Do Not Oversell Your Proposal

Person making a sales proposal to an audience

Have you ever sat in a sales or proposal meeting where someone started off well, but took the proposal in the wrong direction by overselling the proposal or taking the discussion down a rabbit hole that was unrecoverable? We have all seen it happening with a vendor or a peer. Most of us have done it ourselves.

Part of any good pitch is knowing when to stop.

I had a mentoring boss who gave me five good rules to follow. The key principles fit most situations we sit in as leaders. We are forever having to give presentations based on status or strategy. Often our people make presentations to us or our peers or our own managers where we see them crash and burn too. A little coaching of some basic rules will make each of us cognizant of the dangers of overselling and allow us to put the brakes on before we veer off course and sabotage our own pitches.

Rule 1: Keep The Structure of Your Presentation or Pitch Very Simple

I once had a pastor friend that said that any good Baptist pastor knows in a sermon that he needs to structure his sermon in three basic sections. Section 1: Tell the congregation what you are going to tell them, also known as the introduction. Section 2: Give them three key points with a short, concise, easily understandable explanation of the point. Section 3: Tell them what you told them very succinctly, not rehashing everything, but closing with a call to action.

That basic structure is applicable to any good sales pitch or presentation. It can be modified a little to be appliable to the audience. I found that I often gave the conclusion or key takeaways up front when presenting to very senior executives. Many senior executives have noticeably short attention spans, like skipping ahead in the presentation before you get there, and wanting to discuss the conclusion or takeaway in the middle of your pitch. Another sub-rule to this is to NOT send the presentation out ahead of time. Use video conferencing tools to allow you to walk through your presentation and send the materials out afterwards. It allows you to control the discussion or at least the flow of the discussion.

Rule 2: Keep Your Materials Simple and Clearly Articulate Your Points

I had a peer that is now the CTO at another telecom company. He liked to have as much information, graphics, and data on each slide that was physically possible. It worked for him and allowed him to be flexible in presenting (he was an outstanding, articulate speaker), but it is usually not a good strategy. Better to make sure your presentation pages tell the story you want to tell. You want to build your story via points as you progress through your presentation. Each slide should make sure it sticks to the point being presented. Make sure that terms are understandable with no acronyms unless they are generally understood by your audience. Avoid long sentences and instead use short powerful bullet points. Graphs or pictures can be effective in reinforcing the point, but make sure that they are easily understood and articulate the point.

Plan out the timeline for the presentation. Assuming introductions in the room and discussion at the end of the meeting. The number of pages should be about one page for every 2 – 3 minutes that you have for the presentation. Too much material on a page will drag you down and prevent you from finishing the presentation.

Rule 3: Stick to Your Points

Avoid chasing rabbits during the presentation by getting into off topic or ancillary discussions that prevent you from getting to your call to action or key takeaway points. My mentor boss often suggested to only answer the questions that are asked and avoid getting into discussions on items that are not pertinent to your call to action. Sometimes you may have to go into ancillary discussions, but you must manage the time and have to get it back on track to finish your presentation. Having someone else in the meeting take notes and write down any action items or parking lot issues. That way any side discussion topics can become a parking lot issue for a follow up discussion.

Rule 4: Do not Oversell Your Proposal

Another suggestion by my mentor boss was to make sure you do not over-sell your presentation or proposal. Lead your audience down a path to the conclusion you want them to make or accept. Know when to stop. Do not oversell your pitch. Overselling often sinks your pitch. You end up turning a win into a loss. Your proposal has a timeline of lifespan with quantifiable benefits you have identified. For example, trying to discuss benefits beyond the lifespan often sinks the pitch. Trying to predict the future is never a good idea. My crystal ball broke many years back and has been unrepairable. We cannot predict the future because there are too many variables outside of your control.

Rule 5: Leave Time For Discussing The Call To Action and Take a Vote

You want to walk away from the presentation with a definite set of action items to work for the next session or with an agreed upon proposal. Assuming that your audience is the decision makers for the issue, then you need to make sure you got a decision --- respectfully forcing a vote if needed. If your audience is not the decision makers, then you at least make sure that you have addressed any of their concerns. Issues can be addressed via parking lot discussions later if needed.

I also have a little ancillary advice on preparing presentations for the meeting.

1)      I preferred to start off with a blank slate rather than trying to re-use parts of earlier presentations. Templates are good, but start with blank templates.

2)      Create your story line on blank pages. Assume intro, three points, and conclusion. Write an unpolished version of what you want to say on each page. You can create any sub-points and any content you want to add later. At this point, you just want to make sure you have a cohesive story and that it fits together in a way that is logical and builds to the conclusion you want.

3)      Spend some time on the conclusion or take away page. What are the specific conclusions or takeaways that you want your audience to draw? If you are looking for a decision, did you intermediate “point” pages lead you to a decision-making point. Spending some time on your conclusion page first helps you to ensure that your other pages --- intro and point pages ---- are leading to the exact call to action or decision you want to happen in the meeting.

4)      Then go back and work on the verbiage on each page. If you decide to use graphs, charts, or pictures / icons, then make sure that they are to the point and appropriately sized for meaning. Having a chart that is the size of a postage stamp is meaningless. Having a picture or icon that does not reinforce your point can be a distraction. Use AI to create some of your pictures or icons. AI can be quite effective in creating an image that is exactly what you want for your chart.

5)      Put your presentation in a slideshow mode and look at it via the eyes of one of your attendees. Make sure it holds together and is effective and powerful. Adjust it as needed. Make sure that fonts, titles, sub-titles, margins, headers / footers, dates, page numbers, etc all are consistent. People notice the little things that are out of synch. Spell check several times.

6)      Practice your presentation several times. Decide how to transition from page to page. Some people like speaker notes. Whatever you use, keep it simple. Video yourself doing the presentation to see how things like eye contact, hand gestures, noise words (ah, ok, like, etc) can be eliminated or used effectively.

7)      Own your presentation or pitch. Be confident. Lead!!!