Does Serena Williams stop her tennis swing in mid-air? Does golf pro Adam Scott freeze after he makes contact with the ball? Would baseball pro A-Rod hit a home run if he stopped his swing at the point of contact with the ball? Of course not. These pros know the importance of follow through to score their wins. Yet, many presenters fail to “follow-through” on their selling points, get caught in mid-air, and unwittingly fail to score a win with listeners.
Help This Guy Win
Presentation Follow-Through is on my mind because of a recent assignment I had. I was asked to coach a candidate who is running for governor of his state. He is smart. He is articulate. He is experienced. He is committed to good governance. He brings a lot to the table and would be a terrific leader, but he just wasn’t clicking with his audiences. He came across as too robotic.
When I listened to him, I realized his problem wasn’t a deficit in his personality. The issue was a failure to “Follow Through” on his arguments. He was stopping in mid-air, so to speak, so his
remarks never hit home. Let me give you two examples and then see if youneed a little more “Follow Through” in your own presentations and demos.
- Statement without Follow-Through: “Our jobless rate at X% is unacceptable. I want to change that.”
- Statement with Follow-Through: “Our jobless rate at X% is unacceptable, which impacts our tax base and our ability to improve our education system and state services. Is that what we want? No! This is what I will do…
- Statement without Follow-Through: “We have to cut the outrageous waste in programs that are not working.”
- Statement with Follow-Through: ”Would you throw away 25% of your hard-earned money? Well, that is an estimate of what we are throwing away in current government programs. I propose to audit all current spending, cut out the waste and ensure that you get a solid return on your tax dollar.”
From Elections to Selling
Look at the statements, claims, features, and facts that you present. Do you just state them or do you also link them to the implications for your listeners? Do you connect them to the situations and feelings of your listeners? It is so easy to forget how important these links and connections are to our points. My candidate for governor realized that, added the “Follow Through” to his speeches, and has been getting much better traction with his audiences as a result.
How about you? Are you inadvertently stopping your presentation points in mid-air or are you following through on them to score a win with your listeners as well?
Anne Miller