June 2015

Tips for Using Incentives to Sweeten Your Sales Pitch

Posted on June 11, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Incentives are one way to sweeten the deal when you give your pitch.

Clients are always looking for the best benefits whenever they invest in potential business partners. According to marketing professors George and Michael Belch, offering them something extra gives them a reason to buy into your proposal.

Offering incentives is a special type of marketing tactic used in sales promotions. Often used to add value to the product or service that you want to sell, these help speed up your clients’ purchase decision.

At the same time, make sure to differentiate between features and benefits. Features are facts about the product being promoted while benefits are the results that consumers get in return.

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Here are four sales pitch ideas on how to include incentives in your proposals and to maximize your offers:

Keep It Specific

Discounts and rewards for purchases made within a set of time are some examples that allow companies to target different kinds of people.

In the same way, presenters need information about their clients’ expectations before they can offer the right kind of sales incentive.

For example, will your client be purchasing your products by bulk? Offer them a discount to save up on their expenses.

Is your client looking for a long-term partnership for supplying electronic parts? Offer them a discounted rate or free maintenance.

Knowing what your client needs is the first step to finding the right mix of sales incentives.

Brand Loyalty

Sales promotions are used to give occasional incentives that keep customers loyal.

Clients can sometimes invest in other presenter’s ideas if they see that the offers are equal.

To outsell your competition, offer your clients something others cannot.

This tactic is effective especially for clients that you’ve worked with before.

If there are special loyalty incentives that you can offer in your sales pitch, use them.

Encourage Them to Try Something New

Trial incentives are a good way to encourage investments from clients.

This works well especially if you have a new offer to present.

Even something as simple as a money-back guarantee goes a long way to establishing your credibility to your clients.

Whether you’re pitching a new product to loyal clients, or a startup company with a new product, offering them an incentive to try out your new offers are a good way to generate an interest.

Measure the Results

One benefit of using incentives is that they’re easily measured.

Try keeping a database to measure how effective your offers are for you to stay accountable to your clients.

This should contain a list of clients that accepted your incentives.

As you build this up, use this info as proof to other clients that your offerings are better than the competition’s.

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As effective as incentives are, they’re only used to sweeten the deal. Clearly state the benefits that your basic offer has to give.

No amount of extra offers makes an unsatisfactory pitch worthy of investment.

To get more out of what your presentation has to offer, get in touch with a professional pitch deck partner for free! All it takes is 15 minutes to get a better pitch deck presentation.

All it takes is 15 minutes to get a better pitch deck presentation.

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References

“Ad Agency Tricks: Outsell Competitors in Sales Pitches.” pitchdeck.com, 2015. Accessed June 11, 2015.
Belch, G. & Belch, M. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. (6th ed). Singapore: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2003.
“Marketing Features Vs. Benefits.” Entrepreneur. Accessed July 9, 2018.

3 Pros of Professional Pitch Deck Design for Medical Fields

Posted on June 10, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Most aspiring professionals choose the medical field because they want to save lives. As with other disciplines, this requires constant improvement to keep up with the constantly evolving scientific challenges. Novel breakthroughs in biotechnology and healthcare continue to increase life expectancy and quality of living for everyone.

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However, all this research requires ample investment, timely upgrades, and modest adoption rates. Here’s why professional pitch deck designs can help you achieve your goals in the medical field:

They break down important information.

A professional and well-planned pitch deck condenses information for easier digestion and dependable action on the audience’s end. When you have the ultimate goal of improving lives, then it’s even more important to make every communication opportunity count.

It also allows for a more focused and convincing discussion, which accentuates a well-researched, decisive, coordinated, and persuasive pitch that relates your message in a concise manner.

Visuals explain data better.

It’s important to demonstrate trends and improvements when trying to sell new technology. Establishing its superiority over existing ways increases chances for investment or upgrades, whichever you’re aiming for.

