How to prepare your persuasive presentation

You’ve got a big project you’ve been working on. To keep working on it, you need someone else’s approval. The big question: How can you raise the probability you’ll get the action or agreement you’re looking for?

How do you present to persuade?

Here’s a starting outline I’ve been using with my corporate and organizational clients lately. In every case, there’s been a team that’s worked for months on a big project that’s designed to help their organization. And so far, each team (four and counting…) has gotten what they’ve asked for. The following example is adapted from an actual client project:

1. Start with the desired outcome of the meeting/state what the meeting is about

• We’re here today to present the results of the content marketing project and why, because it helps two of our strategic priorities, it warrants continued investment
• This is your “opening shot,” also known as your Red Thread®. It’s particularly useful with executives, who want to know upfront what’s going to happen, and what you’re asking for

2. Outline the order of your information

• What we’d like to do is…

1. Start with the results of the project
2. Explain what we see as the best next steps

• Happy to take questions throughout
• Does that order work for you?
• This allows your audience to ask for a different order, though that’s pretty rare in my experience

3. Present the results of the project (if that’s what you’re there to talk about)

• Outline the original goal of the project

1. We started this project to expand our audience
2. Explore a new revenue stream

• What you did

1. Here are the steps we took…

• What the results were

1. Here’s what we saw…

• Audience numbers — 20,000 new contacts
• Engagement — 25% engaging on a week to week basis
• Revenue data
• Audience feedback — examples
• What implications/insights the results sparked

1. Here’s what we learned…

• Strategic priorities:
• More content: Effective way to educate/inform the public on something they’re curious about (and is also one of the most pressing issues of our region)
• To more people: Helped us reach and engage with a new audience
• Additional benefits:
• Innovation: Created a new channel → potential blueprint for other departments or audiences
• New revenue stream for the organization overall
• All of these points help you set the context for the persuasive part of your presentation. Design this portion to present the information you’ll be referring to later.
• I’d also recommend pausing here and specifically asking what questions your audience has so far. This allows you to make sure they’re tracking with you before barreling on ahead with your ask. Since their most likely question will be some version of, “So what are you asking for?”, go there next.

4. Conclude that portion with an ask/what’s required to spread those results further

• This obviously required resources for us to accomplish (we know that was a big concern at the beginning)

1. [explain what those were]

• For us to replicate/continue/expand these results, the effort requires continued and/or additional resources

1. Specifically, we recommend… [now you can be specific]

• Don’t be coy here. Tell them what you want or need.

5. Answer the question in the room/anticipate objections

• But there’s always competition for resources
• And you want to make sure you’re making the best choices for the organization
• So you’re no doubt wondering, “Why is investing in this project more worthwhile than investing in something else?”
• This is the near-magic transition — the moment where you say out loud the question that’s in their head, whatever your best guess might be. In the best-case scenarios, they see (and usually respect) that you’ve thought through the ask beyond your own needs. But even the worst-case — where they say, “no, actually, my question is XXX” — you’ll know exactly what concern to address.

6. Pick up with your Conversational Case™

• We think it’s worth it because it’s able to deliver on both our production and reach priorities
• Most of the options for investments often focus on one or the other, and usually with an emphasis on production

1. For good reason… that’s our primary directive for FY20, after all

• But we can all agree, we believe, that the more people who see and engage with our content, the more impact it will have
• So, since this project both provided wanted and needed content AND access to a new audience, we believe it can accomplish more with similar resources to some other project that only focused on one of our priorities

1. Gives us a chance to invest and move two priorities forward, not just one
2. Also serves our goals around innovation and revenue streams

• Since you’ve already presented the supporting data in your “results” section, above, you can move through this part quickly, referencing that earlier information

7. Explore the ask

• So what would that additional resources/investment look like? [This again anticipates the most likely question your audience will ask, with the same magic]
• Tell them exactly what you’re asking for:

1. Ideally, this would be to… [supply your wish-list ask — what the best result you could hope for would be]
2. More realistically… [supply an acceptable Plan B; I often recommend suggesting a finite timeline to extend a pilot and/or asking for a commitment to developing a more detailed plan for how to find and fund required resources]

• Give them details of what that looks like…

1. Here’s what’s happening right now [outline reality of current situation]
2. Here’s how we see this working [details of what your recommendation would look like and cost]
3. We’re happy to revisit [XXX] months in the future to reassess this investment of resources and evaluate how it compares/relates to revenue

• The key here is to be realistic and open to compromise. The more alternatives you’ve thought through ahead of time, the better.

8. Make the ask

• So would you be open-minded to… [thanks to Phil Jones (affiliate link) for that great language]
• Start with your “realistic” ask. Best case: they commit to your wish list one!

You can obviously move things around or drop out pieces you don’t need. I do that all the time, myself, when working with clients on this. I use this basic outline, and then adapt the order and wording to suit the situation.

What do you think? Useful?

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#marketing #messaging #persuasion #startup #entrepreneurship #psychology