Like Hollywood actors, sales professionals put themselves and their companies on the line with every word—taking a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome. Just like actors, even the best, most experienced salesperson benefits from script review, rehearsal and coaching.

Today and tomorrow, Promotional Consultant Today shares these 10 presentation mistakes to avoid when you are on the sales stage.

1. Unclear Thinking: Imagine that a busy executive says, “You have exactly 10 minutes to tell me what I need to know about your company.” You should know in advance what your prospect is really asking. The real question is, “What do I need to know about how your company can improve our company? Will your products or services solve a problem, create new opportunities, increase savings, maximize earnings, simplify our processes, develop our human capital or increase market share?” Accomplish this, and you can present your options more formally.

2. Talking Too Much: The key to connecting with a client is conversation and asking questions. The quality of information received depends on the quality of your questions and waiting for and listening to the answers. A successful encounter early in the sales process should be mostly open-ended questions—the kind that require essay answers rather than just yes and no. And never rush on with preprogrammed questions that ignore the answer you’ve just received.

3. Wrong Structure: Do not build your talking points and presentation structure around your company. Structure them around your prospects’ interests, challenges or opportunities. Put their words into your presentation. Yes, you will be talking about your company, your satisfied clients and your uniqueness to prove that you can appeal to their interests, solve their challenges and maximize their opportunities.

4. No Memorable Stories: People rarely remember your exact words. They remember the mental images your words create. Support your key points with vivid, relevant client success stories. Create a movie in their minds by using satisfied clients as memorable characters. What was their starting situation? What was their problem that your prospect can relate to? What have been the results since you’ve been working with them?

5. No Emotional Connection: Your customer or client justifies working with you for analytical reasons. What gives you the edge—what I call the unfair advantage—is an emotional connection. Build an emotional connection by incorporating stories with characters they can relate to, by using the word you as often as possible and by talking from their point of view. Congratulate them on their success. Thank them, not for their time, but for the opportunity to present your solution. Don’t say, “I will talk about …” Say, “What you will hear is …” Remember, their unspoken question is, “What’s in this for us?”

Ready for more powerful presentation tips that will prime your prospect to learn more? Read tomorrow’s PCT.

Source: One of the few professional speakers who can transform the presentation skills of others, Patricia Fripp is an executive speech coach and sales presentation skills trainer. Fripp simplifies and demystifies the process of preparing and presenting powerful, persuasive presentations. She can deliver her message in a keynote speech, breakout sessions, through interactive virtual training, and in-depth customized training and coaching.