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Want to Deliver Persuasive Presentations?

persuasive-presentations-revor-presenting-new-york-2013

When it comes to persuasive communication, there are a number of things you must know. Too often, presentations fail to deliver results because they don’t follow a clear path to a concrete call to action. Do you want to deliver persuasive presentations? These tips are just for you.

1. Know What You Want

Before thinking about content, it is vital to know what outcome you want from your presentation. It is a good idea to start the planning process by writing, “When I have finished speaking, my audience will…” and finish that sentence with some specific action.

Vagueness is the enemy, so fuzzy statements like “my audience will understand more about my project” are out. Make the action tangible and compelling, and then build the content around what the audience needs to know, feel and believe about you in order to take action.


2. How to Win Over an Audience

Remember that your goal is not to beat your audience into submission but to persuade them to take action.

  1. Always assume that your audience consists of good, thoughtful people who may not be as familiar with the material as you are.
  2. Show your understanding of both sides of the argument. If necessary, explain the risks or obstacles of your message and how they can be mitigated or overcome.
  3. Use logical, ethical and emotional appeals, as well as a variety of evidence to support your argument. This could include expert testimony, statistics, real-life examples or personal experiences.

3. Benefits and Obstacles

What are the audience’s strategic, personal and business benefits of taking action? What obstacles or barriers might prevent them from doing so?

Brainstorming the answers to these questions in advance will help to clarify how you need to bring the audience on board.

Once you have done this, choose the three most important themes — either benefits or obstacles — for this audience. Then set about finding suitable expert testimony and statistics that support each theme.


4. Build Your Argument

Successful rhetoric is built on a well-defined and trusted structure, it’s sure to help you present persuasively:

  1. The Grabber. Grab your audience’s attention with an anecdote, a question, a startling statistic or a thought-provoking quotation.
  2. The Message. Follow the grabber with a one-line statement that succinctly tells the audience what your presentation is about.
  3. Signposting. Signposting lays out the skeleton of the argument for the audience and is as simple as saying, “There are three reasons why you should seriously consider investing in this product: ease of use, battery life and customised functionality.”
  4. Benefits 1-3. Focus on benefits rather than features. At least 75% of your presentation should be dedicated to developing your three main points. Each benefit or theme should be supported with a careful selection of statistics, demonstrations, examples or personal experiences.
  5. Closure. Sum up your main points in one sentence and give your call to action. This could be a direct close such as “you can sign up today” or an indirect close that focuses on missing out on the benefits for not taking action. Really powerful speeches also reconnect with the beginning of the speech in some way. This also avoids the embarrassment of having to tell the audience that you have finished. The challenge is to have a grabber that allows an easy referral back.

5. Delivering Like a Pro

Usain Bolt is not only the fastest man in the world; he is also the fastest man in the world when 80,000 people are watching in the stadium and a billion more are watching live on TV. Public speaking is a performance. Like Bolt, you need to be able deliver well under pressure and not just under practice conditions. Having a clear structure and lots of practice are the best ways of helping to lighten the mental load and deliver persuasive presentations.

Top Tips for Delivery:

  1. Rather than memorising the whole speech, re-create it from five elements: The first 10 words, the message, the three benefits, the closing and the last 10 words.
  2. Use a camera recording device to practice gestures as well as phrasing.
  3. Gesture only to emphasise points.
  4. Make eye contact with the audience.
  5. Use facial expressions to convey your feelings.
  6. Enunciate and vary your rate of speech.
  7. Don’t speak too fast: it’s not a race.
  8. Dress the part.

Finally, on the day of the presentation, if you see you are running out of time, move smoothly to your conclusion and wrap up quickly, but not before delivering that all-important call to action.

