From Pitch to Powerhouse: Presentations that Win in Business & Life

Hello and welcome to the show. Today. We're going to continue the discussion that we've been having for the last two or three days and that's on how sales skills can help in your personal growth and development. Now as a bit of a recap, we started off two or three days ago by identifying the sales skills in particular that traditionally people who are involved in sales and business development use to to do their job, you know, to try and get people to buy their, their products or services.

And then we've been breaking down how these skills relate to those of you who do not carry a quota or who are not sales people or who do not run the business. So some of the skills that we've looked at so far have been building trust and rapport with potential customers. So there's been an episode about how building trust and rapport with customers and clients, how that can help you in politics or church ministry or if you're an employee, interpersonal relationships, you know,

whatever. Then I think the episode that we did yesterday that was around understanding client needs. So what are the techniques that salespeople use to understand client needs? And then how can that help you to be much more effective in the workplace or in interpersonal relationships? Then the other skills that we're going to run through today, at least anyway, is going to be on presentation skills, effective presentation skills, let me put it that way.

So that is something that salespeople traditionally have had to be good at because at some point you meet a stranger, you build a relationship. Eventually you have to get to the point where you have to make the presentation to say, this is how I can help you, these are the options. This is how much it will cost and this is how we should go ahead. So that's the presentation stage why you're trying to make the person see how your product or services valuable.

So that is what we're going to be looking at today. And after today, the other steps we're going to look at will be getting people to commit to take the next action steps, making sure that everyone is happy, that is the customer satisfaction stage and then getting repeat business and referrals. So each of these skills are essential in sales and they all have a subset of smaller skills that are subsumed within them that you need to get the job done.

And my thesis in today's podcast and the two episodes prior and in the two or three episodes that are going to come after this, the thesis is that even if you're not a salesperson, even if you don't have a quota, even if you don't run a business, then these skills are, these skills are extremely important and they're going to help you in your role as an employee or in your committee work in church or even with your relationships with your family, for instance.

So today we're going to look at effective presentation skills. You know, how do you come up with an effective presentation? So if you are a salesperson, then you will be preoccupied with effective presentation skills because it is necessary, because it is the persuasive element. And when we say persuasive element, we mean we're trying to get people from point A to point B to Point C and at some point it ends up in both of you establishing a business relationship where you deliver the value that your product or services promises and where they deliver you revenue.

So traditionally, sales people very concerned when it comes to this whole thing of effective presentations. And like I've said, the whole thing of effective presentations or rather the whole thing of trying to be persuasive, carries over well into the corporate, corporate world culture. So if you're a Nigerian, you work in Zenith Bank or you work within NBC, you know, the makers of Coca-Cola, let's see what else Or you're in pastoral ministry.

You're, you're a priest. You, you know, you're a priest. You're an evangelist. You're a prophet or whatever, or you're a politician. Other kinds of relationships, interpersonal and otherwise. Then, you know, this whole persuasive element, you know, carries through because the employee and the organization, the pastor of the politician, the parent we're all trying to be, we're all trying to get people to do some things for their benefit and also for our benefit as well.

So for those of us who are parents, we're trying to convince our children to do ABC or 123 for their own benefit and for our benefit. And it's the same thing for those of you who have executive responsibilities in corporations. You're trying to get the employees, people underneath you to do some things for the benefit and for the benefit of the corporation. So we are all perfectly aligned when it comes to looking at effective presentation, whether we are sales people or we are not.

OK. So like I mentioned at the top of the episode, each of these skills has a subset of skills that are required. So what are the subset of skills that we need for effective, effective presentations? And one of them is effective listening skills. Now, this is something that we hinted at yesterday. We talked a little. We hinted about it in yesterday's podcast, because in yesterday's podcast we spoke about effective conversation skills.

And effective listening skills actually does start with effective conversation skills. Because let's face it, most of the times, if we're worried about effective listening, it is within the context of a conversation. So yes, you can worry if you're listening effectively to a lecture or to a movie. But for most people, when we talk about effective listening, we are thinking about situations where husband is talking with wife, parents are talking with the child, salesman talking with the potential customer, What else, Doctor talking with the client.

