I’ve given a million formal sales presentations and I think I’ve observed even more. The most important thing I’ve learned is that everyone is nervous when they present. Everyone.

Mark Twain said it best, “There are two types of speakers: those who are nervous and those who are liars.”

I have a few sales tips below that have worked for me and for others to control the jitters when speaking to customers.

The Underwear Visual
Sadly, the only training most sales professionals ever get about controlling nervousness when giving formal sales presentations is to pretend everyone in the audience is only wearing their underwear.

Have you read the statistics on obesity in America? Personally, I find the thought of visualizing most audiences in their underwear far more frightening than merely making a presentation.

8 Techniques For Controlling Nervousness When Giving Formal Sales Presentations
1. Where does fear of speaking come from? Us. We quite literally scare ourselves with the negative thoughts we have before we make an important sales presentation. Just as professional athletes can envision a successful outcome of a game, we can do the same when presenting.

2. Your nervous body symptoms, like a shaky voice or sweating, are hardly – if at all – noticed by your audience. Quit adding to your worries by obsessing about butterflies in your stomach that no one can see.  Butterflies don’t bite.

3. Everyone’s biggest fear is not public speaking. That’s a myth. Every person has a different hierarchy of fears. For some, public speaking is very displeasureable; for others, it’s enjoyable. You probably fall somewhere in-between.

4. It’s perfectly okay to speak from a lectern with notes or to carry your notes in your hands when presenting. You don’t have to memorize your speech. Scripts are bad, but notes are okay and can bump up your confidence considerably.

5. Accepting, even welcoming, nervousness when speaking can go a long way in actually reducing your dread of speaking. The fancy psychological term is paradoxical intention. When light shines on the anxiety bogeyman and he is welcomed into your thoughts, he cowers.

6. Preparing and practicing your speech can move mountains when it comes to reducing speaking anxiety.  I attended an event where George H. W. Bush spoke while he was President.  He mentioned that he had rehearsed his speech earlier in the day.  Excuse me here, but if the President of the United States feels it necessary to practice his speech, it confirms to me there is real value in doing this.  There are many executives in corporate America who think they are above practicing speeches.  Their speeches show it.

7. Nervousness can help you during a sales presentation because it brings energy to your presentation and causes you to think faster on your feet. It also causes you to hyper-focus on the matter at hand.  The nervousness monster doesn’t want you to know this; see number five above to see why.

8. Executives are frequently very poor speakers and get nervous too, just like the rest of us mere mortals. They get nervous because they know each word they use is weighed and measured. Please remember many -  if not most -  executives struggle with speaking; they understand your nervousness when you present to them.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Becoming a better presenter doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t take a one-day or one-week school and magically become Zig Ziglar. However, I can recommend that you give Toastmasters International a try. This is a non-profit international organization that takes people at all levels and, over a period of time, develops them into better speakers.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. Better Techniques for Using PowerPoint
2. 14 Fundamental Sales Tips For Better PowerPoint Presentations
3. Why 99% Of Your Sales Presentations Are Powerless

Tags: PowerPoint, speaking

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