Ah, the annual Sales Kick-Off (SKO)—a high-energy, high-stakes event where the entire sales team gathers to be motivated, inspired, and equipped for the year ahead. Or, at least, that’s the intention. Too often, SKOs devolve into an endless parade of slide decks, a blur of talking heads, and a slow descent into what we at Wolf & Heron like to call Death By Presentation.
Read on to understand why this keeps happening, the consequences, and what to do instead.
Read MoreTOOL
Align your presenters, and you’ll land your strategy.
This free toolkit gives you everything you need to help your speakers show up aligned, clear, and confident.
The worksheet includes questions to help you consider the context, audience and messages that will help you design your presentation for success.
Read MoreA SKO investment should be justified by how well it achieves strategic organizational goals. Unfortunately, SKO goals are often so vague that it’s impossible to integrate them into the feedback mechanism. If that’s the case for an event you’re planning, you certainly won’t know if you’ve achieved those goals… which begs the question, why have a SKO at all?
If you want your event to achieve its objectives, it’s critical that you identify, clearly, what those outcomes should be, and then weave them through your event like a red thread. That is how you’ll produce a Sales Kick Off where the investment earns you a return.
Read MorePeople don’t make decisions based on logic alone. They need to connect emotionally with your message —and use logic to justify it later. That’s where storytelling comes in. A good story doesn’t just inform; it makes people feel. And when they feel, they remember. More importantly, they act.
Read on to understand why stories work, what makes a story unique, and how to ensure your points land by wrapping them in stories.
Read MorePresenters want to include stories in their presentation, but have no idea where the stories should go or what they should be about. Here are a few moments in your presentation where leveraging a story is particularly effective.
Read MoreTOOL
Before you jump to building a slide deck for your next presentation, take the time to craft your message and consider what’s most important.
The worksheet includes questions to help you consider the context, audience and messages that will help you design your presentation for success.
Read MoreAfter coaching many individuals as they prepare for a talk, keynote, panel, interview, etc, we think we have figured out why it’s hard to see your own strengths and opportunities in this space; public speaking is not just about the moment on the stage. Great public speaking begins weeks before the actual event, when you figure out what you’re going to say. Then, in the moment, it’s about knowing how to say it just right.
Check out these guiding principles to prepare and deliver a masterful presentation.
Read MoreGreat public speaking begins weeks before the actual event, when you figure out what you’re going to say. Then, in the moment, it’s about knowing how to say it just right.
Download this resource for some easy and digestible tips and tricks to help you determine what to say and how to say it so that your communication counts.
Read MoreAt a recent coaching session, Kara was asked, “Do you have any tips for non-native English speakers at an English speaking company? I’m worried about how I come across.” There are so many considerations when it comes to working, presenting and speaking in front of audiences that are linguistically or culturally different from you.
Read MoreMaking people feel seen, heard, and understood is an important leadership skill. Here we offer tips from our executive coaching training that we think are particularly powerful ways to do just that: restate what you hear, ask powerful, future-oriented questions, trust your conversation partner has it in them to find the answers, and be mindful of your purpose.
Read MoreA presentation is not a story, they are not interchangeable, but you can certainly use lessons from storytelling to make sure that your presentation has an organized narrative and leaves them with the takeaway(s) you want them to hold onto.
Read MoreIt’s not all that uncommon for salespeople to be armed with a presentation or demo slide deck that was put together by the marketing department. The purpose of a “single source of truth” like the corporate-approved slide deck is to ensure that all salespeople have the same talking points and are communicating a consistent narrative in the marketplace. This is a noble goal, but one of the unintended consequences of a company-wide narrative in the form of a slide deck is that it can become stale and devoid of any kind of personal, authentic touch.
Read More