Unfortunately, data wholly represented by numbers —or worse, spreadsheets—can make slides unconvincing and unattractive. Pictures appeal to their emotional needs better, while also providing an easy to follow narrative to explain the main message. This is why the concept of data visualization or the data display through engaging diagrams and images is so catchy.

Templates are readily available.

PowerPoint has been a standard for designing pitch decks with its wide-ranging available templates that can be used for diverse medical fields. You can effectively tackle a variety of specializations such as cardiology, radiology, neurology, or oncology, as long as you have the right template.

There are even available slides which allow easy graph or diagram inclusion, saving you time when you need a deck ASAP.

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When selling or proposing industry-changing improvements, professional pitch deck design condenses complicated information into terms that even laypeople can easily understand. The more easily you can communicate your idea to somebody else, the more likely they’ll accept and implement it into their workflow. It’s hard for most people to digest complicated facts or numbers. Using strong visuals will not only make the information easier to understand, but it’ll also help them retain the information more effectively.

Since medical professionals rarely have time to spare to design a pitch deck, having templates done by presentation experts saves time and money which can be directed towards more important healthcare efforts. If you need help revising your deck so that it’ll convince more of the people you want to assist, contact our experts for a free quote. You, your colleagues, and your patients will be thankful you did.

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References

“3 Secrets to Make Numbers Interesting in Sales Pitches.” pitchdeck.com, 2015. Accessed June 10, 2015.
Few, Stephen. “35. Data Visualization for Human Perception.” Interaction-design. Accessed June 10, 2015.

3 Acting Tips for More Persuasive Business Pitches

Posted on June 9, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Movie and theater actors can instantly influence and move viewers however they want. They excel at transfixing audiences, making people value their presence enough to attentively watch their words and actions.

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According to speech coach Gary Genard, speakers can also use these crucial acting skills to inject persuasion into their pitches.

Here’s our own spin on how acting techniques can leave a great impact on the crowd:

Own the Stage

Deliver your business pitch the way actors give their all, resulting in shining moments. Solid commitment to your pitch leaves your audience with something important to remember.

Owning the stage means taking full responsibility for whatever happens during your discussion.

Besides sharing relevant stories and citing related quotations or important facts, your listeners are more likely to believe you if they recognize your credibility on the topic and your composure in handling difficult situations, unexpected or not.

Use Your Emotions

Actors have the eloquent skill of playing with their own emotions. They can laugh at one point and cry at another.

In pitches, you also need to express your genuine feelings to best connect with your listeners. At the same time, choose the appropriate tone for every occasion.

If your business speech tackles a major breakthrough in the industry, you have to sound involved, proud, and enthusiastic. If you’re trying to emphasize a hurdle that needs an immediate remedy, speak in a serious tone that will call the audience to action.

Control Vocal Power

Controlling your vocal power is an effective way to emphasize a point.

This is another acting skill that stage artists use to make scenes realistic and convincing.

Your business pitch doesn’t sell solely because of its content. Your pitch delivery also plays a big part in your success. How you convey your main idea and key points through your

How you convey your main idea and key points through your voice and choice of words creates a rhythm that carries the meaning to your audience.

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Consider acting as a core skill to deliver dynamic and persuasive business pitches. Show your audience that you’re an expert on the topic to make them believe everything you have to say.

Express the appropriate emotions according to your statement’s aim and content. Control your voice to match the kind of drama you want to inject into your pitch.

Incorporate these tips to engage and entertain your audience the way actors do, and you’ll turn your audience into loyal fans, effectively converting your leads into more sales.

Got a pitch deck requirement you need to work on? pitchdeck.com will be pleased to help you. Email us at sales@pitchdeck.com and we’ll contact you ASAP.

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References

“An Actor’s Secrets for Great Business Presentations.” The Genard Method. Accessed June 9, 2015.

4 Sales Pitch Ideas from Radio Advertisement Writers

Posted on June 9, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

According to ad veteran, Luke Sullivan, presenters and radio ad writers come up with ways to get customers to listen and buy what they advertise.

