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The pundits will decide the political consequences of last night’s debate between President Obama and Governor Romney. But from a pure sales and presentation point of view, Romney was clearly on his game and Obama was just as clearly off his.

The Readiness is All. -Shakespeare

Like all good presenters, Romney set his theme crisply and early in the debate: that middle income families are being “crushed” by Obama’s failed policies and that Romney’s policies would change that. Throughout the debate, Romney repeated “crushed” and “buried” and “struggling” many times. He hammered that home and viewers knew exactly what his message and goal were.

After a nod to Michelle and their anniversary, Obama’s opening was basically a laundry list of things he wants to do. “Crushed” you can see, you can feel, you can conceptually and emotionally grasp in an instant. No one remembers laundry lists. If Obama wanted to stay with a laundry list approach, he should have either framed it with a name, e.g. the Phoenix strategy – rising from the ashes of the previous administration’s reckless spending and the financial crisis, OR, at least state that he had a 5 point or 7 point plan to help the middle class. He did neither, so a clear message never found a hook in viewers’ minds.

What’s the Point?

Both men cited lots of numbers and argued across a range of issues: taxes, loopholes, deficits, education, housing, training, etc.The details on these issues are not necessarily known to the general public. But Romney again trumped Obama because he made it easy for viewers to understand what he was saying by regularly concluding his remarks with a key take-away. For example, after one explanation, Romney tied up his explanation with, “For me, this is about jobs. This is about getting jobs for the American people.”

Obama tended to explain and defend, but rarely drove to a similar final and easily remembered punch line. For example, “And the fact is that if you are lowering the rates the way you described, Governor, then it is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high-income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. It’s — it’s math. It’s arithmetic.”

“Bottomline, this is voodoo economics” or “2 + 2 will never = 5” would have made Obama’s point much more effectively.

Delivery Disconnect

When you think of really effective presenters, invariably they display passion and enthusiasm for their subject. Romney had it from the get-go. It was clear he had prepared well. He used rhetorical tools effectively, e.g., repetition (crushing, crushing, crushing, the proof is, the proof is, the proof is) and chunking of information (1^st, 2^nd, 3rd). Obama looked tired and defensive. To be fair, it is always easier to attack when you are the wannabe, but Obama needed to come across as confident, re-assuring, and in command of the economy, if not where it is right now, at least where it is headed. He didn’t do that. In part, that was due to the absence of punch lines, since ending on key points always adds inflection and energy to your voice.

You can bet Obama will be different in the next debate.

Will it affect the outcome of the election? Stay tuned.

Lessons for Us in Business

Nothing beat preparation.
Set your theme and constantly reinforce it.
Pepper your arguments with key take-away punch lines to enhance meaning and relevance for listeners.
No mater how tired you may be, your delivery needs to support your message to successfully engage and connect with listeners.