Sales Presentations For Dummies

Chapter 20

Ten Ways to Recover from Presentation Disaster

In This Chapter

Keeping cool when disaster strikes

Improvising when technology fails

Maintaining your prospect’s attention when problems arise

Despite all your best efforts, the ugly truth is that if you do enough presentations, at some point, something will go wrong. Your presentation material will malfunction or disappear. Projectors will refuse to communicate with your laptop. Your demo will freeze. Vital team members will miss a flight. The way in which you handle unforeseen circumstances or mistakes can make or break your presentation. Just like an actor who misses a cue during a live performance, you too have to be prepared and ready to adapt without losing your audience in the process.

Without a game plan it’s easy to panic and lose focus when things go south. The following tips can help you handle any challenge that comes your way.

Staying Cool under Pressure

You’re standing in front of an audience and suddenly some unanticipated event throws all your careful plans out the window. The most important thing you must do is remain calm. Keeping your composure helps you manage the situation and keeps you prospect calm ...