Those are the sorts of things that we're talking about when we talk about effective listening. Are you listening properly? Is that guiding the conversation along? So it's always within the context of a conversation. So we're going to start off with effective conversation skills. And yesterday, what I tried to stress that effective conversation skills are about asking questions about the other person and about their own personal circumstances, their own business circumstances,

their cultural circumstances, you know, whatever the context is. So if you're a pastor, it's questions about this person, the spiritual background, their personal growth, the challenges that they're facing, you know, things like that. So effective listening begins with being able to ask the right kinds of questions. If it's a sales context, then we're already addressed that previously in yesterday's episode. And yeah, so I guess what I'm just trying to say is that effective listening, step number one, effective conversation skills and effective conversation skills begin with asking questions about the other person.

It's not about talking. Then the reason why this is important, at least in the business context, is because when you ask someone questions and they give you answers, the answers that you get are going to form the basis of the presentation that you give in the future. So that's why it's important if I want to convince somebody to buy my OK. If I want to convince somebody to buy my bottle of water or my tissue paper or my turkeys or my chicken or my Let's say I have a ranch and I sell cows.

If I'm trying to get them to buy it to say that this bottle of water is the best, this is quality beef. OK, let me stick to the beef thing. That will be easier to come up with an example. So if I'm saying buy this beef because this is quality beef, If I'm making all the arguments from my own point of end saying that this is Bosu cows imported from South Africa, Best protein, best taste, best this best that best, blah blah blah blah blah,

I am guessing as to what I think is valuable. Oh by the way, this is your first time listening to the show. Please listen to yesterday's episode. It's going to give you a thorough context and understanding behind the dynamic that I'm trying to stress here. So if I'm saying this is Buzu cow imported from South Africa, it's the best. This is me guessing that this person gives a hoot about Buzu cow imported from South Africa or that it meets that purpose.

Now it depends. This person might be buying the cow because they want to make kilishi, or they might be taking the cow because they want to grind it up to make animal feed for something else. Or they might be buying it because there's a wedding and so they want to slaughter the cow and then serve the guests. There are lots of reasons why this person might be buying the cow. Now I need to ask questions to figure out what's important to them, where they're coming from,

where they're heading to. And the information that I get there is what should inform the presentation. So for somebody who just wants to create animal feed, it doesn't matter if this is a Boozoo cow imported from South Africa. Oh, sorry. By the way, it's been a long time since I studied cattle, you know, that was back in secondary school in Agrik. So for those of you who are familiar with these sorts of things, please forgive me if I'm using the wrong what's it called?

Name or the wrong species? I can't remember which which species of cows is native to also native to other parts of the world. So just in case you're listening and every time I say Buzu cow, he greets, you know, he greets your ears because you know that Buzu cow is native to Nigeria. Then you know, please forgive me, but for now let me pretend that Buzu cows are from South Africa. So for someone who is trying to make animal feed to them, they might not be.

They don't care that it is Buzu cow imported from South Africa. In fact, they might prefer local alternatives of the same size that are going to be able to guarantee the quantity. Maybe for them it's about the quantity of animal feed that they're going to get at the end of the day. So me going on about boozoo, boozoo, imported, imported, imported and tastes, how the thing tastes, I'll just be wasting my time. I have a conversation to the person, the person who wants to make animal feed and they're concerned more about size and servings and things like that.

Then instead of hopping on about boozoo cows from South Africa, maybe I should go back to this table, look at the local alternatives that are ready here that we have not incurred importation costs on, and then things like that. And then build my presentation around why this is a better cow to buy. So you see how I can be persuasive unless I am listening. And I can't be listening unless I am asking the right kinds of questions and unless I am not making lots of assumptions.

So this is the reason why most presentations fail, whether in the office or in church. Because as a pastor, you could be telling somebody that this is what God told me. God told me that you should do this. That is, you just talking at the person. And maybe in your heart of hearts, you actually believe that this is what God is telling you to do. But you haven't asked the question. You don't know what is the root of the person's problems.

