You've probably seen the commercial. There's a woman giving a long-distance presentation to a group of decision makers disguised as animals in another part of the country, They are not a friendly bunch. You've got a hissing snake, an unfriendly owl, a large reptile with enormous teeth gnawing on a conference table. It's enough to make a salesperson scream. Realizing she is fighting a losing battle, she hops on a United Airlines flight, arrives to present her ideas in living color, and saves the day!

Could she have saved a few days and her company several thousand dollars by presenting more effectively over the phone? Since the commercial is one for United, of course not. But what about in real life?

 

If you are giving presentations over the phone , here are the top 7 tips and hints for success. Try them and see what happens:

 

1. Prepare for your call. Know who's going to be in the call (names, titles, positions, and anything else you can glean in advance) you haven't met the players before. If you can have a sense of the participants personality styles, all the better to help you plan your content, visuals, handout materials, etc.

 

2. Since reading your customers is far more difficult over the phone or via a web cast, you'll need to verify  more frequently. Here's a rule of thumb. After you speak a paragraph or less, ask a check in question. Good questions to ask are: "What do you think of this feature?" "On a scale of 1-10, how important is this to your organization?" or "Now that you have seen how our key component works, what questions do you have about this new design?" Avoid waiting until your presentation is over to check in with your customers. They need to stay engaged and alert. Also, you'll find out whether to move on or to  elaborate.

 

3. Send an agenda with bullet points out in advance. You may not want to get too detailed, since the call will most probably dictate where you're going, but a plan shared with participants in advance is a great way to make sure everyone there knows why they're attending in the first place!

 

4. Use lots of vocal variety. Smile and stand up to make your voice more engaging, to sound clearer, and to keep your customers alert and listening. Laugh, too. Light humor (beware of "jokes"), is a great way to keep your customer's interest while on the phone.

 

5. Make your presentation as visual as possible. Walk your customers through your website, send them handout packets via email or snail mail in advance of the call (if using snail mail, print the packets out in color and lots of it!) Leave plenty of white space so the customers can take notes right onto your materials so they have everything all in one place.

 

6. Avoid interrupting. If you are facilitating this call, it's difficult sometimes to stay quiet. However, if you are presenting your product/service and the customers are discussing ways of using your service, training for your product, and more, let them talk! It may be the only opportunity they'll have to discuss the decision before it's officially signed off on.

 

7. Make sure there is a clear follow-up plan. Before you close, negotiate the next steps, who is doing what and when. It's up to you to manage this before the call is over. After all, it's your sale!