Free Presentation Tips

Presentation Tip #21

Paper Weight

No, we are not talking about something that keeps your papers from blowing off the desk. Paper weight refers to the weight of a piece of paper. For example, ordinary paper that you would find in a copier is referred to as 20# paper. It is very light, flimsy and usually the words or image "bleeds" through to the other side (when you turn over 20# paper that has text or a picture on it, the images can be seen on the reverse side).

This paper is fine for photocopiers or for your home computer for general printing but it is not OK for presentation materials. Anything that you are going to hand out to prospects or clients should be printed on at least a 28# paper stock. 28# paper has a substantial feel to it and will not bleed through.

Touch, feel and look all send a message and when dealing with prospects, this is not the time to cheap out. It costs less than a penny more per page and it will really upgrade your presentation hand-outs.

In fact, we often will use a 100# text quality paper as the feel and look of this type of paper is first-rate.

Also, be aware of the "brightness" number assigned to a paper. A brightness of 86 is normal for photocopier paper. In reality,  it is not really white but more a light gray. We use a brightness coding of "96" for all our presentation materials. It really does make a difference.

Listen

In making presentations it is easy to fall into the trap of doing all the talking. Yes, I know you have a lot of wonderful information to convey but a presentation should be more of a conversation than a lecture. We have found that a 75%, 25% ratio between REALTOR® and client is OK in the first half of a presentation but as the presentation goes on perhaps a 60/40 or even a 50/50 split is where successful presentations range. There is a time to talk and a time to listen. Too many REALTORS® forget that that they should be listening intently to what their clients are relaying to them.

As a top presenter you need to use all your skills and senses to connect with your prospects. When you do, you'll have more clients.

Take Control

When starting a Listing presentation, we always take the lead. At the appropriate time, we will tell them that our Presentation will take about forty-five minutes (or whatever you decide is appropriate). Then ask them if that time line is OK. In doing this, we have implied that we will be leading the discussion and have set a time line for our presentation. There is nothing worse that being half way through a presentation when your prospects suddenly say that they have to go in five minutes. That certainly would be enough to unsettle any sales person and before you know it, you will be stuttering and stumbling to meet your clients allotted time schedule. Thus, always ask up front and get agreement on a timeline and stick to it.

Power of Questions and the Power of "Yes"

Make sure you ask lots of questions of your prospects to find out what their worries or concerns are.
The questions you ask your prospects and clients are critical. You should have a prepared list of questions you will ask of your Sellers and of Buyers memorized. Each question you ask must have a purpose in that it will uncover information that is important for you to know in order to close the sale. In sales training books this is called probing.

Whenever possible, always use an open ended question. An open ended question is any query that cannot be answered by a simple yes or a no. For example. Do you like living in this neighbourhood? This can obviously be answered with a yes or a no. However, - What are the three aspects of this neighbourhood do you like the most? – will get them talking. Any objections they have will crop up at this time so make sure you are prepared with a powerful response.

Another powerful tool presentation skill is in getting your prospects to agree with statements you make. For example, I may say to a Buyer, "Mr. and Mrs. Brown, one of the services I perform for my clients is to check the new MLS listings three times a day. In doing this I find newly listed properties that may be exactly what my clients are looking for before other Buyers are aware the home is for sale. Is that a service you would find to be valuable?" Usually they will say yes. So here I have told my Buyers about one of my services and they have agreed that what I am offering is in fact of value to them. I have underscored the service and its benefit. Furthermore, psychologists say that if you can get a person to agree with your viewpoint at least six times during a conversation, they will have the opinion that you are a person who thinks a lot like them.

Debrief Yourself

Here is where REALTORS® often fail.

Military units returning from patrol all do the same thing upon their return before they do anything else. They meet and debrief. Debriefing is going over what you just did and highlighting what you did right and what you did wrong. This is done to ensure successful strategies are remembered and unsuccessful actions are not repeated.

As professional REALTORS® we should do the same thing after any presentation. Take five minutes and review what you did right, what you goofed up on and what materials might you have used better. What didn't you have with you that you could have used to make your presentation more impressive? Make a list and review it the next day.

We learn from our mistakes for one simple reason – we didn't get the order. When we win, we are too busy celebrating to notice that perhaps, even though we won, things could have been done much better and gone much smoother.

Take the time to be a pro. Debrief. If it is a required action by other professionals, then it is probably something we should follow in our quest to be the best we can be.


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