If you are out there hustling right now and trying to close opportunities, this post may really help you. I’ve included the video here, too.
I just finished working with an innovation group to help them prepare their presentation deck for a big opportunity and some of the recommendations stood out as something that may help a lot of you that are out there right now trying to close new opportunities.
What had happened was this innovation group made it to the final round of the RFP process. They were against two other vendors and due to the social distancing measures we’re taking now with the Covid-19 pandemic, they would not even be able to present their deck in person nor would they even get a phone call. No pressure right? And the idea was that all the vendors would send in their presentation deck and whoever the end client likes the most due to their vision and strategic approach the client would then call that vendor and from what I understand that vendor would then get them to big deal.
So, of course, they know they need help. They call me in and we start discussing what the vision is and what the project is.
We start building the deck and, at this point, I just want ideas. I’m listening to everything they’re telling me through interviews, but also just getting their ideas down on paper. Even if it’s bullet list. We need to get down all our ideas and start organizing them.
One thing I noticed is that they as they were going through the deck of ideas that they would stop and actually start describing the user experience that was going to help their clients so much. While I can’t tell you too much about the project, imagine an opportunity that was mostly software driven but an experience that would touch multiple departments of the client’s company.
What I reminded them is this: “You’re user experience, you’re data scientists and innovators. So this deck represents the product that you’re going to be handing them.”
We couldn’t just have a PowerPoint Deck full of bullet list points that describe the experience. We had to pull them into the experience.
Storytelling Recommendations
My first recommendation was to design the deck like the user experience of the product. Let’s pull the potential client in o the solution that you are trying to describe in your bullet points.
The second recommendation played off that a little bit which was actually adding storytelling. This is a big pain point for so many people because you start asking what does that even look like? Does that mean I have one story that I start the presentation with and that all the solutions have to match up to that storyline? Is it many stories? How do we do this?
For this particular client, because their solution would touch so many different people and departments, it was not worthwhile to try to develop a full long story singular story that carried you from beginning to end of the presentation in this way.
What we did was we created mini scenes so as you were going through the user experience deck you would come onto a scene that would actually pull you into a moment of where it was solving a problem. Why this is a really strong technique is because storytelling, compared to bullet list points, helps you live a moment as actually as though you’re actually there. By coming to a point in the deck where there’s actually conversation and more that story like feel.
Reasons This Storytelling Technique Works
One, it got their attention. It re-engages them because it was different. Story pulls us in more than other types of content. The second point is that it helped them live or relive the pain point. They are starting identify and feel that pain point as though they are really living it again, and then they get to the solution which also lets them live the experience of relief because of that solution.
This also makes it a safer bet to go on with this vendor because they feel like they’ve lived part of the experience with this vendor already.
These are the two main recommendations that I provided for them to better help share this vision and not just describe it, but share the vision in a way that would probably have people keep flipping through because it looked like any other deck.
The presentation we created really stood out because of the user experience, it didn’t look like a regular deck. It was designed different. It felt different and the mini scenes are stories that were scattered throughout to actually show the impact that this would have on different client audiences.
How Are You Preparing Presentations for Big Opportunities?
I want to hear how things are going in your world and all the presentations and opportunities that you’re building out.
Feel free to reach out to me anytime. That’s what I’m here for and let me know how this goes if you end up trying any of these techniques. I really want to know how it goes.