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Have you ever had a prospect call and ask you to give a training seminar on a topic that you have not taught before? We all have our own ways of preparing for an important presentation. Some make detailed outlines, some use slides and build their presentations around that, and some just wing it. As someone who has given countless presentations in business settings, I personally find that mind maps are an effective preparation tool-whether you’re planning a presentation, a project, or the next five years of your career.

Mind maps are visual diagrams that feature words or ideas linked to a central theme. For instance, say you’re planning a presentation on networking skills. Networking skills would be the central idea on your mind map.

To create a mind map, draw a circle in the middle of a blank piece of paper and write your topic in the circle. Now brainstorm all the topics that fall under that category. Let this be a free-flowing exercise. You won’t necessarily use everything you put down.

For example, here are four topics that you might cover in a networking session: conversation starters, small talk, open-ended questions, and listening skills. For each major category you come up with, draw a line from the circle. If you imagine your circle as a clock, you would draw a line at 12, at 3, at 6, and at 9 o’clock for these four topics. If you have more categories, draw more lines. Once you have all your categories listed, branch out into more specific aspects for each individual topic.

Intrigued? Here are some tips to follow when using a mind map.

Use mind maps to help you stay organized. Because mind maps are more visual and intuitive than linear outlines, they help you see the flow of your presentation. This way you can avoid unnecessary tangents and stay on topic.

Don’t try to cover too much material. You want to keep your audience engaged and give them their “money’s worth,” but there is such a thing as overdoing it. Don’t bite off more than you can chew by barraging your audience with tons of information or trying to cram in so much that you rush through the important points. It’s better to cover a few things thoroughly than to cover several things in a rush. Your mind map will help you determine how much content you’re dealing with and keep your presentation tight and focused. When you see too many offshoots springing from your central topic, it’s time to home in on the most relevant points.

Distinguish between “need to know” and “nice to know.” When you’ve realized that your presentation is running long, it can be a headache trying to figure out where to cut the fat. When I face that issue, I take a close look at my mind map and categorize topics according to their importance. “Need to know” information is anything completely relevant to the topic at hand-concrete points that I should share with my audience. “Nice to know” information, meanwhile, includes things that are interesting and may be relevant but aren’t crucial. By marking your mind map accordingly, it becomes clearer which details can be weeded out. You can even begin a new mind map based on what’s left so you can sharpen your “need to know” presentation.

Next time you have a presentation to prepare for, consider creating a mind map. It really can make a huge difference in keeping you organized and on topic.

©2010 Professional Image Management

By Juanita Ecker

Six Keys to a Powerful Sales Presentation

1) Be interesting and to-the-point.

Your presentation needs to catch and keep the prospect’s attention and interest. Make it interactive. Ask the prospect questions and involve her in ways that make her an active member in the proposed solution. Use interesting examples and stories that mirror her situation and spell out how others have benefited from using you and your company in similar situations.

2) Deliver with energy, enthusiasm, and emotional logic.

You need to show energy, enthusiasm, and excitement for your product. At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm the prospect withtoo much energy and excitement. If your prospect is a high-energy individual, match their energy level. If your prospect is more subdued, show energy and excitement that is one level above theirs.

In addition to showing energy and enthusiasm, you need to back your presentation up with logic. Remember: people buy on emotion and justify their decision on logic.

Bottom line on this point: Put life, energy, and enthusiasm in your voice, and make sure your sales presentation makes good logical sense.

3) Address the specific needs, desires, and concerns of the prospect, and speak to her hot buttons.

Each presentation will be different because each prospect has different needs, desires, and concerns. If you’ve done your work properly during previous calls, you understand what the prospect is looking for and you’ve uncovered some hot buttons. You will now educate the prospect on how your product or service fills her unique needs and desires. Show caring, understanding, and empathy for the prospect, and show that you are seriously interested in helping her out.

Make sure you focus on the benefits and what’s in it for the prospect. Features are fine, but you must articulate what those features mean to the prospect with regard to what is important to him or her.

4) Be clear, concise, and articulate.

Your sales presentation should be easy to understand, to the point, and it should be delivered in terms that the prospect will understand. You want to use as few words as possible while at the same time, using the most effective words possible. Also, no acronyms or other terms and phrases that the prospect may not be familiar with.

Finally, keep your initial presentation to a maximum of three solid points. If you overwhelm the prospect with more than three points, you will probably hear, “I want to think about it” and “send me some information.” If you have other legal items and disclosures that you have to cover, save those for the paperwork phase after the prospect has decided to buy.

5) Lead naturally to the close.

Your sales presentation should be designed in such a way that it walks the prospect smoothly through the presentation, addressing all needs and concerns, and flows right into the close. If your presentation is straight-forward, conversational, and covers all the bases, the close is simply the natural conclusion of the presentation.

6) Have a script.

While each presentation will be different based upon the individual prospect’s needs and desires, most of the pieces remain the same, you’ll simply use different ones and arrange them differently. Each feature and benefit, story, and piece of information you need to convey, must be well thought out, well prepared, written down, committed to memory, and most important, proven to work. Some people believe that having a written presentation is too unnatural-you may sound as though you are reading (if on the phone), or canned (if in person). The way to avoid this is by practicing, drilling, and rehearsing your presentation pieces to the point where you know them verbatim.

The goal of a script is to make sure you cover everything you need to cover in as few words as possible while at the same time, using the most effective words possible. Writing out each piece of your presentation and committing them to memory will ensure consistency throughout your presentation, it will also help identify any problems with your presentation.

Note: Don’t reinvent the wheel, get a presentation script from one of the top salespeople that you know works. You want their results, so use what they use.