Superfoods make you healthier! We’ve all had that ingrained into us by now. Where does this leave the avid burger aficionado? Does not being able to stand the taste of pumpkin, blueberries or quinoa mean that you’re left standing alone in the corner at dinner parties.
Like dishing up a smorgasbord of culinary delights will entice and stimulate all taste-buds, changing up your presentations is sure to suit every face of audience for your next presentation. If you’re a die-hard slide presenter, don’t be confused by your prospects’ lack of interest. Sales presentations have to change with the times because you’re not creating them for yourself. You’re creating them for your customers, who are constantly evolving and developing with the world around them. In this era where digital natives roam, it’s hard to deny the growing need for interactivity and personalisation. That’s why I’ve put together five super ingredients that will turn the way you’ve been presenting into a super-charged, conversational, story-telling show.
5 Stats on Interactive Presentations
1 – Visual stimulation wins leads
In our wonderful world of vibrant colour, it’s natural that 90% of what your brain absorbs is visualised through your eyes (source: Prezi). It makes sense then that sales presentations that incorporate visual aids are 43% more likely to persuade prospects than those without (source: Prezi). This is not necessarily a reflection of the beauty or aesthetic of the presentation, but rather it proves how our minds work, and how our brains store information.
“When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later.” – HubSpot
Content that visually stimulates us, manages to stick in our memories more and stand as deeper signifiers for more abstract thoughts. That’s why your sales presentation needs to balance its written content with visual imagery, as it motivates prospects along the buyer’s journey.
2 – People want to hear stories
Getting visual isn’t enough by itself. Stories make up two-thirds of our daily conversation (Prezi), and that’s why conversational presenting is how you begin a path towards buyer engagement.
Conversational presenting is about relating to the prospect on their own terms, which is just what you do when you’re trying to engage someone with a story. Your sales presentation can’t be a mind dump of content, no matter how visually appealing you make it seem. You need to understand what story your prospects will engage with, and then take them through this story by making it interactive.
Twice as many people say that interactive content is more memorable (source: Prezi) than static content. When you couple this with conversational presenting, you’ve got yourself a prime foundation for buyer engagement, which leads us onto the third point.
3 – Interactive presentations boost engagement
This one should be a no-brainer. In a digital world where more and more customers and leads are expecting to have their experiences personalised, interactivity is an engagement booster.
“Most music videos have something like a 50-60% completion rate, but EKO’s [interactive] music videos have about 180% because people keep watching them over, and over, and over” – Alex Vlack
This stat may refer to music videos, but applies to any creative presentation medium. That’s because, instead of only appealing to cognitive engagement (intellect), your presentation can now appeal to almost all of your prospects’ senses (excluding smell, unless you’ve baked something fantastic to bring along). Now their sense of hearing, sight, and even touch – if it’s applicable to your presentation – is caught up in what you’re saying. In fact, 80% of people are more willing to read a piece of content with colourful visuals than content without. This helps makes a more powerful impact on prospects, but it also encourages them to engage more than ever before.
The real clincher about interactivity, though, is that it makes multiple user journeys available for any given moment in a sales presentation. This means that your prospects actually begin to sell your product/service to themselves while interacting with your presentation.
4 – Interactivity fast-tracks lead conversion
Did you know that it takes us ¼ second to process and attach meaning to a symbol, whereas it takes 6 seconds to read 20-25 words? (source: HubSpot)
This is fascinating when applying it to our sales presentations, as it means that leads who are nurtured using symbols that they understand can make faster decisions. A visual presentation literally allows them to think faster. Now, this fact alone won’t necessarily do much for you, but when coupled with the methodology of conversational presenting (interactivity and personalisation) it may do wonders.
5 – Digital natives expect more
I won’t go into too much detail here, as digital natives’ expectations are quite broad, but according to presentation, there’s some interesting insights.
Some fascinating research hosted on ResearchGate explains this thought-train quite well: “Digital natives, on the one hand, have grown up with expectations of interactivity—an integral part of their world. Consequently, both their expectation of having resources that offer control—and self-efficacy concerning those resources— may be higher”. If businesses want to evolve with their customers, they need to listen to what these expectations mean. Gone are the days of differentiating yourself with a quirky slogan or stunning visual. Instead these have been replaced with the need to anticipate your customers’ expectations in your sales pitches.
The evidence on the business health benefits of interactivity and personalization speaks for itself. If you’d like to know more about conversational presenting and how to create interactive sales presentations, click below to find additional resources on the recipes for top sales presentations.
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