You haven't gotten to the root of the issue. You don't know where the person is leaning here or there. At the very least, you haven't gotten the person to be understood. If you listened, you asked questions, you paid attention, and the person felt understood, perhaps they'll be willing to listen to you regardless of whether it is truly the voice of God or not. So a lot of times, right? The presentations, feel departmental meeting, sales context.

You're trying to persuade somebody to buy your car or whatever is because a lot of us are assuming that we know what's in the best interests of the other person who is across the table. So let's stop assuming that we know what the other person needs. So, pastor, stop assuming you know what the congregation person needs. Listen, Mr. Salesman, you're trying to sell your cow or you're trying to sell a car. You believe that Mercedes-Benz are the best?

Or maybe you believe that Isuzu, Skoda or whatever, because it's fuel efficient, is the best car to buy for now because of rising fuel costs in Nigeria. Stop coming along with your assumptions. Ask questions. You might find out that the person doesn't give a hoot about fuel costs, and the person cares more about status in other in that case, you should be talking about Mercedes Benzes and the other kinds of cars. And don't assume that because the person shows up in a Baba Riga in the Mercedes-Benz, the guy is wearing the Rolex, he's flush for cash, his wife is wearing gold.

Because of that, you just assume that they're going to buy another car of status. Maybe right now they're trying to downsize. Children have left the house, and quite frankly, they're looking for less expensive cars to maintain. And maybe in this case, even though it's a senator whose wife is wearing lots of gold, maybe, perhaps you should be talking about the Isuzu cars or the Skoda cars or the other things that are much more fuel, fuel efficient.

So a lot of your presentations are failing because a lot of you are assuming that you know what the other person wants and what is in their best interest. Sometimes you might be right and sometimes you're not. But I think, but The thing is, it now makes this whole thing about giving presentations. It makes it a 5050 proposition. My work might not work. But The thing is, if you listen to people and then you tailor your presentation to their needs, which you got because you listened during the conversation, then the odds of you making a successful presentation goes up.

Because now you know what Senator Ali wants. And you know the senator, the senator who's at your car lot, you know, know what it is that he wants? The father of the bride who is getting ready to buy stuff for the wedding, who wants to buy a cow? You now know what he wants or the person who is buying the car for animal feed, you know what she wants. I trust you guys get the picture. So it is by having open conversations and listening,

you're going to be able to get to the end of what it is that they really want. So if you want to have more details about how to have open-ended conversations, frank conversations and conversations that focus on the other person, then listen to the podcast episode that we recorded before this one. There's a whole lot more details there. Now, another thing about effective presentations, the average person also needs to learn how to change the structure of a presentation.

Or at least we Nigerians need to learn to change that. Because in Nigeria, and I can't speak for those of you in the UK or in America, but you know, we start off studying English in school and you know, we're taught how to write, give speeches, make presentations and blah blah blah. So summary, a lot of us leaving the Nigerian educational school system, we some we believe that an effective presentation goes like this.

You start off by saying this is who we are. You know this is Zenith Bank or this is so and so corporation. Then you go into the whole part of this is how we began, our founder did this, Chairman of the Board, blah blah, blah blah blah. Then there's that section about this is our Board of Directors and our Chairman and our Board of this and our Board of that. And then you flaunt how you have Ambassador, this person on the board, ex Governor, this honourable member, so on, so and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Then there's a section about how great we are, this is how great the product or the service is and blah, blah, blah. Then there's that laundry list. And truly for Nigerians anyway, it's a laundry list because they list out every single conceivable thing that the organization does. So here's a laundry list of services that we can provide for you and they will list it all. So let's say it's a company and they're making a presentation,

their real estate investment trusts for instance. This is just me freestyling by the way. They will list everything there. They will list the research capability, their property valuation capabilities, their what else, their title capabilities, you know how you validate title and then things like that. Let's see what else you know. But you get the point. They would just list everything cha. So for this business, for this organization, this is absolutely everything we can do for you.

And they would list it all, all the three at the 20 items, the 10 items, the whatever. And then the summary would be basically over looking forward to working with you because we are the best in the industry. And then that's it, that's the presentation, that's the proposal. You double bind it or you circle bind it or whatever make it look nice and then you go and drop it off at the person's office. And then the average Nigerian person thinks ah that was that was a good meeting.

