Many years ago I wrote a book on selling and marketing yourself, and I do believe that perception sometimes wins over reality? And that this applies more than ever in the Social media world we now live in.
Of course having said that this must be a viable proposition, no good getting everyone excited about something that has some technical issues, so we are assuming a level playing field as such, and that its about getting the buy-in or visibility, rather than selling the concept of a dodgy project.
Having now been in the Project management world for some time, I wondered how much the success of a Project, of a Project Team, or even the Project manager is down to the perception of what went on rather than the reality of what happened and how much that can influence the final results of the project.
From when the initial Project is put together we are now moving into selling and marketing mode, as we have to get buy in from team members and sponsors alike, get people hopefully excited about what we are doing, and make sure we (as the PM) have the visibility we require to get the job done.
And as challenging, we need to keep that excitement moving along, to keep all the team and people around us as excited, motivated and enthusiastic as we can. Even if sometimes things are not going quite to plan, we still want to give the perception that its a great project!
So over the next month or so I thought I would put together what I think are tips and tricks to help you the PM 'sell and market' you and our project to the people around you, and hopefully raise your visibility (and hopefully career prospects) among your peers.
The First thing we will look at is what I call the Business Rules.
Rarely is there a one size fits all for everything, so you need to understand the potential audience you are dealing with. I often think understanding your potential customer or users is more important than your Project (at least initially), because at the early stages particularly when setting things out, only one persons thoughts matter and that is the person you are pitching to.
Its really to assume that you know what your customer or sponsor wants, but in this fast moving world, what worked last month, may not work this month.
There are also different 'buyer' types - in your meeting you may have technical buyers who want detail and will probably have a higher level of knowledge, and want to deal in facts. The corporate buyer is likely to want high level facts in a easy to digest format, so straight away we have a potential conflict. We certainly don't want to bore the pants of the corporate people or project sponsor, and getting their buy-in is important, yet the technical side need more data and can ask long reaching questions.
One way you can handle this is to produce handouts for the attendees that contains a high level overview, then the detailed project information supporting that. You may include a Project Mandate, or Business Case, perhaps a Benefits plan with a Benefits realisation timetable and returns, much depends on the objective of the presentation of course, so I am trying to be very general.
Dress according to the level you are presenting at - being the smartest person in the room can never usually fail, but being laid back and scruffy when dealing with senior managers can backfire.
For the presentation, keep it very light and high level, commercial and to the point and perhaps have a few slides that can be called on if required with technical data, although most of the detail should be in the handouts. If you need some tips go to www.slideshare.net and search on 'PowerPoint presentations' where there is a wealth of tips tricks and help for good presentations.
When running presentations, there are some great Ted Talks and other resources to look at, but the most common things that can get you into trouble are being taken off track. What I mean by that a well meaning person can hijack your presentation with questions that are not relevant to everyone there. I have seen this happen in many presentations, and I am sure that you have as well. The presenter goes off down the question track, and the rest of the team or audience sigh, and start thinking of where else they would like to be.
One thing I learnt is that the first 10 seconds are the hardest of any presentation, its when your mouth goes dry, you forget even your name, and why you are there, and time seems to stretch out, even if you have notes.
Practice, practice and practice your opening, how you walk on, your first words, your smile, your pause as you take in the team in front of you, and your start. In the majority of cases as soon as the brain engages and the mouth starts you will just flow, like a kickstart and from the other side it looks so smooth!
Think when you want to take questions - during the presentation is hard, as you can easily get blown off course unless you can control it, at the end of a session is much more controllable. So prepare a few phrases such as 'great question, I am unable to answer that now, but I will take it away with me and come back to you with an answer' (never ever wing it unless you really do know the answer!). Also 'Good question, lets talk further during the break and I will give you some more information', and for the persistent silly question person 'Can we take that offline after the presentation, happy to explore it further'.
Finally have your 'close' - what is it you expect to get from the meeting? What are the next actions? 'From what I have presented today are you happy to proceed?' for example.
So to summarise:
- Sell yourself and create the emotional link
- Create the compelling vision and answer the question 'Why'
- Don't forget to cover the Why,Where, When, How and Who details
- Close the presentation with a clear action plan!
Watch the time, stick to the agenda, excite them with the opportunity and above all have fun.
More next week!
