http://www.talkselling.com/ explore anything and everything to improve the selling process from lead generation to presenting and closing the deal from sales strategy to sales training en-US Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:48:26 -0800 http://www.typepad.com/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/kMfJFoB_8pU/preparing-to-present-at-conferences.html http://www.talkselling.com/2010/03/preparing-to-present-at-conferences.html Having spent years presenting, designing, facilitating or producing conferences I thought I would write something on some of the tips and pitfalls. I have spent so many hours looking at the back of presenters heads whilst they read the bullet points off the screen behind them (not using the monitors in front of them) not that they should be reading bullet points EVER. This becomes especially frustrating when you are concentrating on performing a graphics operator roll. This is where you actually running the slide presentation on 2 machines in tandem the back up being one slide in advance in... Chris Norris Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:48:26 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2010/03/preparing-to-present-at-conferences.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/T7fAxFEL6k8/ceo-john-chambers-sees-cisco-as-plumbers.html http://www.talkselling.com/2010/01/ceo-john-chambers-sees-cisco-as-plumbers.html "you make a lot of money doing plumbing on the Internet" says CISCO CEO John Chambers in an interview with McKinsey... BUT he also sees that significant change is needed to thrive in a Web 2.0 world- change both in himself and his company. He has already moved CISCO from a company led by ten people in a command and control style to a much more social structure with 500 leaders at the top. Just like the 50 cent approach in the previous article John Chambers sees the need for a radical shift in the way companies operate in a... Chris Norris Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:48:50 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2010/01/ceo-john-chambers-sees-cisco-as-plumbers.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/xWVQ7YrLBAI/50-cent-hip-hop-rapper-meets-machiavelli-in-the-50th-law.html http://www.talkselling.com/2010/01/50-cent-hip-hop-rapper-meets-machiavelli-in-the-50th-law.html Both Chris and I have been a huge fan of author Robert Greene who has written best selling titles 48 laws of Power, Art of Seduction and 33 strategies of war. All of these books are based on history and the changes that have caused leaders to win or lose wars/battles. Going out and leading sales business campaigns on a daily basis is what we endure. If we were to apply the material and principles we would dramatically increase our Win Ratio. I would suggest you read all three of these books as they are insightful into proven ways you... Chris Norris Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:41:29 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2010/01/50-cent-hip-hop-rapper-meets-machiavelli-in-the-50th-law.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/LEF0cBV_9_o/overcoming-common-presentation-mistakes.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/overcoming-common-presentation-mistakes.html In this video Dave takes us through nine of the common mistakes that he sees when coaching bid teams to win. The mistakes he sees are Poor structure Low level of stagecraft No compelling media Lack of evidence Death by bullet point “Winging it” Ineffective use of time Merely informing No Strong close Chris Norris Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:24:00 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/overcoming-common-presentation-mistakes.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/NQj4KPyxNXU/in-this-interview-barry-takes-us-throughhow-he-evaluates-tender-responses-some-of-the-topics-he-covers-are-.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/in-this-interview-barry-takes-us-throughhow-he-evaluates-tender-responses-some-of-the-topics-he-covers-are-.html In this interview Barry takes us through how to present to win. Some of the topics he covers are:- Some general tips What he looks for in a presentation Structuring your presentation Slide content Handling Q&A Evidence, proof and credibility Rehearsing Chris Norris Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:03:00 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/in-this-interview-barry-takes-us-throughhow-he-evaluates-tender-responses-some-of-the-topics-he-covers-are-.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/jFe55N7UmoE/a-truly-poor-presentation.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/a-truly-poor-presentation.html See the presentation below that we found on YouTube for a great illustration of the things that Dave talks about in his article on improving your presenting. Chris Norris Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:36:00 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/12/a-truly-poor-presentation.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/Ds9rO1stQ-E/theory-and-practice-is-constantly-progressing-in-the-world-of-presentations-we-are-connected-to-some-of-the-worlds-leadin.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/theory-and-practice-is-constantly-progressing-in-the-world-of-presentations-we-are-connected-to-some-of-the-worlds-leadin.html Theory and practice is constantly progressing in the world of presentations. We are connected to some of the world’s leading practitioners in this area and in this article I’d like to bring three of them to your attention. I’m not going to go into the detail of how because the books speak for themselves but reading and applying any one of them will take your presentations to the next level. The theme underlying all three is beyond bullet points – just think of those bullet point based PowerPoint presentations that start you thinking about the benefits of death by lethal... Chris Norris Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:50:42 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/theory-and-practice-is-constantly-progressing-in-the-world-of-presentations-we-are-connected-to-some-of-the-worlds-leadin.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/Na8l1EwRbaE/if-i-offered-you-the-chance-to-sit-through-a-presentation-from-the-finance-director-or-the-chairman-from-a-ftse-100-company-w.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/if-i-offered-you-the-chance-to-sit-through-a-presentation-from-the-finance-director-or-the-chairman-from-a-ftse-100-company-w.html If I offered you the chance to sit through a presentation from the Finance Director or the Chairman from a FTSE 100 company which would you instinctively prefer? When we apply our Achieving Yes approach to improving presentations a very common issue is that there is not much story and not much emotion. Yet stories and the emotions that go with them are part of the fundamental way that the human psyche understands and evaluates messages. We distinguish four different styles of presentation that, when combined together correctly, significantly increase the chances of your audience taking the action you want.... Chris Norris Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:36:27 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/if-i-offered-you-the-chance-to-sit-through-a-presentation-from-the-finance-director-or-the-chairman-from-a-ftse-100-company-w.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/pHdsnOgHrzQ/powerpoint-anniversary-slips-under-the-windows-7-hype.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/powerpoint-anniversary-slips-under-the-windows-7-hype.html It seems to me that the last few months from the marketing behemoth that is Microsoft has been all about the birth of Windows 7. Yet do any of you remember 35mm slide carousels? Or maybe you still have an aging OHP sat at the back of some of your meeting rooms? Twenty five years ago PowerPoint was launched running only on Apple Mac by a company called Forethought. A quote from the New York Times when Microsoft bought the company back in 1987 said: "Forethought makes a program called PowerPoint that allows users of Apple Macintosh computers to make... Chris Norris Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:29:24 -0800 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/11/powerpoint-anniversary-slips-under-the-windows-7-hype.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkSelling/~3/UsqoA5KxQik/using-cialdini-influence-your-sales-results.html http://www.talkselling.com/2009/10/using-cialdini-influence-your-sales-results.html Last week I wrote about Steven Covey and the seven habits(now with an 8th habit) that can help with selling. I put the book into our favourites list below and saw another great book that we like which is by Robert Cialdini called influence (see herefor a review). I wondered what he was doing currently and found out that he has just recently retired so to celebrate Cialdinis work here are some thoughts about how to apply his main principles of influence specifically to selling. The main principles of influence from Cialdini's book are: Reciprocation - People tend to return... Chris Norris Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:14:49 -0700 http://www.talkselling.com/2009/10/using-cialdini-influence-your-sales-results.html