By Donna Powell
It’s at the back of the room, or at the enrolments table where the business end of things happens. This is where the success of your presentation is measured via the number of sales you make and the money you take home in your pocket. It’s here the order forms are collected, payments are processed, questions are answered . . . and sales can be closed or lost depending on the sales skills and talents of the crew you have supporting you.
Where To Start
If you’re just starting out and you are running a small event then you might try to be superstar and do it all on your own . . . my suggestion is don’t go there! Even with a small audience, having someone to support you at the back of the room is essential. This allows you to concentrate on what it is you do best – the presentation.
As your business grows or you speak on other people’s stages then having people or crew to support you at the sales desk becomes even more important.
Here are some top tips:
Know the Offer
Make sure your crew know what you’re selling. Spend the time and go through the details of the offer and the price points before the event. This is especially important if you’re at a multi-speaker event with crew who don’t know you or haven’t seen you before.
Know the Form
Every order form is different. A completed order is like gold for your business. It IS money for you. You want to make sure that your crew:
- Understand the information required on the form
- Take care to make sure it’s filled in correctly
- Make sure they can read all the information on it clearly so it’s easy to process the payment or enter the sale into your system when you get back to the office.
Know the Price
- Is the price printed on the order form or have you left a blank space for people to write it in once you reveal your offer?
- If you are not printing the offer price on the form, make sure the crew on the enrolments desk have a price list and you’re not relying on them to write the price down as you announce it from stage.
- On that, when you announce the price from stage, make sure it’s the same one you told the crew.
Nothing beats experience
It’s even better if all or some of your crew have completed your program or bought your product before and can give a first hand account to potential customers. This added testimonial support is great and helps them to answer customer questions, particularly the detailed ones!
Questions
When you’re at the back of the room answering 
questions, remember to leave your microphone on, so that other people in the room can hear the answers as well. If one person has a question, it’s very likely other people have questions so leaving your microphone on helps encourage others to the back of the room.
So this week, think about how you can use these tips in your presentations to get the best sales results from your presentations.
