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Are your business presentations persuasive? Does your audience remember and act on your message? If not, perhaps you are following conventional wisdom. The problem with conventional wisdom is it’s often irrelevant, out of date, or just plain wrong.

Here are some widely held presentation myths that you would do well to ignore.

Tell ‘em three times. There is an old saw for presenters that says you should first tell your audience what you’re going to tell ‘em, then tell ‘em, then tell ‘em what you told ‘em. This might have worked in our great grandfathers’ time, when people were less educated and had longer attention spans. If you tell a modern audience the same thing three times they will feel insulted. Don’t treat your audience like children.

If you feel your message is so complicated that you need to repeat yourself, you need to simplify your message instead.

You need a rich, resonant voice. This is true only if you are a radio personality. A good business presenter has a voice with three qualities:

It is loud enough to be heard. If your voice isn’t loud enough, use a microphone.

It is clear enough to be understood. This is not a problem for most people (see articulation, below).

It is enthusiastic enough to be compelling. A monotone is boring. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you don’t sound excited about your message, why should your audience care about it?

Provided you are loud enough, clear enough, and enthusiastic, your natural voice is probably just fine.

You must articulate clearly. It’s OK if you slur some words together or drop a letter here and there, so long as your audience understands you. Don’t try to sound like a radio announcer speaking the Queen’s English if you have a certain accent. Be yourself. Your audience wants to connect with you as an individual. They know a phony when they hear one.

Moreover, you don’t want to sound like everyone else has been taught to sound. If you sound like the crowd you will be perceived as a commodity. You want to sound like yourself – unique.

You need more polish. A business audience is skeptical, critical, and hard-nosed. They have strong opinions and are not easily sold. Making better eye contact and smoother gestures will not make much difference to them if they don’t like your message.

Gestures, body language, and other niceties of delivery style are like polish. Polish can add a bit more shine to something that is already shiny, but it cannot bring luster to something that is inherently dull. A discriminating audience is looking for content, not a slick delivery.

You need great visual aids. Most presenters use slides and other visual aids as a crutch. They show a slide and read what’s on it. Your audience could just read the slides themselves, making you redundant.

In many cases you may not need visual aids at all. The most compelling visuals are the mental images you evoke in the minds of your listeners through metaphors, examples, and stories.

Your audience is interested in your message. Most presenters assume their audience is enriched by their presentation. This is a dangerous assumption to make. Chances are some (if not most) of the people listening to you are only there because they have to be. They may not agree with you, they may not want to hear you, and they have other things on their mind. They are doing you a favor by giving you some of their valuable time and possibly some of their limited attention. You need to give them something they value in return. And you need to let them know you are offering value from the very beginning, or you will quickly lose them.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. You don’t have to practice very much. This is a business presentation, not a soliloquy from Shakespeare. You won’t be perfect, and you don’t need to be. You just need to master the material.

Mastering the material means being able to discuss it comfortably and convincingly. Your audience expects you to be in command of the subject matter you are presenting. This does not mean memorizing.

Having said that, you should memorize your opening because it must grab the attention of your audience. You should also memorize the call to action in your conclusion, because it is too important to ad lib. In between your memorized opening and closing lines is the meat of your presentation. Work from a carefully structured outline, but be flexible.

Most presenters buy these myths. They try to look, sound, and present like other good presenters. They strive to be plain vanilla. Vanilla is popular. Vanilla is safe. But it isn’t memorable. If your message isn’t memorable, your presentation has failed.

The word NEGOTIATION is defined as follows:

A mutual discussion and arrangement of terms of a transaction or agreement;
a discussion intended to produce an agreement;
the activity or business of negotiating an agreement;
coming to terms (Oxford Dictionary)

Today’s definition of Negotiation is:
(BEST) A mutual discussion, transaction, or agreement, garnering you with as much of what you want(ed) while leaving the other person(s) feeling they got as much of what they wanted as well! That is why this is called The Art of Negotiation!

(2nd Best) A mutual discussion, transaction, or agreement, garnering you with as much of what you wanted, while leaving the other person(s) feeling they’ve lost a considerable amount, but to a better person/entity/player

Hint: they feel bad, but not bad enough not to have a cocktail with you at a later date, and discuss how you got the better of them.

(Not Good at ALL) A mutual discussion, transaction, or agreement, which may garner you all, some, or none of what you wanted, while creating an enemy of the other person(s), and a 99% chance of retribution in the future, and making it impossible for you to do business with them in the present!

So, how do you position yourself to achieve the Best results of your negotiation efforts?

1. If at all possible, negotiate on your own turf!

2. If the above is not possible, try to manipulate the negotiation to take place on neutral ground (especially a place that serves food)
Why? Because food makes everyone happy! (Don’t eat until you’ve gotten what you wanted)!
Why? Because food will make YOU happy too, and cause you to lose your edge!

3. If you have to meet on their territory be as prepared as possible because you are already at a disadvantage.

4. Don’t appear anxious! Even if your innards are screaming, appear calm and collected at all costs. Smile when and where appropriate.

