Famed Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax, the youngest player ever to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, once said, “I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.” What he meant was that the best pitchers don’t try to always strike batters out; rather, they try get batters to pop up or ground out.
In sales, however, a good pitch is one where you hit it out of the park, and the best tool for doing that is a presentation. Business presentations help convey your company’s message and drive action; but, without the right strategy, you’re more likely to hit a popup or to ground out.
One of the easiest mistakes to make if you give business presentations regularly is to recycle the same slides, especially if they are nothing but large blocks of text and bullet points. Your presentation slides shouldn’t play like a broken record; they should change depending on the audience you’re presenting to. Moreover, if you’re going to monotonously read bullets from the same PowerPoint over and over again, you might as well just send it over to the prospect… There’s no need to show up, because anyone can read from a deck.
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