We have dropped the proposal. I'm sure something is good is going to come out of this. Then they go home and then they tell their spouse that I created a solid presentation and we've sent it. God willing something would come out of this or they tell that to their business partners and then the game begins. You wait when I going to hear from them, when I going to hear from them. So that's what the average Nigerian person does.

But to have effective business presentations, we need to change the order a little bit. We have to make the process the other person focused. That's why I'm saying we should listen to the episode that came before. This one. You have to be focused on the other person. If you notice, the first step is me, me, me, me, me, us, us, us. This is who we are. This is how we began. This is our Visionary Founder. This is our Visionary Chairman.

This is our board, our business Directors. These are the services we invite. This Is Us. This is me. This Is Us. This is me, me, me, me, me, me, me. So we need to focus on the other person who is sitting at the opposite end of the table. So the new structure should look something like this. If you start off with a couple of chapters saying this is our understanding of who you are, so you should actually talk about the other person or the other person's company.

Just give a sense that you understand who they are. Then you should try and devote a couple of paragraphs paragraphs to understanding the problems that they face. And then there should be the part in the presentation and it shouldn't just be in the document. But this is the part where when you're doing the presentation, you actually should stop and look at them and talk to them, not reading from the presentation. This is a point where you now confirm that if your understanding is correct so far,

if your understanding of them and their business is correct, them and their situation or the understanding of them and the problems that they face is correct so far. It is at this point that you now ask for feedback because you need to know that you are on point. This is the point where if you misunderstood the business, it would be nice if somebody from the other side says, OK, well, OK, no problem. When you said page one, page two, that actually is correct.

But then on that page three, you know that item over there, you know that's not us. We, well, we actually do that, but it's not, it's not our core area of focus. So let's focus on the items on page one. Now you know you have checked your assumptions. You now know that when you're proceeding, before you try and close the sale, you should be focusing on the things that you identified on page one and page 2 because they told you so.

So once you get all these things, then this is the point where you now say, OK, if my understanding of who you are and the problem you face is correct, then these are my recommendations in my own professional opinion, as your financial advisor or as your lawyer or as your butcher or whatever. Because even if you're a butcher, it's the same. We need to try and figure out who this person is and the problem that they face.

You know, you have to run the summary now. OK. Oh, so sorry. If I understand you correctly, it's because of your daughter's wedding. That's the reason why you're here. People are cooking for 2500 people. And the law on cash you want to buy the kind of cow that one is one that if you buy it you you use that account feed 2000 people you are not worried about the taste profile lobby because your cookies that you are going to spice it.

Well OK no problem. So now that I understand this thing correct these are the options I am going to put forward this boozoo from South Africa is still an optional because they are different grades. We can discuss option #2. We can try this kind of cow, which is look at it is big, is hefty, is you know, whatever. It will give you all the meat that you need. And then option #3, instead of buying one cow, maybe we can buy seven goats.

So you know, this is a thought process in my own professional of opinion. If I understand everything correctly, this is my recommended course of action. Option A, which is this. Option B which requires XYZ, and then option C which is blah blah blah. You give them three and then you ask the question, so which of these options seem most suitable to you? You don't have to use the exact words that I'm using, you know, use your verbiage.

It doesn't have to be English because I was listening in on a session where one where somebody broke into Yoruba and so somebody, so excuse me, somebody in the audience thought was unprofessional that the person broke into Yoruba. And I'm glad that the person who was chairing the session was able to convince the people that, look, it's not about whether it's in English or in Yoruba. We are talking about persuasive arts here.

So it depends on the context. There's no point in going on and blabbering on in English if the person doesn't understand Turinchi and the person wants to speak outside. The person wants to do Kadankada, or you know, or the person wants to do batting Batty, the person wants to speak Yoruba. So if you are good with Yoruba, then by all means he's looking at this going to be Yoruba conversation and you can flow in Yoruba, then by all means, you know, switch and go accordingly.

