Presenting to New Prospects using the 10/10/10 Approach
How do you quickly communicate your brand’s point of difference to a prospect?
I often observe a classic communication mistake when working with clients presenting to prospects on Zoom or in person. What is inside your head or within a complex deck is too much information to share in a first meeting. People tend to share a tsunami of data.
The clue that there is a problem is when prospects are reading or interpreting icons or looking at lots of images. They aren’t listening. They don’t know what to absorb. You want them to see what you know – but it’s too soon.
I see this happen frequently.
Your prospects are busy with long to-do lists and their bosses pushing them to get priorities completed.
It helps if you are succinct.
And, to get them to say those magic words at the end of the first call – “I’d like to know more.”
Communication 101 – The 10/10/10 Approach
Every time you add one more word, picture, chart, or icon to a slide– you diminish the one thing you want someone to hear.
Presenting isn’t about stuffing so much in those heads that it explodes. It is about one idea per slide when you have that first conversation.
10 sentences. 10 slides. 10 minutes. 10/10/10.
- Write 10 declarative statements in Word summarizing the most compelling information you want to convey. Highlight or bold one word or phrase within each sentence. If you can do less than 10 statements, that’s even better.
- Then create 10 slides in PowerPoint. Each slide has one photograph that clearly emphasizes the keyword in bold. Use a font that is at least 30 points so it is easy to read.
- Present the slides in 10 minutes—one slide per minute. Don’t read the sentence. Speak to the main idea. Ask the audience to hold their questions. That helps them to listen and not get distracted. Don’t worry. You’ll have time for conversations on their main concerns and questions.
If your marketing agency is built to create, build and scale brand buzz – then make that one point on one slide.
If you want to make the point that what makes your difference is that no other agency will guarantee you a 20% increase in efficiency in your operations, then your photo or image should reinforce the word guarantee.
Don’t make any other point on that slide. You can speak to this slide for one minute. Whet their whistle.
Get them intrigued by the guarantee, but only talk about that topic while the guaranteed slide is up.
Illustrate the critical word or thought you want to convey with one full-page image. Not a gallery of images. One image communicates the main idea.
If you want to communicate that your approach scales brand buzz, tell them and illustrate it with an image of a bee. It is simple, straightforward, and easy to remember. We remember images and stories but not charts, icons, graphs, and complexity.
Communication happens not by what you say but when one idea is heard.
The 10/10/10 Approach allows you to communicate your ten most important ideas. And to leave sufficient time to ask questions and listen. What more do they need to know? How else can you provide them with what they need details on? How can you answer their questions more fully?
The Next Step Deck
If you have captured your prospect’s imagination in your first meeting, then the next step deck is what you traditionally have been presenting. But – you record a narrative or Loom video explaining it to the prospect but in a recording.
It is the perfect follow-up. It should be no more than 10-15 minutes, but it goes deeper and responds specifically to the questions asked.
The beauty of a recorded narrative PowerPoint deck is that it can be shared with colleagues who get to hear your presentation asynchronously. They learn the same essential information, but you can tailor it to that organization’s needs.
Think of your first meeting like a first date. You go for coffee. You tell your date a few key things about you that are important. If it goes well, you have dinner together on a second date where you share more.
Your first meeting should share enough to keep prospective clients interested. You want them to say, “I’d like to know more.”
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Michael Milverton on Unsplash
