Working from home has changed the landscape for many industries, especially sales. Whether it’s business to business to selling to clients and customs, virtual sales presentations have taken over the in-person sales call.
Presenting material over the phone or a sales pitch, or employee training isn’t as easy to do as many people think. Most companies can benefit from training to effectively present over the phone. Here are ways that training can benefit phone presentations.
Practice First
Write down the important “talking points” of your phone presentation and make sure that you highlight what you wish to accomplish from the phone call. Have a goal in mind, whether it’s to entice someone to purchase a product, or if you’re trying to deliver important information.You don’t want to have your phone presentation sound too scripted, such as reading off a planned out script, but rather have a give-and-take dynamic that allows the other person to ask questions and engage in the conversation. Before making the phone call, rehearse what you’re going to say so that you sound confident presenting the material.
Record Yourself Speaking
As you practice your delivery, record yourself speaking. You may wish to listen to your tone of voice and whether you’re pronouncing every word correctly. Plus, when you’ve recorded yourself, you can refer to it and tweak your verbiage.
Another benefit of recording yourself speaking is to hear your presentation from your audience’s point of view. You may be using industry slang and jargon or you may not be explaining core concepts completely.
Smile Often and Energize Your Voice
Did you know that you can “hear” someone smiling over the phone? When you smile, it is conveyed in your voice. Try smiling when recording yourself, and then not smiling and see if you can tell the difference. Smiling energizes your vice, and makes you sound more confident and powerful.
You can also project more positive energy by standing up when talking. Yes, standing can give you more depth in your speech and helps you present more authority.
Make Sure To Breathe
Breathe naturally, but take deep breaths to remain calm. Focusing on your breathing helps you slow your words down, which makes you seem more authoritative. It also makes it easier for your audience to understand you. If you aren’t breathing well, you can run out of air by the end of your sentence, letting your words trail off and your tone of voice sounding shakier.
The Importance of Training
All of these things can be done on your own, but having a professional trainer or presentation coach to help you become more effective can dramatically increase your ability to effectively present. A trainer can give you tips on better enunciation and ways to use more vibrant language when presenting.The best training allows you to achieve actionable results from your phone calls and grow stronger and more confident when persuading others.
Ready To Get Started?
Precision Training Institute, a division of Bold New Directions, can help your teams better present over the phone. Virtual presentations are becoming the new normal as companies transition to working from home. Make sure that you have the edge over the competition by enhancing the abilities of your teams.
Our training programs are available virtually and can give you dramatic results. Visit us online for seminar and training options and kick-start your team’s effectiveness right away!