It's about communication, passing across information, understanding what is being said and trying to achieve persuasion at the at the end of the day. So you try and figure out which of these options are most suitable to the person. Now This is why I should adopt this approach. Again, this is the approach. Start off by saying this is from the conversation we have had so far from the questions you've asked. This is your understanding of who the person is.

This is your understanding of the problems that they face. You now ask for feedback. Hope everything is correct. OK, if everything is correct professionally from my own, from my own the way, then I'm thinking this is what may I recommend you? We can do option one which is this. We can do option 2 which is this and we can do option 3 which is this. All these options that I've said so far, which of them seems more suitable to you?

If the guy says OK, no problem, thanks, I've heard everything you know. Instead of this one kind of thing I'm thinking let's buy seven goods no problem. So if you structure your presentation this way, your potential customers or clients are going to see and get a sense that you have been paying attention to them. Because in most parts of the world, especially in Nigeria, is is an absolute buzzkill where you're talking and looks like this person is not even paying attention to you.

The person Josh Shah wants to sell this cow or this car or the person has made-up their mind that they must sell this particular jeans and it doesn't matter what it is that you say, they're trying to get you to buy this thing that they've decided is the best. So it's a huge turn off. So if you structure a presentation this way, the potential customer clients will see that you're focused on them and that you have a keen understanding of their context or the solutions that they're trying to look for, then giving options during the presentation and then trying to narrow down the suitable one at the end.

It all means that in future conversations, you now have a very specific and a very clear, a very focused line of action that these people have emotionally bought into. Let's go back to the original scenario where we do the Nigerian thing, We present the we go to the office, we drop the proposal. We don't have a conversation. And the proposal says, This Is Us, this is our Board of directors. This is why we're the best.

This is all we do. We look forward to doing business with you. And then you're waiting and waiting and waiting. You want to follow up. But true of the matter is that if you call the follow up, the only thing you can say is, Bros, how far? Now. Sure, you guys received our proposal. OK, I wanted to confirm. And then you call up in 2 weeks and say, oh, Bros, how are you doing? I hear you. I'm just greet, you know, as chairman, seen the proposal and then another and then maybe another two or three weeks you call and basically you're just following up to follow up.

You have no clear reason for following up. But then when you take this path and there's a focus line of action that people have bought into, at the end when you call to follow up, there's something specific that you're calling to follow up on. So this is the spirit of how business presentations or proposals ought to be handled. It doesn't have to be the exact same structure, but the spirit of the interaction should be the same.

Number one, talking about the other party #2, show your so that you understand their goals, understand where they're coming from, understand what they're trying to achieve. Then give options in the proposal, not just one. Give two or three options and the option should be based on what they said, not what you think is the best. So give them options based on what they said, and then get feedback on them from them, from what you think is the most promising option.

Not everybody is going to be able to. Not everybody will be comfortable enough to go ahead like back to the seven goats. Now that Olga has agreed he's going to buy seven goats for his daughter's wedding instead of 1 count, Not everybody is going to be willing to drop the money down, or they still want to think about it or whatever. But The thing is, game feedback. Looks like we now have one thing that we're talking about, and in the future we can start tweaking that proposition.

So should it be 7 cows or 10, or should it be 7 cows or five? We're gonna start negotiating. How much is it per, per. Per goat? Is it OK? Well, I haven't bought a goat in a very long time now, but last time I did years ago, many years ago. OK, well, I didn't buy it anyway. Somebody at home bought it for me. Actually, there was 20 K that they asked for me to send. So let me just pretend that ghosts, Goats still cost 7K.

Now I know in 2024, ghosts are much more expensive than that because of the way the price of things have gone up. So yes, maybe I'm out of touch. OK, So then you start pricing, is it going to be 20 K per goat or 25 per goat or 17, five per goat or 15 per goat? And then you're going to be trying to tie down, I'm trying to amend things in the options that you've discussed. But you guys see that if you follow things this way, then you're going to have a strong chance for closing the deal and for making an effective business presentation.