While presenters have the advantage of more time (ten to twenty minutes of presentation time vs. a thirty-second radio ad) and a pitch deck to provide visuals, the majority of the pitch depends on how the presenter talks.

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Voice tones, hand gestures, and even body language contribute to how effectively you deliver your sales pitch.

Brand communications expert, Carmine Gallo, suggests that you can either give a listless pitch deck with notecards, or you can study your product long enough to come up with an interesting idea that sells itself.

Because radio ad writers and presenters share a common problem, there are solutions that are applicable to both parties:

Use words to paint images.

Telling a story is one effective way to make a compelling pitch, but using words to describe a picture can effectively engage your audience, letting them visualize what you have in mind.

Your sales pitch deck is there to provide a visual image for your audience when you give your speech.

This becomes even more effective when the deck applies the right design methods to enhance your core message.

Use speech ideas you can describe in a sentence.

Simplifying your topic gives your clients a clearer picture of what you have to offer.

The same thing applies when you craft your pitch deck speech. The first question you need to ask is: “What is my pitch all about?”

Once you answer this, start writing your script and practice it.

Whether you want to present a car that gets you to where you want to go, or an impressive quarterly sales result for your brand, boil down your topic into one simple idea.

You’ll have more freedom to write your script.

Use the right tone for your pitch.

While using a conversational tone works for most professional pitches, there are times where you need to bring your passion into your pitch, particularly when building hype for a new product or celebrating a new sales record and making new recommendations.

The key is to know your client’s expectations.

Once you do, stay relevant to those expectations in order to connect with your clients.

You may want to use humor in your speech, but that won’t work if the client expects you to be serious and professional.

You can be funny, but you need to be interesting.

While some presenters like to poke fun during their pitches, remember to be professional and take your clients seriously so you can sell.

If the situation calls for you to poke fun at your product, then it’s fine. Sullivan reiterates that every presenter needs to be “interesting.”

Being interesting means having an idea.

Fortunately, as renowned author Jim Aitchison suggests, every product has a story to tell.

Maybe it has something that no other competitor has, the way it was made puts it above others, or maybe it has benefits that no other product has.

Whatever your speech idea, always go back to what you want to talk about. Chances are, there’s an interesting story to tell your clients.

That story might be your ticket to selling your pitch.

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As with every story, getting someone to look it over gives you room for improvement, increasing your chances of selling.

Just as radio ad writers need editors, every presenter needs the help of a professional pitch deck specialist to give them that selling advantage.

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References

Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore ; New York: Prentice Hall.
Gallo, C. (2010). The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York: McGraw-Hill.
“Sales Presentation Skills: Stay Relevant to Pitch Ideas.” pitchdeck.com, May 11, 2015. Accessed June 9, 2015.
Sullivan, L. (2008). Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons.

Featured Image: “Radio ZRK Eroica cropped background” by Tomek Goździewicz on Wikimedia Commons

You’re Doing It Wrong: PowerPoint Rules You Should Be Following

Posted on June 8, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

For years now, people have been relying on PowerPoint to communicate ideas, sell products, facilitate meetings, and conferences. Many presenters, however, still fall short and end up with lousy, poorly designed slides that do nothing but torture their audience. Thankfully, there are experts in the field who have set the rules or standards for others to follow.

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After a quick search, we found two sets of the most popular PowerPoint rules that many people subscribe to. Both may not be all-encompassing but they are excellent guidelines, nonetheless.

Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Guy Kawasaki is a venture capitalist, among other things. If we’re going to talk about quality and importance of simplicity in pitch deck design, he’s the go-to, well, Guy. He practically listens to hundreds of pitches all the time, making him knowledgeable of what works and doesn’t. For him, a pitch deck presentation should:

Feature 10 slides or less
Last no more than 20 minutes
Contain font not smaller than 30pt

This rule is applicable to pitches and office meetings. And because most people cannot absorb more than 10 concepts in a single meeting, it is best that you limit your pitch deck to 10 slides. The 20-minute duration should give you enough time to host a Q and A discussion afterwards. A 30-point typeface will make information on a slide large enough to be readable without making it look too crowded.

