The One Mistake That Can Derail Your Presentation The Moment It Starts

Most presentations born in a corporate setting, especially in sales, have a very similar structure. I’ve spoken before about starting your presentation off strong, and even how you can put a new spin on the traditional agenda slide. But recently I noticed a problem that seems to arise in all presentations and I’m not sure presenters realize it is a problem or exactly why. However, the consequences of this error can derail your presentation the moment it starts.

The mistake: Talking about yourself.

Let me spare you the suspense – While your audience, presumably a prospective client, is there to listen to you, they’re not acting as your audience because they want to hear about you. No, they don’t really care about you. All they care about is themselves and how they’re going to solve their problems, reach their goals, or whatever they hope to achieve. And they’re listening to you because they hope you may be able to solve those problems, fulfill their needs, and help them reach their goals.

For argument’s sake, let’s say that when most audiences sit down to listen to your presentation, their interest on a scale of 1-10 is somewhere in the middle at a 5. They aren’t completely thrilled, but they’re not bored (yet). When you start your presentation, you have a number of options. However, one of those options isn’t to talk about yourself. Since we’ve established that your audience doesn’t really care about your company, your awards, or how you’re an industry leading, scalable, on-demand widget maker, starting your presentation with such content will drop your audience’s interest level to a 2.

Instead, if you’re trying to compel an audience to purchase, put yourself in their shoes and lead the presentation by addressing them. What are their issues? What do they care about? How are you going to solve their problems and make their lives better? Show them that you understand what keeps them up at night, understand the competitive landscape, and understand exactly what you can do to help. This will immediately excite them, raising their interest level instead of dropping it.

You can achieve all this through a variety of delivery mechanisms, but the goal remains the same: Start the presentation by piquing their interest, not by trying to serve your own interests.

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