How many presentations have you been to - where you find that you've studied the back of your hand more than ever before...?
In reality, it doesn't take a lot to keep your audience interested and attentive, with a few basic techniques, such as changing the tone and pitch of your voice, for example. Whilst presenting - wake up your audience now and again with a raised tone to your voice, when you want to emphasise a point and whisper when you want to have their undivided attention - you watch them strain in to hear. Ensure that you have a very clear message during your presentation, with a mapped out path to get you to your finale. Don't let your audience sit and wonder what the point of the whole presentation is - make it clear from the onset.
Why not use some interesting props during your presentation (preferably heavy ones, that don't highlight your nervous shaky hands!), to add another dimension to your presentation? Try posing questions to catch their attention or make them ponder a point that you are trying to convey. How about a bit of audience participation now and again to make people become more involved in your message and actively participate - why should you do all the hard work?
This, amongst many of the other tips were shared by our guest Neil Firth of Vocal Coach and Andrew Thorp, at last night's well attended "Speakeasy" training session.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Blog title...
Difficult customers just need more advice
Internet retailers – the scurge of the kitchen industry.
That’s what we are led to believe, if we listen to the major wholesalers, in particular, complaining about how even they are affected by the prolific number of cheap appliances available to retailers on the internet.
For retailers, fair enough. Margins are pressed and customers are savvy enough to do their homework and establish what a fair price is for their chosen appliance.
I became somewhat perplexed, recently, when through our kitchen and bedroom retail division, Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors Limited, we tried to deal with a well known trade supplier of appliances.
Fair enough, they wouldn’t open an account and we didn’t expect them to. However, a particular customer wanted a particular appliance, so we needed to source it from said wholesaler.
Would they take a cheque? No
Would they take a credit card? No
So, what did they want – cash? No, they don’t accept it !
They wanted a company debit card – we don’t have one.
We offered to electronically transfer £1000 as a bond, so that we could order up to that limit and replenish monthly – they couldn’t accept that either.
The “Sales Prevention Department”, sorry “Credit Control Department”, seemed to put every possible obstacle in the way of bringing money in, alienating us every step of the way.
This is, I stress, a MAJOR supplier, currently expressing regular concerns about their financial woes, both in the UK and the USA, continually “bleating on” about how their retailer business is affected by manufacturers flooding the internet.
I now have, I’m afraid, no sympathy whatsoever. Nor, I believe, should anybody else.
What did I do?
I bought off the internet, of course.
Peter Saunders
Director
_______________________________________
Rubicon Developments Limited
(www.rubicon-developments.co.uk) are a training and installation company, with a retail division, in kitchens and bedrooms (Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors Limited – www.katherinecavendish.co.uk)
Internet retailers – the scurge of the kitchen industry.
That’s what we are led to believe, if we listen to the major wholesalers, in particular, complaining about how even they are affected by the prolific number of cheap appliances available to retailers on the internet.
For retailers, fair enough. Margins are pressed and customers are savvy enough to do their homework and establish what a fair price is for their chosen appliance.
I became somewhat perplexed, recently, when through our kitchen and bedroom retail division, Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors Limited, we tried to deal with a well known trade supplier of appliances.
Fair enough, they wouldn’t open an account and we didn’t expect them to. However, a particular customer wanted a particular appliance, so we needed to source it from said wholesaler.
Would they take a cheque? No
Would they take a credit card? No
So, what did they want – cash? No, they don’t accept it !
They wanted a company debit card – we don’t have one.
We offered to electronically transfer £1000 as a bond, so that we could order up to that limit and replenish monthly – they couldn’t accept that either.
The “Sales Prevention Department”, sorry “Credit Control Department”, seemed to put every possible obstacle in the way of bringing money in, alienating us every step of the way.
This is, I stress, a MAJOR supplier, currently expressing regular concerns about their financial woes, both in the UK and the USA, continually “bleating on” about how their retailer business is affected by manufacturers flooding the internet.
I now have, I’m afraid, no sympathy whatsoever. Nor, I believe, should anybody else.
What did I do?
I bought off the internet, of course.
Peter Saunders
Director
_______________________________________
Rubicon Developments Limited
(www.rubicon-developments.co.uk) are a training and installation company, with a retail division, in kitchens and bedrooms (Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors Limited – www.katherinecavendish.co.uk)
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