Once a month I do a free work shop teaching BNI members how to improve their “Sales Manager Minutes”, aka 60 second presentations. As a BNI Director and business consultant, I get the privilege of helping people fix their word of mouth marketing mistakes. During these monthly training sessions I am asked lots of question about how do create and deliver great 60 second presentations. My sessions always start out with this question. Let me hear what you’re doing now. This evaluation process allows me to help them focus on eliminating any of the 20 most common mistakes I hear.

This article is the second installment of a four part series. In this segment I will discuss 5 more of the 20 mistakes that I often see. Reading all 4 articles will give the reader the cure for all of these so common aliments. Eliminating a few of these mistakes from your 60 second presentation and you will start to see real results. Eliminate them all and the referrals will come rolling in. So let’s get started on segment 2.

Mistake #1 is NO Pain! I often see 60 second presentations where the person does a good job of describing their product or service but leave out the potential customer pain. I try to include 2 or 3 customer pains in all my infomercials. Adding the customer’s pain to your description of your product or service, really make the message pop. It helps clarify the “why” for your listener and clarity produces power. What kind of power you ask? It gives them the power to act; it motivates someone to take action on your behalf.

Mistake #2 NO Emotion 60 Second presentations need to be delivered with feeling in order to be perceived as genuine. Without passion, you come across as fake. Emotions’ help the listener empathize. They are more likely to listen and get involved if the believe what you say. Saying things with emotion and passion gives you this credibility. If you come across without passion and emotion your message will be flat and your listeners’ will be turn off and will tune out.

Mistake #3 Poor Delivery This can be related to not being passionate about your subject but it can also be just a poor delivery. What I am talking about here is your pace, intonation and volume. Going to fast or going too slow can turn off your audience. For some, going too fast carries the connotation of “of a disclaimer”. Going to slow carries the connotation of being boring. Being too loud, equates to obnoxious, too quiet, being timid. A good deliver is varied in pace, intonation and volume. When you speak with emotion and passion this often automatically happens. Remember that presenting has many elements of acting in it. These techniques can be master through practice. Take the time to “rehearse your lines”. Once they are fully memorized, you can then start to work on the other elements of the presentation. Remember to have fun while you’re being serious. This will help you be more authentic and being authentic can help sway your listeners.

Mistake #4 Leaving out “Door Opener” Door openers are statements used to catch a person’s attention. Door openers are word hooks like “on sale, limited offer, free and guaranteed”. Most people automatically pay more attention to these words because most people want to take advantage of or at least know of these “specials”. Using “attention getting words”, gives your referral partners the ammunition to get your foot in the door. Use them and you will get more referral and more sales.

Mistake #5 Using Profanity I don’t often hear profanity used in presentations but when I do, WOW, it doesn’t make the presenter look good. Even using phrases like “stuff happens” brings you close to being in a bad place. You may hear laughter when it is used but it will never increase your credibility or make you look more professional. I have even seen great 10 minute presentations totally destroyed because they used one bad word during their presentation. One word out of several thousand and their presentation was remembers for the one bad word. Never use profanity in your 60 second presentations. It will destroy your entire effort. It may be good tool for comedians working the adult’s only circuit but its bad news for your 60 second or 10 minute presentation.

My next article, (segment 3), will discuss 5 more common mistakes made during 60 second presentations. Each segment will help the reader eliminate 5 possible mistakes that they may be making, until we have covered all 20 possible mistakes. Eliminating any of these mistakes improves your ability to communicate effectively. Each new attempt will bring improvements, focus and message clarity. Look for Segment 3 covering 5 more common mistakes to be out real soon. Until next time, work hard to eliminating the 5 mistakes covered here. Doing so will move the reader closer to their first perfect 60 second presentation. Until next time.