Is it you?
Last week I attended a BNI Chapter meeting where a member conducted his 10-minutes Business Presentation Showcase.
It’s just that it felt that the presentation wasn’t his. It was done by someone else in his organization as a marketing material cum presentation. Let me explain: in a BNI meeting, your presentation needs to be very tuned to inspiring your colleagues to give you a referral, as in they can right away think of someone whom they know who might require your services and then qualify that as a referral for you.
That is your purpose of your presentation: to inspire your colleagues to refer you, and not to sell to them or even be slightly perceived to sell.
Therefore, a suggestion would be to avoid all downloadable presentation templates your company have on their websites or resource centers. Avoid at all costs, canned presentations!
A successful presentation needs to be you, as in your involvement in the business you are in. Even if you are an employee or an agent of a company, you need to share how you used your expertise to help a particular client. Yes, present a case study with your own involvement, hands-on with the client as to how you served them.
Sometime back, there was an insurance agent whose company provided coverage for senior citizens. Yes, that was from a downloadable material as it appeared on their company website. However, this person then added his own experience as to how he helped them secure a policy despite one of them, the wife, had an existing medical condition.
This is how you secure points in a presentation. It has to be you, yours, your story and how you added value from the various services your organization provides.
So, is it you?
Agree completely about using your company’s sales kit is not a good idea. An added note is, set an objective for your presentation. Is it to educate? Is it to introduce something new? Is it to tell why you’re the preferred provider? Thanks to BNI and the Internet, my presentations have improved loads. No more amateur stuff.
Fantastic article. Right to the point. It always has to be you! If its not you, then get someone to help you get to you : )
Thanks Riyaz for the timely reminder. I cringe when members do not use the 10 minutes slot allocated to them seriously. Instead of preparing for it weeks in advance, many like to do it on the eve itself. They lose the opportunity to share with the members why they are the preferred provider.
I shall share this article with my members. Thanks again, Riyaz!
I recently sat through a presentation that made me cringe. It was ill thought out and I completely failed to grasp how the member could add value. Far from inspiring me to find them a referral, I was left thinking that I could not recommend him. In other words, the presentation did more harm than good. We have 2 x 5-minute presentations in our Chapter (the rights and wrongs of that are for a different debate!), but however long is available it could and should have been filled with content appropriate to the allocated time. It’s such a shame that the member missed out on their chance to shine and share with us exactly how we can help him get the business that he’s looking for. I heard that he didn’t start preparing until 3:30am on the day of his presentation – it showed!