5. Know your prey!!!
I cannot express enough the importance of knowing who you will be negotiating with. You need to study them like a test. Know their likes and dislikes, how they’ve done business in the past, what their goals are, and their agenda; their weak points and strong points, their vices and virtues, their soft spots (there’s always at least one), and where their heart is (if they have one). If they care about themselves, or others, and who is their god (ie: power, notoriety, publicity, accolades, money).

How can you do this? Among other things, you may cultivate a relationship with their underlings like their secretary or administrative assistant. Don’t ask personal questions that will make them uncomfortable. Tell them who you are, what your goal is (if possible), and ask their opinion on what you’re trying to achieve, and what they think is the best method of achieving it. Does it fit into their boss’s agenda/vision/goals?

Ask them what they think might be the best way to approach your objective? You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help you if you simply ask! Most people overlook the secretary/administrative assistant, or treat them rudely, or as a non-person. How stupid. You will never get to the boss without going through the secretary. (Oh yeah, if the secretary/administrative assistant hates you, you don’t stand a chance). Don’t be placating, or phony, people will pick up on that as well. Be sincere, honest, and genuine.

6. Resist the urge to engage your prey one on one until you are ready to negotiate. If it’s someone you know already, just say “hi” and keep going! Why? Your prey will be sizing you up as prey, the same way you are sizing them up! The bigger the predator they are, the more dangerous position you put yourself in by trying to be cocky and show your hand too quickly.

7. Also, your prey may be “big game” which provides you with the advantage of being the underdog, meaning they have no expectation of you, or someone like you ever getting the advantage over them. This is considerably in your favor if you have patience. The secret to catching the prey without too much of a struggle on your part (if you watch the nature shows), is TIMING!

8. Consider all the angles
Take the time to project yourself into the situation from their prospective. Play Devil’s Advocate. Ask all the questions you think they would ask you if the situation were reversed. Ask the hard questions that you don’t have an answer for, and then get one! Consider the positives, and “what’s in it for them” – there has to always be something in it for the other guy if you want your negotiation tactics to be considered art!

Replay the situation over and over (and over and over) in your head until you think you’ve covered every conceivable scenario, both good and bad, because there will always be something you’ve overlooked.

9. ASK them WHAT THEY WANT! The direct frontal approach can be extremely unnerving, and very effective.

10. Never lose your cool; you’ll lose everything!

11. Never let how you really feel show on your face.

12. Once you’ve made your point(s), STOP TALKING! And no matter how long the silence is, don’t be the first one to speak. The first one who speaks has already lost! (If there’s food around, now is the time to put something in your mouth!)

13. Be gracious whether you win or lose! This is so important. How you do either will speak volumes of you as a person, a competitor, and as someone people may want to do business with in the future. It will establish a reputation for you that will be either positive or negative. And even if you don’t land the big game this time, according to how you played the game, the big game with have respect for you, and they will remember you believe it or not- which will come in handy in the future.

14. Winning what you want out of a negotiation should be a legitimate “best practice” to improve something somewhere, whether it’s a good or service; working conditions, or method of delivery. You should keep in mind that “what goes around, comes around”, so even though you may win today, you may be tomorrow’s loser.

What’s the biggest problem when presenting data or analysis? The presenter lacks of clarity around his message and what needs to change. The best way to solve the problem is to plan and present a clear thesis to open the presentation. Let’s find out what it is, and how to do it.

A thesis has a three part formula:

1. It states a problem
2. It suggests solution
3. It poses a question.

All good business writing begins with a good thesis. Take this opening paragraph from an article in the economist magazine.

‘WHY is it so many manufacturers cannot leave well alone? They go to great pains to produce exquisite pieces of technology. Then too often, instead of merely honing the rough edges away to perfection, they spoil everything by adding unnecessary bells and whistles and unwarranted girth. In the pursuit of sales, they seem to feel they must continually add further features to keep jaded customers coming back for more. It is as if consumers can’t be trusted to respect the product for what the designers originally intended.’ Economist August 2009.

This is a good example of a thesis, it starts by posing a question, defines the problem and hints a solution.
Business presentations should be no different from business writing in that they should

1. Open with a problem, to get the clients attention
2. Suggest the direction of a solution, to pique curiosity
3. Pose some questions by means of setting an agenda.

Let’s examine each in turn.

1. Open with a problem:
If you’ve done your analysis well then you should be able to state, with pinpoint accuracy, the nature of your client’s problem. Do this right and it’s as if you’ve grabbed the client by the lapels and shouted “Hey you’d better listen up, this is important.”
2. Suggest a solution:
Rather, you state the direction of the solution. You don’t want to show all your cards at once, because you haven’t sufficiently built the problem. If you show your hand too early you are likely to get objections.
3. Pose some questions:
Though what you are really doing is giving the client an agenda for the rest of the meeting. But you are doing it in a more elegant way, posing questions that need an answer.

Finally once you have planned your presentation thesis commit it to memory. This guarantees that a) you will open strong, and b) should the client ask you to cut to the chase, you can give your thesis therefore demonstrating yourself as a clear thinker worthy of another meeting.