Boost performance using visual storytelling instead of slides

We’ve all heard the term ‘Death by PowerPoint’.  My favorite is ‘PowerPoint Poisoning’. Type either term into your favorite search engine’s image search and you’ll find some great comic relief. Whichever you prefer, these terms are ways to describe the lack of interactivity and boredom engendered by slide presentations. You’ve only got one chance to stand out from the crowd, and slides aren’t the answer.

There’s also a lot of talk today about ‘visual storytelling’. But too often this term is used as a rallying cry to simply spruce up PowerPoint decks with more visuals and other ‘eye candy’. It’s still primarily a one-way dialogue. True visual storytelling is being able to ditch the slides and stand up at a whiteboard in front of your prospect with nothing more than a pen, and tell a compelling story with hand-drawn visuals. If you can do this you’ll build more trust with your prospect by engaging them in a fully interactive dialogue and showing them you truly own the story.

Here are ten ways salespeople can boost performance using true ‘visual storytelling’ instead of slides. Whether using a whiteboard, a flipchart, the back of an envelope, or a tablet PC via desktop sharing software, savvy salespeople are now using the ‘whiteboarding’ approach to visual storytelling to engage with prospects in a way that will set them apart from the competition.

1: Develop a powerful whiteboard story

Your presentation should be much more than just a list of bullets – it should be a compelling visual narrative designed to showcase your products and services and how they deliver unique value. For example, you could create a story that follows ‘a day in the life’ trajectory.  Picture a big circle on the whiteboard that starts at the lower left (when the typical buyer gets up in the morning) and ends in the lower right (when they leave work for the day). You start the story by describing a whole host of challenges a typical buyer might face throughout the day without your solution.  When you draw these typical challenges using a red pen as you move clockwise around the circle, check in with your prospect and find out if they ‘share the pain’ in each area. Next, briefly describe your solution/service in the middle of the circle, using a black pen. Finally, revisit each of the challenges and talk about how your solution addresses each one, this time using a green pen.  The story also needs to be visually intriguing, with humorous iconography. For example, the day might end with your buyer going to the pub for an ice cold one. Draw a little rectangle with a handle and a “cloud” of foam on the top!

2: Road test your story

Whether you’re planning to deliver your whiteboard in person or remotely, make sure you test out the presentation with an actual customer you trust. The question you want to ask is: ‘does this story resonate with you?’  The type of feedback you are looking for here is whether or not you are hitting the right customer challenges and pain points. You want to make sure your day-in-the-life story starts off with the major concerns that keep your prospects up at night. The next thing to do is present the whiteboard in a live sales situation. So, put aside your slide decks and pick up a pen – you’ve got a story to tell.

3: Know your story

You’ll never write something up on the whiteboard that’s not in your head. No magical force will take control of your arm and write something you don’t know about! So, pair up with a colleague and take turns presenting the material in a real-world situation. You should practice the story multiple times until you’ve got it down cold. First, using nothing more than a pencil and blank paper, master the visual flow and focus on the content accuracy on your own. Once you’ve got the flow and content mastered to the point where you can draw out the entire whiteboard without referring to notes, integrate the script and practice presenting the story ‘in role’ to your peers on an actual whiteboard.

4: Consider your stance

A very minor adjustment in stance can make a big difference when delivering a whiteboard presentation. Position yourself so your feet are perpendicular (at a right angle) to the whiteboard surface, and be conscious not to ever alter this position except to turn and face your audience completely. It’s a small detail, but it will prevent you from ever having your back to your audience. It’s analogous to having an ‘open stance’ in baseball – it gives you more control and a better view of the ball’s trajectory.

5: Engage

Because you are now positioned with the open stance, you are now able to truly engage your customer or prospect in an interactive dialogue. Smile. Make eye contact. And use hand gestures! Pull up YouTube and do a search on the late, great “Billy Mays”, the bearded “pitch man” for products like Oxyclean. While you might not want to take this to such extremes, Billy is using gestures that are proven to subconsciously draw in the audience and keep them focused on what you are saying.

6: Avoid ‘dead air’

A common misstep when whiteboarding is writing in silence and then turning to the audience and regurgitating what you’ve just drawn. This creates an awkward silence that interrupts the flow of your presentation, giving your audience an opening to check their Blackberries. With just a little bit of practice – and by using the open stance – you can easily overcome this. Be sure to talk as you draw, then turn and face your audience to expand on the topic at hand. Using some simple techniques, most of the participants in our training symposiums are able to modify this behavior after just one role play exercise.

7: Take your time

If you’re one of those sales professionals who wouldn’t dare approach the whiteboard because you think you’ve got lousy penmanship, be prepared to surprise yourself. Bad penmanship is primarily a result of going too fast. A good story is not a rushed story, so pace yourself, have fun, take time to engage your audience, and don’t feel you need to scribble furiously on the whiteboard!

8: Come Prepared

Make sure you have the necessary tools at your disposal. Call ahead to ensure your meeting is in a conference room or office with a whiteboard. Always bring your own set of dry erase markers, preferably the retractable type so you’ll avoid the problem of leaving the caps off and drying out the ink. Bringing a package of “whiteboard wipes” – single use towelettes that you can get at any office store – will show your customer that you have thought ahead and it will give you just one more excuse to say: “I carry all of this with me because this is how I always present our story to our customers and prospects – we know you’ve seen enough PowerPoint.” You’ll start the meeting off on the right foot when your customer smiles and nods in agreement.

9: Go virtual

Using simple web conferencing software and an inexpensive pen tablet or digital paper, you can easily simulate a fully virtual whiteboarding experience. This can make a big difference on your return-on-sales: you can skip the costly flight and still conduct an interactive and intimate sales call remotely. And you won’t just save money- you’ll also command greater attention from your prospects. An informal experiment showed that while 50% of web meeting viewers intermittently “alt-tabbed” away from a remotely shared PowerPoint presentation to view email or other apps, the attrition rate was less than 10% using a hand-drawn story.

10: Add whiteboarding to your phone sales 

If you’re part of an inside sales team or do most of your selling over the phone, you can use the virtual whiteboarding scenario described above to have interactive dialogues and qualification discussions that go far beyond your typical sales conversation. Imagine the difference it will make when instead of saying: “can I send you an email with more information?” You’re able to ask: “are you on your computer? Why don’t we jump on a quick WebEx demo so I can show you what I’m talking about with a virtual whiteboard?”

Happy Whiteboarding!

Corey Sommers is author of our ‘Whiteboard Selling‘. 

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