What will the audience want to know?

Becky Blanton, in Six Minutes says so many right things about presentations,and about sales, I am not sure where to begin. So I will begin where she began when preparing for her talk. It is the question every presenter and salesperson should ask themselves:

If I were in the audience, what would I want to know about me?

This is the classic "Ben Duffy" technique.

Put yourself in the customer's shoes and anticipate their questions, concerns and wondering. Then prepare answers to those questions, and present back to your audience with the phrase "I am sure you are wondering... how I can help you if I am new to your business...."

If you do this in a sales call, wait for them to confirm that, yes indeed, they were wondering about that. Then give them your answer.

For both sales calls and presentations, my advice is to do this only when you are reasonably sure that the question or concern exists. You do not want to create concerns that did not exist before you spoke!

If you are new to the customer or audience, do this by speaking to someone who knows them before your meeting or talk. Identify an influential member of your audience and interview them to discover their concerns. Do your preparation.

Read Becky's blog - she is right on about how she started and so much more.