Winning The Big Pitch - The 7 deadly sins of business presentations and how to avoid them!

Presentations are poor cost you business?

The ability to deliver a presentation to potential investors or clients is an essential skill for any budding entrepreneur, sales professional or consultant.

Whether it's a '15 second elevator pitch 'or a more extensive, conquer and convince the public is vital in today's competitive capital raising and selling environment.

Learn the art of effective and persuasive presentations in any business situation and you win more work.

My premise is every start-up entrepreneurs, seasoned business operator or consultant can win more business by being a better presenter.

Here are the seven deadly sins of corporate presentations and how to avoid them.

1. Not having a clear goal.

It 's essential to know what is the objective result or end of the presentation. And 'to raise funds, educate and inform, build relationships, sell or build credibility?

2. No Structure.

This is an absolute must for each presenter - at least have a beginning, middle and end. You can be the best presenter in the world with exceptional delivery skills, but poor structure will lead to a poor presentation.

3. No connection with the public.

Build empathy with the audience is crucial. Connect with them on three levels - head, heart and hip-pocket.

4. A Poor Start.

First impressions always matter. If you have to raise $ 8 million in 8 minutes, make every word count. I learned this tip from attending school to speak to Patricia Fripp recently and I think its brilliant. For business presentations, says to avoid using 'Thanks, its nice to be here' as opener. She rightly points out you've just wasted 10 seconds. A one million dollars per minute, which equates to nearly $ 167 000!

5. Too Much Content.

The cardinal sin of all business presenters and technicians. In my career average, I estimate I have attended over 300 conferences, events and seminars. This is a value of 1500 hours of presentations that I had to sit through and the most common mistake I see is race and presenters overload the audience with too much content. Remember, presentations rely on the spoken word and visual - to use the written word and a pantry to provide more details.

6. The presenter 'I.' are too close.

We all like to talk about us. As a manager radio, I spent hours listening and providing feedback to the broadcasters. Those who really connected with their audience has spoken with them rather than against them. I've seen have used the word 'you' a lot more than the word 'I'. This led to them saying that with some presenters 'I.' were too close! Here's another great tip I learned from Fripp. Record your presentation and have it transcribed. Every time you see the word 'I', cross it out and replace it with the 'you'. She calls him to work on the 'I-Thou relationship'.

7. Poor Closer.
It is still beginning and the end which is the most important part of any presentation. With your neighbor - which is the key message or action that you want the audience to take away with them as they walk out the door? In business presentations is often closer to the 'call to action'. When I heard Bill Clinton speak at a fundraising event for sick children, her neighbor was 'I want you to help'. Simple, direct and effective.

Here's another tip I learned from Fripp. If you want to ask questions, take them closer first, because it ends question time is a poor and weak to finish a presentation. Worse still, it is unlikely that they are able to control the last question. Ask questions for a certain period before the end, wrap the section and then finish with a stronger. I've tried this on several public and works a treat!...