required. Basically you will need to cover..
- What the requirements are. If you have a brief you may want to refer to the client’s requested format
- How can you show that you understand the requirements with your proposed solution
- What supporting evidence can you show that you are the right people at the right cost (credentials, scaleability, experience, references etc)
- If you can't handle questions as you go along, invite your audience to ask questions at the end of the presentation
Visual appeal
Go for a clean simple design and use a colour scheme that enhances your logo for consistency and recognition. Ensure that both your own company and the prospect's logos appear in the footers of the Masterslide template. You could also work with the prospect's colours too if you wish.
If you don't have specific marketing colours or a brand already, don't play around with any of the colour options available on PowerPoint that are difficult to read, i.e. white on coloured background can be hard to read, and don't use text that is too large, too small or in capitals. All of this could distract from the message that you are trying to deliver.
Break up your text slides with images and vary how they appear but don't overdo it. Too many different fonts can be distracting, as can special effects with sound. A photograph can be worth a thousand words, a graph may illustrate many words in a more concise manner and even a cartoon may add an element of humour but may not be appropriate in situations.
Do a spell check and always have someone read the content of your presentation. Typos are a no no, and text boxes should not fall off the page or look messy. Go for simplicity, coherence and balance. You can always use the slide sorter to move, amend and delete slides for greater impact later.
Interest
- Keep your presentation to the point using bullets. Sell the idea and get buy in from your audience. Pre-empt any perceived barriers by providing strong evidence and case studies so that any questions that are raised will be merely about details as opposed to misunderstandings about key issues or service elements that you will have to explain again.
- As you go though the solution, at intervals, you will want to refer back to what your audience may be thinking, and reflect back to them what their needs are. Allow time for this.
- Smile and talk slowly so that your audience can listen and think about what you are saying as opposed to just reading the slides and getting distracted. Good presenters will go on to use less and less slides
- If you don't know the answer to any question that is raised, be honest and say so, but ensure that you get back to that person with the information at a later date
Desire
- One school of thought is that often a decision will have already been made before you even walk through the door. However,
- Your aim should always be to prove your professional credibility, illustrate the relevance, stability and scalability of your products and services for the prospect and to create the belief that ultimately he or she can do business with you. Remember this is about having to place trust in you. A good presentation can turn a decision around
- Finally, summarise. Reflect back your solution as being the answer to their needs.
Act
- Thank your audience for their time and leave them with handouts. If you say you will email the presentation, make sure you do
- Ensure that all your details are on the handouts so that you can be easily reached. Be available for any other questions that they may have
- Ask what the next actions are
- Finally, first and last impressions count so leave professionally and with a firm handshake, positive body language and a smile.
As long as you have good material and a passion for your subject, PowerPoint will complement and enhance your presentation and enable you to communicate effectively to your audience. Good luck!
Olivia Chute is operations manager at Chaz Brooks Communications.
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