Seth Godin’s Five Rules for Creating Amazing Pitch Decks

Seth Godin is a man of many interests and as a public speaker, he’s no stranger to PowerPoint presentations. He even wrote an e-book about it.

If you want to create an amazing pitch deck, here are the points we have taken from the book:

Use no more than six words on every slide (If you include too much text, the audience will simply read the slides ahead of you).
Do not use cheesy images and look for professional stock photos instead.
Avoid fancy transitions such as dissolves, spins, etc, as these can be distracting, making you seem less professional.
Use sound effects, but not the built-in types. You may want to rip from CDs or use the “Proust effect.”
Do not provide print collateral at the start of the meeting. You want your audience to focus on the presentation, not read ahead of you.

Great pitch decks can trigger the right emotions, inspire change, and move people. These two sets of rules can raise the level of your next pitch from boring to life-changing. You don’t need to choose between the two, though. Applying both of them is sure to produce excellent results. But whatever you do, here’s another rule for you to remember. This one’s from presentation expert Nancy Duarte:

Never deliver a presentation you would not want to sit through.

Now, if there’s One Pitch Deck Rule to rule them all, that would be it.

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5 Sales Pitch Tricks from Advertising Agency Gurus

Posted on June 5, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Advertising agencies and presenters both sell products and services using effective messages, be it in the conference room, a lecture hall, a television, or a webinar.

The problem is that the regular customer or client is subjected to several messages from different companies, each trying to get their products ahead of the competition.

You have to go beyond offering what your competition can’t, because almost all competing companies employ the same strategy.

The Challenge

People construct several standards before making purchase-related decisions. This is what renowned author, Jim Aitchison, calls a personal cage.

A personal cage is composed of all the experiences, knowledge, morals, and ethics we gain as we grow.

These standards affect how we see and interpret every message we encounter, especially advertisements and sales pitches.

Building your personal cage happens throughout your whole life.

If the bars of the cage act as filters, find relevant messages that pass through these and sell your sales pitch ideas.

The Five Tricks

The Signpost

Signpost messages signify changes in certain kinds of behavior.

As Aitchison cites in his book, Cutting Edge Advertising, the Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola story is a classic marketing example.

When Michael Jackson became Pepsi’s new icon, they positioned themselves as the drink of the next generation. This led to many Coke drinkers permitting themselves to change those standards.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone’s third quarter market share in 2008, he signified that times were changing for the US smartphone market.

Within the first 90 days of its shipment, he showed the iPhone as a potential investment for customers and business partners alike.

A Newsflash

Introducing a new product or service in an ad pitch is challenging for any startup company, especially product launch advertisements.

Position your message as a piece of news, like how Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007.

First, he built interest by announcing that Apple reinvented a new product type.

Then, he briefly explained the current competition’s weaknesses: fixed keypads and limited functions.

It was only after all this that he introduced what made the iPhone different and showed the actual product with its full touchscreen capabilities.

This generates strong interest in your offer and highlights what makes you different and more appealing from other brands.

A Message of Support

People always look for something to rationalize an emotional need.

Will people buy an expensive sports car to enhance their personal image?

Will a company invest in a health insurance program to let employees feel that their well-being matters?

Make clients feel that they’re understood. This matches their behavior (in this case, investing in your proposal) with their desires and attitudes.

An Existing Standard of the Client

Since your message is consistent with what your audience already believes in, they’re more likely to respond if you give something that reinforces their beliefs.

Citing CreditUnion’s correspondence with Kraft CEO, Robert K. Deromedi, Demand Media’s Vanessa Cross discusses the mechanics of values-based marketing, particularly its customer-centric nature.

Kraft wanted to reach out to parents who believed in giving their kids a proper meal, so the company pulled out their junk food advertising to establish credibility with their intended customers.

