The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [86]
Graphics or photos of people are particularly effective. The physical body is the most attractive shape to us because it is the most familiar. Almost any part of the body draws our attention, including the hands, shoulders, or face. Even when looking at vacation photos of beautiful landscapes, most people ’s eyes are drawn to the people in those photos before they consider the actual landscape.
In my presentations, I use a graphic on every single panel, and every single area I cover is what I call storyboarded. When I present the information about what the eye is drawn to, I put up a graphic of a well-developed man running on the beach. Next is a graphic of a woman in a swimming pool. Then I ask folks what was in the background. Usually they’ve barely noticed. But they can tell you what the woman was wearing and the color of the man’s swimming trunks. The eye is drawn to physical images, so use the human figure wherever you can in your presentations.
Visual aids such as PowerPoint, storyboards, flip charts, and diagrams can keep your audience engaged in your presentation. Even if you are selling by telephone, it’s important to incorporate something visual. Ask the prospect to draw a diagram or two as you are talking and use it to make your points. The triangle graphic we used in Chapter Four to illustrate who is in your stadium is a perfect example. If I were trying to teach you that over the telephone, I’d say: “Draw a triangle. Now draw a line through just the top 3 percent of that triangle. Next to that write down, ‘Buying now,’” and so on.
Here is a graphic I used in a core story for a company that was selling to lawyers.
Lawyers in the U.S.
In the 10 years between 1970 and 1980, the number of lawyers in the United States grew by almost 200,000. From 1980 to 1990, we added another 168,000 lawyers. But in the two years from 1990 to 1992, we added another 253,000 lawyers! The United States gained more lawyers in two years than in any 10 years prior. Do you know why? Some speculate that the show L.A. Law made the legal profession appear a lot more glamorous than it had in the past.
Look again at the details of the graphic. Notice how the sizes of the numbers (of lawyers) get bigger as the numbers get higher. We didn’t have to do that. We could have made the numbers the same size for each decade of growth. But by making the numbers bigger as well, the graphic has a lot more visual impact. Every detail can make a difference. In the actual slide, we use the color red for the biggest number, 973K. That number is surrounded by a red circle. Red draws the eye to the important information, but it also is the color of danger. For the lawyers to whom we were presenting this information, such a rapid swelling in their professional ranks was bad news. As the number of lawyers in the United States grew, the total billing for the market was only growing at its normal rate, and so as a group, lawyers were going to be making less money than ever before.
As you can see, visual aids enable you to tell more story in the same period of time. They can communicate more information, with more impact, and they make your presentation much more professional and polished. Visual aids immediately raise the expectations of your audience. If your material is well prepared, your prospect’s interest level and expectations go up immediately. Think of how much closer you are to closing the deal when your prospect is in that state of mind as opposed to half asleep and wondering when your presentation will be over.
Exercise
Right now, think of a few of your sales points that you can communicate using visual aids. Maybe it’s the performance of your product or ser vice. Is it faster or