Greg's Right FIT #464

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Presentations
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Presentations

• If using a slide show, your audience can read a slide faster than you. Don't read slides.
• No matter how much time you have to speak, begin with the end in mind. Asking yourself, when they leave here, what do I want them to remember, makes a better presentation. 
• Don't end on a Q&A. It's unpredictable. End with a statement that you have prepared and practiced. Ideally, the same idea you started the presentation with. Attendees will put more weight on the beginning and end when evaluating your talk. 
• The best slides need explanation. Get an attendee's brain to go, wait, what is this? After an explanation, there's an "a-ha!" and their brains will like that. But don't overuse the technique. A brain picking up on a pattern gets bored.

Being Human - Proposals

". . .when Greg said that I was like, 'that's genius!'" 

This week I was talking to over a hundred independent marketers and small agencies for four hours. It was a lot. I covered everything I could think of about how to use Google Ads for B2B lead generation in complex sales. I rambled about how to sell it and the service challenges that happen when you have a lot of campaigns to manage too. 

After thousands and thousands of words, hundreds of images, and countless ideas, you know what the attendee's big takeaway was? A throwaway comment I had about proposals. I gave my usual list of don'ts that longtime readers of this email might recognize:

• Don't have the only numbers in the proposal be your price. ROI needs a Return, not just the Investment.
• Don't lead with info about you and your firm, lead with everything you've heard about them, their situation and the problem they need solved.
• Don't send a proposal, deliver it in person. The reason is when you detail their situation and problem, if you're wrong or missed something, you might be able to pivot. 
• Part two of don't send a proposal: If you can't meet in person, start by sending the first part, the "all about you" section, and get agreement before moving forward. It's clunky, but if you're slightly off in this part, it gives you a minute to change the details of the proposal. 

It was this last one that started a side conversation inside the group. Don't send the full proposal until you get agreement that you've heard them accurately. Confirm the details of the opportunity you heard is what they meant to say. It's not unusual to get new, important information in this step, no matter how long you've been talking to them. I have had a number of head-slapping, "well, why didn't you say that earlier?" moments at the 11th hour. Don't get mad, be thankful for the new information. Even if it means getting your team back together and burning the midnight oil to rethink your company's proposal. 

Random Stuff

"Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight." - Bob Marley giving me advice

Last week, on this day, I was walking along Newport, Rhode Island's famed Cliff Walk. On one side, endless ocean views. On the other, acres of manicured lawns framing 30,000-100,000 square foot Gilded Age mansions. We lucked out with the weather. Sunshine, gentle breezes and clear skies. 

I had been there once before, 1991, after graduating. I don't remember much, but two things come to mind. One was seeing a bridge under construction with a big Kiewit sign on it. Kiewit is a construction firm based in Omaha (one of our campus dorms was named after a Kiewit). Until that minute, I hadn't considered them to be national power players. Actually, I hadn't considered them at all. Turns out the company is kind of a big deal.

The second was eating dinner at a crowded little Mexican restaurant. There was a small group of us and the wait staff took our drink order. Then we waited. And waited. We were only 22 years old, and we didn't want to be a nuisance, but after an unreasonably long time, I got up the nerve to ask about our order. "Hold on," the man said. He came to the table about 10 minutes later. It seems our server had quit her job after she took our order. Gone. Skipped out. Flew the coop. Ghosted. 

Since then, I've tried to remember what she looked like and if there were any indications of unhappiness. She was around our age. It was peak tourist season, so the place was packed. Was seeing another group of her peers struggling to order a margarita too much? A step too far? Was she like, that's it! I'm going to law school! Or did she get some bad news? It was before cell phones, so that's not likely. Maybe she just disappeared like that kid in "Into the Wild." No one was carrying a tracking device in those days. I hope she's okay. I hope things worked out for her. 

Whatever happened in her life, I'm left with being a little miffed about my lack of self-advocacy. What was I afraid of? I should have followed up on our order a lot sooner.