Shared Experiences

Like the way TED Talk speakers relate their pitches to personal experiences, offering another person’s perspective sells your message.

Some experiences mirror your own, even at a conceptual level. This includes being plagued with restrictive problems then solving it intuitively.

Look into your company’s product or service history. Did someone have a eureka moment after a long observation? Did someone experience something that led to developing what you sell?

Everything has an interesting story behind it. Your sales pitch is no exception.

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Everyone has something to dream about: a new house, a better car, a more luxurious lifestyle, etc.

Everyone wants something, especially your clients. Make your sales pitch interesting enough to pass through your clients’ standards.

Want to know more about using these five tricks more effectively? Hire pitchdeck.com, your pitch deck partner, to help you out.

References

Aitchison, Jim. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Cross, Vanessa. “The Goals of Values-Based Marketing.” Chron. Accessed June 5, 2015.

How Printed Handouts Benefit Your Business Pitch

Posted on June 5, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

While most presenters focus on making effective pitch deck presentations, handouts are also essential tools for clearly understanding topics.

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Handouts aren’t suited for all situations like inspirational talks, for example. Business pitches, however, require more complex information and data. In this case, provide your audience with hard copies that summarize your message.

What’s Inside?

Handouts should reflect your overall business pitch, but don’t print out all your slides. Include only what is relevant—plan what your handouts should contain and only include keywords which drive your main points.

Explaining everything in one sitting might lose your audience’s interest because they’re burdened with too much information.

At the same time, presentation trainer Olivia Mitchell encourages the use of white space in handouts to let audience members write down any important questions or ideas they have while you deliver.

Instead of separating you from them, it actually helps you engage them more.

How Is It Important?

Handouts are great for business pitch decks that demand detailed explanations, especially when you’re maximizing your time while presenting your ideas.

While this isn’t a prerequisite when you do a pitch, it’s one way of making it more memorable for your audience.

Though practice and preparation prevent you from forgetting some of your key points, it’s still significant to give time for making your handout to avoid leaving your audience hanging.

When Should You Give Handouts?

Give them out before, during, or after your pitches. Each time period has its pros and cons.

Providing handouts beforehand might make them think they don’t need to listen to your pitch since they already have the information. They can also be distracted reading your handouts instead of paying attention to your speech.

But if you do choose to distribute before the pitch, let your handouts serve as a guide, not a distraction.

On the other hand, giving handouts during the pitch lets you interact with your audience and makes them feel involved. People can write down their ideas and notes on these interactive handouts, making them feel more invested in what you have to say.

If you choose to distribute handouts after the pitch, advise your audience before you begin. Inform them that you’ll provide a summary, so they won’t be distracted by listing down complex data or facts.

It’s not an issue at what point in your pitches you distribute your handouts. What’s important is that you engage and capture your audience’s attention.

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Knowing your handouts’ benefits makes your pitch more memorable. They can be kept for future reference since they’re printed materials, helping your audiences remember your company after your pitch.

Giving your audience something to review lets them recall your pitch deck’s key message. pitchdeck.com can help you craft printed materials containing stand-out texts and visuals.

Take a look at our portfolio, or contact us. All it takes is fifteen minutes.

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References

“13 Best Practice Tips for Effective Presentation Handouts.” Speaking about Presenting. Accessed June 5, 2015.
“A Quick Guide to Pitch Deck Handouts.” pitchdeck.com Pitch Deck Design & Presentation Experts. 2014. Accessed June 5, 2015.
“Using Handouts.” Total Communication. Accessed June 5, 2015.

4 Components for Planning Speeches Like Pitch Experts

Posted on June 4, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

According to communicologist Eugene White (1960), there are four interrelated components for presentations: speaker, speech, audience, and occasion. These help pitch experts plan their pitch deck content and assist speakers with their actual discussion.

It’s hard to talk about these principles in the order you should tackle them. That’s why the concepts speak for interrelationship or connecting one to another.

