How is Relational Presentation used in sales and marketing? Sales environments provide an ideal opportunity for applying visually interactive techniques in numerous ways. The presenter's primary goal is to discover and connect with the interests of viewers, and then to tailor messages in ways that offer specific opportunities and customized solutions to problems. In other words, instead of going into a sales situation with a set agenda of "Here's who we are and here's what we can do for you," the presenter uses presentation materials to first explore interests and confirm predictions. Only then does she or he mold the proposed outcome to findings.

Presentation networks used in this context tend to be more categorical, as opposed to linear. The speaker must have flexibility to jump around continually, if necessary, quickly finding relevant content or moving on to close the deal.

We suggest experimenting with the following outline: Give a short introductory presentation (as short as five minutes) that summarizes your current understandings of the situation and needs, along with a quick summary of potential solutions/improvements. Then open up discussion for interactive exploration. Show potential clientele/customers your ability to quickly display requested information on demand—rather than forcing them through a canned, lengthy, linear show.

During this interactive component (the majority of the time available), be keenly aware of the main points needing to be addressed, but at the same time, listen carefully to feedback and adjust message focus on the spot. When appropriate, abandon intended content altogether and select alternatives that are more relevant. Have hidden, on-demand content always available for handling objections as they arise. Picture stories and short, interactive video clips work especially well for this purpose. Back to Top

Will my sales people get off track and distracted using these methods? The issue of staying on track is a frequent area of concern for sales managers and other individuals in high-stakes situations where presentations are groomed carefully in advance, to theoretically say just the right things, at the right time, in the right way. We address this concern in two opposing ways:

First, it's important to take a very close look at what staying on track really means. If it implies cramming a rigid agenda down people's throats just because that message is what YOUR company or organization wants to say, the results may not be as favorable as expected. No matter how much we do our homework in advance to predict possible interests and needs, variations and surprises are inevitable. Human interaction almost always reveals new facts, opportunities, and dangers; interactive presentation sessions (especially sales presentations) can be used to mine that new and valuable data. Therefore, consider adding flexibility to the track, so that a speaker is not trapped inside a preset agenda.

On the other hand, sales managers are the first to point out (legitimately, no doubt) that individuals in sales situations tend to be highly energetic, spontaneous, and even scattered at times. They may benefit from structure while under pressure to perform. For this reason we recommend an approach called the Content Ladder, where overall messages are treated as a series of progressive mini-messages. In this sense, staying on track means moving from point to point, in a very logical way, with the flexibility to be spontaneous at any time. That is, a presenter proceeds through a carefully planned agenda, yet is able to add in, or subtract, components along the way as deemed appropriate.

We emphasize that just because relational presenters have the freedom to be completely spontaneous and dynamic with their performances DOES NOT in any way give them license to be disorganized. On the contrary, they must be extremely organized and especially aware at all times where they are in their message.

Think of staying on track this way: If you are driving to your home from a friend’s house, there may be multiple different routes available for accomplishing the task. Perhaps you discover one day that the normal route is blocked by construction and an alternate route is congested with traffic. You therefore make modifications accordingly as information becomes available, yet all the while remain constantly aware of your overall position and the goal of finding your house. Back to Top

Are there studies showing that this approach improves sales? No formal studies are yet available to our knowledge, although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence. The most promising aspect of Relational Presentation for sales seems to be in the area of relationship marketing, where people use the conversational nature of their delivery to more naturally connect with customers and sales contacts. Being able to nimbly and subtly handle objections is another aspect of relational delivery that sales presenters find invaluable.

Aspire now is laying the groundwork for formal research in the future, possibly involving the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and the University of North Texas. Some of these studies will likely explore whether visually interactive techniques result in larger sales volume, increased numbers of closed deals, and better retention of accounts. Based on what we are seeing on a daily basis, evidence clearly points in that direction.
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Does this approach work at large-audience speaking events (e.g. keynotes)? We often hear comments to the effect of, "I'm not really sure if Relational Presentation concepts are applicable to my situation. Most of my talks are in front of large audiences where interactivity is difficult, if not impossible. Viewers are given printed handouts in advance (usually of the slides to be shown) and my agenda is fixed." This topic opens the door to several important discussions, but we focus here only on a key misconception that underlies most digital communication.

One fallacy PowerPoint so effectively instills in presenters' minds is the notion that we give a presentation, and that's it. Speakers create a slide show for a single event, walk through the slides in preset order, and often never touch that slide show again. In reality, our messages and our interactions with people exist on a continuum. They never should be (in our opinion) so isolated. Parts of your main content presented an hour ago during the keynote might be useful for the breakout session afterwards, or in a board meeting next week, or at a club meeting next month. Who you are, and what you have to say, spans more than a single event. So why not organize that powerful collection of facts, figures, and images into what amounts to a visual database of everything you have to offer. Then those large-event talks simply flow out of the information available for display.

When using a presentation network in this way, even a purely noninteractive session can have positive impact beyond words spoken. Audiences will notice the sheer volume of information potentially available through your navigation elements, and their perception of your expertise inevitably will increase. Back to Top

Does this approach support a structured, certified training process? Absolutely. In fact, relational trainers often design their networks to be primarily linear, yet modular. That is, they progress through set sequences of slides, but have the option to change course at any time. Linear logic for training is appropriate, even in a Relational Presentation context, because novice learners often benefit from a sequential training process. On the other hand, trainers need not go into a training session with their hands tied. Relational training networks contain two powerfully flexible features that traditional training platforms typically do not have: a Resources section and hidden supporting detail.

The Resources section gives on-demand access to short video clips, Web links, documents, audio clips, picture libraries, and anything else that can help a trainer better explain concepts. An example might be a department store training that shows clerks how to properly arrange product displays. Standard training materials might cover basic procedures in a set order and even show an example or two. Even so, there are many departments and many different kinds of products to display. The standard training can't cover everything. Therefore, a relational training platform makes additional layers of optional information available, so that the trainer at his or her discretion can say, “Oh, let me show you an example of that one, too.”

Having hidden detail available might mean creating a graph that doubles as a switchboard. Sometimes showing the graph itself might be sufficient and that’s all the trainees will see. On other occasions, the trainer might choose to click one of the bars in the graph to pull up additional information on that particular piece of data. Back to Top