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Roy Walley
Roy Walley
20:56 21 Nov 23
Boyd S
Boyd S
12:05 21 Nov 23
Best sales psychologist in the World!
Alex Portelli
Alex Portelli
03:26 17 Nov 23
Tony Ewing
Tony Ewing
21:00 15 Nov 23
Great Telesales training from Trevor!! Thank you!
Mohammad Burhan Al Rashid
Mohammad Burhan Al Rashid
05:29 01 Nov 23
Trevor is an exceptional public speaking trainer, and I can't recommend him enough. I have had the opportunity to attend his training and his expertise, guidance and practical techniques were invaluable in helping me overcome my fear of public speaking and significantly improving my communication skills.
Shaun Manne
Shaun Manne
04:41 27 Sep 23
Trevor, your Psychology of Sales online training was fantastic! Id give 10 stars if i could. You definetly did your homework on everyone that was involved and included everybody and their business on a personal level throughout the 4 hours. I would 100% recommend everyone do this course if you'd like an edge over the competition. Thanks for a great day. PS I forgot to ask how much the microphone was! 😉
The Butels
The Butels
22:30 11 Sep 23
I attended Trevor's Telesales training yesterday and was Very happy with the course. Trevor was very knowledgeable, extremely well spoken, did not lose the group for a minute and went out of his way to help everyone on the course. I would not hesitate to recommend Trevor to anyone.#epicpublicspeaker
Bendpro
Bendpro
05:17 17 Aug 23
Trevor Ambrose was the keynote speaker for our 2023 Bendpro Team Day. His insights on teamwork and adopting a “green mindset” & staying “above the line” were eye-opening. This has transformed the team’s perspective for the better. Trevor’s presentation was thought-provoking and relevant to our needs. His stories are relatable, meaningful, and really show you that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. He kept our team engaged both in the presentation and in the activities. His training is priceless and as a company we would use his services again. Thank you for inspiring us to become a stronger unit. We look forward to applying what we learned in our daily work.
Nadine Freitag
Nadine Freitag
23:45 30 May 23
BGL has worked with Trevor a few times over the years and we highly recommend his workshop and online training for groups or individuals.The feedback was very positive and he has helped our employees feel more confident with public speaking and presentations.Thanks Trevor!
Fergus Pocock
Fergus Pocock
22:43 10 Mar 23
It was great to have the opportunity to join Trevor for one of his training courses in Belfast today 2023/03/10, I can fully recommend his training programs.Many thanks Trevor, regards Fergus.
Michael Taylor
Michael Taylor
16:28 10 Mar 23
Great content. Really practical advice and content that we can bring directly into our business. Trevor delivers a fun and practical classroom. Highly recommended
Gillies
Gillies
11:35 22 Feb 23
Trevor, thanks so much for yesterday's session, I must admit I am always a little skeptical of training in sales, there are so many different opinions about various methods and theories but your content was different, it was a real breath of fresh air. Thanks again.
Antonio Alegre
Antonio Alegre
04:00 07 Feb 23
Thank you Trevor Ambrose for such a great session last week at Hidrive. We thoroughly enjoyed your Sales Psychology training. Fantastic tips and lots of fun...We all got a lot out of it. Thoroughly Recomended your work. Cheers Antonio
Paul Lombard
Paul Lombard
18:34 15 Oct 22
I thoroughly enjoyed the session and can see how relevant the skills Trevor explains are for business, as well as everyday life. There are some simple changes to implement immediately, but otherwise a concerted effort is necessary, with much to work on. Working on these skills will improve oneself immensely. Trevor is truly a master and has a very relatable demeanor. I definitely recommend Trevor's course for marketing and sales, and will jump at another opportunity to learn more from him!
W H
W H
10:30 16 Sep 22
Completed Psychology of Sales course with Trevor yesterday, still processing the volume of great content. Excellent presenter, very engaging and informative, highly recommend to anyone looking to enhance their business and/or personal development. Thank you Trevor!
Janelle Doberstein
Janelle Doberstein
21:22 11 Aug 22
Super training. Trevor you were so captivating and have so much knowledge. I loved every second and look forward to what your training will bring to our companies in the future, once we put in place what we have learnt.
Tyler Barnes
Tyler Barnes
12:16 10 Aug 22
Cracking sales coach! Worked with Trevor for four hours and he has hugely helped build up the confidence of the sales team at our business. Working on soft skills and the psychology of selling has been massively helpful for us as a company, I can see us coming back for more.
Joel
Joel
21:28 14 Jul 22
Trevor was a fantastic speaker and teacher. I learned more in 4 hours with him then I have in hours and days of training with others.He is very positive and interacts with the people listening by getting them to answer questions , or get them to actually to the activity , not just have everyone watch. Highly recommend. Would love to do more courses with Trevor.
Ken Fooks
Ken Fooks
09:14 12 Jun 22
The Psychology of Sales Course was very instructive, enlightening, I found it confirmed what I am experiencing in a Sales role ,Dealing with customers on a daily basis.I will certainly look forward to more excellent content from Trevor.Trevor is an inspiration to all ,understanding the needs and feelings of a Person in a Sales role.Many Thanks Trevor and Team.Ken - SCVA.
Oz Donk
Oz Donk
07:26 05 Apr 22
Trevor is a very inspirational trainer in sales, and well worth attending any of his classes, or getting him into your business if you can. It's certainly not just "head knowledge" with Trevor.
Cameron Cavey
Cameron Cavey
00:45 25 Mar 22
Trevor's course was well presented and taught me alot about structure and presentation.Well worth doing his courses
Victoria Houen
Victoria Houen
05:47 08 Mar 22
Excellent, simple and clear information.Loved it. Learned so much.So many spice jars in my rack now 😉☺️
Jethro Buchner
Jethro Buchner
14:25 23 Sep 21
Very engaging and so many golden nuggets to take away and implement.
Jennae Evans
Jennae Evans
22:04 04 Aug 21
absolutely amazing coaching! super motivational and interesting to hear some new tactics... thanks trevor!
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