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Determine as much as you can from each factor to focus your speech and make you sound more credible and convincing.

The Speaker

Think of yourself as a speaker. Do you talk fast or slow? Do you use a lot of technical terms? Do you find it easy to get along with people you’ve just met?

Before preparing a deck outline or storyboard, examine yourself. Familiarize yourself with your strengths and weaknesses; focus on finding your comfort zone to decide which parts should be best highlighted or discussed in a more in-depth manner.

Knowing yourself lets you set your pitch deck’s direction. If you’re more outgoing, start with a good joke. If you’re more to the point, begin with a poignant statistic.

The Speech

The language you use should fit your audience and the occasion. Imagine speaking about the common cold to a group composed only of children. Would you use terms lifted straight from a medical textbook? Your choice of words in slides and speech decides if you’ll be seen as boring and uninspired or interesting and rousing.

Once you have information on the other factors, adjust the amount of time you spend per slide. This affects your flow greatly, and also relies on what you can learn regarding the two remaining factors.

The Audience

Check up on your audience to identify important details you’ll need in your pitch deck.

These can include age, gender, number, educational background, group affiliation, nationality, and culture. These factors let you determine your approach’s formality and technicality.

You can determine a lot of things from simply checking up on your audience. Finding out audience size also lets you decide how intimate you should be with your pitch.

A larger audience will have to need a broader approach. Be aware of local cultural norms to avoid embarrassing situations that ruin your credibility.

The Occasion

Knowing the occasion narrows down your speech’s objectives. Know the event’s basic nature, time, and venue. The event’s nature clues you in on the goals you’ll set for yourself.

The engagement’s actual starting and allotted time decides your speech and deck length. Be conscious of recent events, use good news, and avoid referencing recent tragedies.

Knowing the venue also clues you in on how formal your speech should be. How you dress up in a hotel function room is different from how you would in a smaller auditorium.

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Interrelatedness may seem difficult, but simply writing plans on a piece of paper sets you on the right track. Getting everything down sets your pitch’s tone, purpose, formality, and its overall message.

It’s easy to understand and even easier to get right. If you’re looking for people who can get it done right away, then our pitch deck experts are ready to help.

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References

“Public Speaking: The Basics.” Speaking in the Disciplines. Accessed June 3, 2015.
White, Eugene. Practical Speech Fundamentals. New York: The McMillan Co, 1960.

3 Tips For a Direct and Conversational Business Pitch

Posted on June 4, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

We’ve discussed the advantages of using a conversational tone in a business pitch. Let’s take a closer look at how to achieve it. You might imagine the business world as a big machine that’s spotlessly clean, naturally sleek, and rigidly formal. But embracing its formality makes you sound unapproachable and boring.

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When it comes to business, you must sound straightforward yet welcoming for people to truly listen to you. Here are ways to make your business pitch direct and conversational:

Ask Rhetorical Questions

Oftentimes, your listeners have already answered your questions in their heads, making them tune out of your discussion. Asking rhetorical questions actively involves your audience in the discussion, while keeping them focused on the topic at hand.

Planting a question with an obvious answer lets your audience convince themselves as opposed to shoehorning your message into your speech. A listener coming to a conclusion on his own is more swayed than one who had to be painstakingly convinced by a desperate presenter.

Use Conversational Elements

People like being directly addressed. Personal pronouns such as “you,” “I,” “us,” and “we” add an intimate touch to your presenting style.

Listeners also prefer listening to a human over a robot. Contractions like “I’ve,” “you’re,” and “we’ll” make you sound like you’re speaking with friends or relatives, giving a personal and animated connection between you and your audience.

Use Active Verbs

The active voice makes a sentence more lively and dynamic. Compared to the passive voice (“This next part is important and should be listened to closely.”), the active voice focuses on the doer of the action (“Listen closely to the next important part.”). This contributes to a more involved and engaged audience that both listens and acts.

The passive voice has many literary uses, but the active voice should dominate your language, especially in business pitches. You have a limited amount of time to get the point across. Choose your words wisely.