Now for those of you who are business people, I'm sure you've gotten a lot of insight, especially if you haven't heard things broken down this way before. But for those of you who are career people, you work in Zenith Bank or you work in Hilton Hotel, you're wondering how does all this apply to me? All these sales skills, all these techniques, all these perspectives are talking about, how does it help me in my own career development?

How does this help me in personal growth? How does it help me in my personal development? This is how it helps if you follow this process at office departmental meetings. You're going to be able to decipher, you're going to be able to figure out what are the key initiatives for your organization. Because there are times, let's face it, when you're having office meeting, departmental meeting and you think that the department should be focused on 123 and you make your presentation based on that.

But by the time Chairman talks, you find out that as far as Chairman is concerned, you should only be looking at 456123 are not even on the table. This happens. So you're trying to introduce conversational elements that are focused on the other people, other stakeholders within the organizations, having conversations with them. You're going to be able to drill down on what they think is most important for them and for the organization as a whole.

So that when the time comes for departmental meeting instead of making a presentation and you talk about 123 and everybody thinks you are talking of points, you'll be able to go straight to 456. Because you've spoken to Chairman behind the scenes, you've spoken to other stakeholders, other departmental heads, other people. And you know now that regardless of what you think the organization is concerned about 4-5, six, look, it's about being effective here, not about being right per Southeast.

So if you really think 1213 should be the best things to pursue, that's another conversation for another podcast. But for now if everybody thinks 456, you best be sure that your presentation is catering to that from the beginning. So that's how it's going to help you at office departmental meetings. That is how it's going to help your career within the Ministry of Finance if you work there or within Central Bank if you work there, or within Hilton Hotel if you work there or Zenith Bank if you work there.

And it's also going to be the same when it comes to church meetings or community meetings or interpersonal gatherings or things like that. So back to the whole thing about the pastor. After you've listened, you've asked a couple of questions and things like that, you now think you can tease out what the opportunity the options are. You throw some options to the person 123, what do you think resonates with you the most?

The person selects option two is then you can now go into the whole thing of yeah, God is telling me and blah blah blah blah blah. You can now key in to option 2, so it's the same. You're going to be much more effective at your church meetings, church departmental meetings, at your pastoral meetings. If you're a deaconess and you're trying to guide young ladies in the church, they're going to be much more effective at community meetings.

Maybe we'll travel home at Christmas, maybe we'll do village meetings or other interpersonal gatherings. Who knows? Chess, society, book club, whatever is going to be the same outcome then, because your proposals during the meetings are going to be based on what people have actually said, the chances of you building consensus around something is very, very high because you're not using your own words, you're using their own words.

If you can use their exact words, the better. And most importantly, you're going to gain the reputation as being a problem solver or a proactive thinker In your personal circles and also in your official circles, we'll be like, ah, that babe. She's a correct girl. As in, she's a problem solver. She knows how to solve problems. Like, were you there at the last meeting? Nothing. She said, Oh my God, she. And she's just she's she's awesome.

She's awesome. She's awesome. And the same thing, you know, if you're a boy is the same. Mr. Bayo, Mr. Bayo, Go Getter is the correct guy. That this how he did this, this how he did that. If you see the way that he handled this and this and this and this and that, that's the kind of reputation that you're going to get. So just like with the last episode, I'm going to cap up this episode by asking are you convinced that sales training will help you whether you run a business or not?

It's my opinion and you should, and I hope you do. But if you're not convinced, don't worry. We still have a few more issues to discuss. And tomorrow we are going to deal with getting people to take the next course of action. Because making a presentation is one thing, whether you do it the old school Nigerian way and you go and drop the binder that you did circular binding and you know with Times New font and all that.

So whether you do it that way or whether you do it this, what would I say amended, adopted, refined way that I'm proposing. So no matter which way you do it, dropping the proposal is one thing, getting the person to take the next step, which is either reading the proposal, going for site visits, paying a deposit or whatever it is, that actually is something else. So we'll get to that tomorrow, especially since we've been talking for over 30 minutes.

So that's all for today folks. I remember to connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 0806466 2140. The country code is 234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, then connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Tabashima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and my e-mail address from the link. We are currently listening to this episode. Thank you very much for your time and attention.

I'll catch you guys at the next recording.