We’ve all been there: the audience comes alive after opening your sales presentation with an emotionally relevant story, they interact with your questions and exercises, and you’ve got them in the palm of your hand. Then it starts: you see the faces start to drift, the doodling on the note pads, and yes… the yawns.
Even the best speakers lose their audience eventually. When that happens, try to get them engaged again with a story, or by getting them to interact, or one of a dozen other techniques. However, if you can’t get them back, close the meeting. Even if you’re not done and still have your super cool feature to discuss – get out of there. Wrap it up with something like “I’ve taken up enough of your time and look forward to scheduling our next session where I can share our super cool feature.” Either you show it to bored minds, or you schedule session #2 and respect their time. Get outta there.