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Using direct speech makes you sound more relatable and appealing. This tunes your audience into your speech, and make them pay closer attention to your words.

Business pitches don’t require an all-out business tone. Your audience may be well-dressed, but you’re still talking to a living, breathing group of people. Sound direct and conversational to make them feel they belong in the discussion. Once they feel like they’re involved, they’re more likely to listen and give your proposal a shot.

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References

“Rhetorical Question – Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices. October 25, 2013. Accessed January 11, 2016.
“Voice: ACTIVE / PASSIVE VOICE.” Towson. Accessed January 11, 2016.

How Lecterns Help or Hinder Your Marketing Pitch

Posted on June 3, 2015May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Presenters have been trained to eliminate all personal anxieties in order to engage the audience. However, they rarely notice physical nonverbal speech barriers such as lecterns. These are traditionally used as stands to place your notes on. However, it can keep you from grabbing your audience’s attention and building a connection with them.

Why do most effective public speakers never use it? Can it be used effectively?

The answer is, lecterns can help or hinder your marketing pitches, depending on how and when you use it.

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Pros and Cons

Most politicians use lecterns in formal settings because it lets them project authority.

Even pastors use lecterns to hold their notes, bibles, and other sermon materials. But they don’t stay there all the time. For example, Joel Osteen, the Houston’s Lakewood Church’s famous pastor, never stays behind the lectern. He maintains eye contact and interacts with the audience, walking around the stage without looking at his notes.

For some public speakers, lecterns block them off from their viewers, preventing full engagement. This physical barrier keeps the crowd from seeing the presenter’s body language, non-verbal cues, posture and gestures.

Proper Use of Lecterns

Staying behind a lectern is different from standing behind it occasionally. Sometimes, you have to stand behind it due to its built-in mic and limited stage space. Other times, lecterns are unnecessary in venues such as conference rooms. Whether you can freely move around or are stuck in one place, involve your listeners by keeping eye contact no matter where you go.

Conclusion

Staying away from the lectern increases your chances of connecting with your audience. They’re also more likely to listen because they see you standing openly in front of them.

No matter where you deliver your marketing pitches, practice and prepare your speech so you can deliver your message without looking at your notes back at the lectern.

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References

Donovan, J. “How To Speak Behind A Lectern.” SpeakingSherpa. 2012. Accessed July 3, 2015.
“Public Speaking.” Atlantic International University. Accessed June 3, 2015.

Fortune 500

Mid Market

Small Business

Startups

Agency Partners

Robert H.

Gregor S.

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Keep It Specific

Brand Loyalty

Encourage Them to Try Something New

Measure the Results

Download free pitch deck templates now.

References

We redesign pitch deck presentations.

Get your free quote now.

They break down important information.

Visuals explain data better.

Templates are readily available.

Download free pitch deck templates now.

References

Get hundreds of pitch deck slides for free.

Sign up for your free account today.

Own the Stage

Use Your Emotions

Control Vocal Power

Download free pitch deck templates now.

References

Get hundreds of pitch deck slides for free.

Sign up for your free account today.

Use words to paint images.

Use speech ideas you can describe in a sentence.

Use the right tone for your pitch.

You can be funny, but you need to be interesting.

Download free pitch deck templates now.

References

Get hundreds of pitch deck slides for free.

Sign up for your free account today.

Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Seth Godin’s Five Rules for Creating Amazing Pitch Decks

Download free pitch deck templates now.

The Challenge

The Five Tricks

The Signpost

A Newsflash

A Message of Support

An Existing Standard of the Client

Shared Experiences

References

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What’s Inside?

How Is It Important?

When Should You Give Handouts?

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References

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The Speaker

The Speech

The Audience

The Occasion

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Ask Rhetorical Questions

Use Conversational Elements

Use Active Verbs

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Pros and Cons

Proper Use of Lecterns

Conclusion

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References

Technology, Software & Media Technology