We treat our personal finances and most of our business finances with some respect: not all of us are perfect, but we do our best to bring in more than we send out. It’s a concept that makes sense and is in keeping with the law of conservation of mass–there’s a cosmic equilibrium here, and most of us are more comfortable with the “build it from something” approach than “build it from nothing”. In short, it pays not to be completely broke in business and in life.
When it comes to presentations, though, I hear some startling confessions from time to time. People begin to talk about what they can get away with, whether it’s worth a concerted investment of time, energy, and money, etc. With all the attention we pay to emerging technologies like social media channels and iPads, et al., you’d think it would be more or less gospel truth at this point to say that getting results isn’t a word-is-my-bond, spit-then-shake matter. Apparently, you would be wrong.
Many businesspeople feel that they’re charismatic, talented, or just plain good looking enough to win regardless of their investment in a presentation. To be fair, despite the fact that nearly all relationships are hosted on the ‘cloud’ now, face-to-face interactions are still the most powerful force in business today. Otherwise, I assume our president would have just held a Skype conference with the China last week.
But take a lesson from product packaging: low quality products rarely come in extremely costly packages. That’s because a great wrapper can never overcome the disappointment of poor quality. The opposite is equally true: who would put a Rolex in a mesh sack and sell it in Walgreen’s? The more talented and charismatic you are as a businessperson, the more you need to create a consummate image of professionalism. That starts with the packaging–the presentation, your attire, the display of your “brand”–and ends with a satisfactory delivery of goods, i.e. performance.
So if you’ve been slacking off on your presentations feeling like you can get away with it, allow me to disagree. You may not rot in the streets because of the bargain, but you’ll never discover just how powerful your results could have been–and that would be a terrible shame, indeed.
Question: What motivates you to give great presentations each and every time?
