by Compellent Technologies, — May 03, 2010
Every successful pitch requires preparation. This session explored how VARs can wind up and stretch to deliver an ace presentation, and learn how to pitch a shutout and win every time.
1:16 pm – Compellent VP of sales operations Michael Beach introduces Mike Shonka of IMPAX to present this topic.
1:18 pm – Mark starts with a story about a U.S. senator in the 70s, and his career is skyrocketing because he was a great speaker, and had a great speechwriter. After a few years, the speechwriter thanked the senator for the opportunity and asked for a raise. The senator snapped at him, and a few weeks later, the senator was on TV to outline four things that the country needed to do to be ready for the 1980s. The senator flipped to the second page, after his intro, and the second page said, “You’re on your own.”
1:22 pm – The story is both true and drives three key messages about any great presentation:
- Having the right message
- Doing the necessary prep work
- Delivering the message in the right way
1:23 pm – Mike asks the audience, “What makes your job as salespeople difficult?” The answers include:
- Economic conditions
- Competitors using FUD
- Having the info needed to do apples-to-apples comparisons
- Product flexibility
- Time is at a premium
- Loss leader plays from competitors
1:24 pm – Mike wants to give the audience for critical strategies to help VARs in attendance get over these obstacles.
1:25 pm – Critical strategy #1: Presentations are powerful! Presentations educate, entertain, provide a measure of control, inform, position value, maintain access, and compel/close.
1:26 pm – Studies show that public speaking is the number 1 fear for people; death ranks number 7.
1:27 pm – A study with the University of Minnesota found that as a result of a stand-up presentation with visual aids, customers are 43 percent more likely to be persuaded, and pay 26 percent more money for the same service.
1:29 pm – Mark asks, “What are some things that bad presenters do?” The answers include:
- Reading the presentation
- No eye contact
- Not knowing the audience
- Turning your back on the audience
- Not having interaction
1:30 pm – Mark asks the audience, “What are characteristics of good presenters?” The audience responds:
- Use examples
- Are high energy
- Have a tailored message
- Focuses on the customer
- Rehearses
- Close well
1:31 pm – Critical Strategy #2: Use the right presentation to the right audience.
1:32 pm – The different types of presentations:
- Informative
- Business
- Closing
- Solution
- RFP finalist
- Problem resolution
- Relationship management
1:33 pm – Research is a crucial component. Presenters should know customer direction, critical issues, buzzwords/terminology audience and the profile of the decision maker.
1:35 pm – Consider a different kind of presentation flow:
1:39 pm – Mark walked through both bad and good presentations as examples. The better presentation followed the “Them-us-fit-action,” model, while the poor presentation had a number of negative characteristics.
1:44 pm – Mark provides a brief, but effective, presentation development
- Every page should tell a story
- Less is more
- Develop strong transitions
- Start with the end
1:45 pm – Critical Strategy #3: Preparation is key. Preparation includes pre-selling, coach review, logistics and rehearsal.
1:46 pm – Back when Vince Lombardi was coach of the Packers, before an exhibition game, Lombardi told all his players to be on the bus at 10 am. At 10 am, jumped on the bus and took off to the stadium with mostly an empty bus. When he spoke with his team later, he told them that when he says 10, he means quarter of, and never forget it.
1:50 pm – Critical Strategy #4: It is not enough to get there. You have to be so good that you get invited back.
1:51 pm – A compelling delivery is made up of attitude, body movements, voice, pace, eye contact, closing
1:57 pm – A compelling delivery consists of:
- Openers
- Use of humors
- Podiums
- Notes/scripts
1:58 pm – Mark closes with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What you are speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.”
by Maryna Frolova, PR Specialist, Dell Storage — February 11, 2010
My name is Maryna Frolova and I’m the new PR Coordinator for Compellent. This is my first blog post for Compellent and you’ll start seeing more blog posts and tweets from me, so please check back often and give me your feedback here or by following me on Twitter @MarineroF. Before I joined the team, one of the things I liked about Compellent is its forward-thinking product and marketing. Today, I get to tell you about one of those innovative initiatives.
QR codes are a way for us to tell Compellent’s Fluid Data story to the highly mobile crowd. You’ll start seeing us use those in a number of different ways at trade shows and with our marketing materials, so we wanted to give you a quick overview of what they are and how we will use them in the coming weeks.
Now, back to the original question, what’s a QR code? A QR code is a matrix code that stands for “Quick Response” that was intended to quickly decode content using a QR code reader. The codes are starting to show up within ads in magazines, on billboards and clothes, with major brands like Nike and Ralph Lauren using them. Below is an example for you to test out.
When you see this special bar code, scan it with your smart phone. To make this work properly, you’ll need to download an app that enables it (we’re using get.beetagg.com). Once you do that, a video or Web site related to the original poster, brochure, handout or t-shirt that you scanned will pop up on your smart phone. In this case, a YouTube video should start playing. Go ahead, test it out. What do you think? It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?
Soon, we will have a dedicated QR mobile site that will pop up and play demos or other videos, much like this YouTube video did, and look like the screen shot you see on the left. This portal will allow you to share the video and get more information on the spot.
If you want to learn more about the use of QR codes, read this New York Times story about it. Keep an eye out for more Compellent QR codes and the mobile site coming your way soon.