Steve Jobs appears to be a god of kinds for business owners, even those who haven’t followed his career closely know that his name holds power. When he gets sick, the company’s stock drops. Now, I read a lot and there are a plethora of articles out there about Steve Jobs, how he runs his days, how he sees the world, his opinion on this and that. In addition, I have heard that he is an excellent speaker, one of the best. What I didn’t know is that he is actually considered one of the world’s best corporate presenters. He makes it look easy.
As with most things that appear to be effortless, Steve Jobs has worked very hard at becoming a great speaker. He has spent countless hours practicing and rehearsing what he wants to say and what he wants the audience to take away from his presentation. Mr Jobs was not born with a great talent for speaking; it is something he cultivated along the way. Now, when he speaks, the whole world listens.
I read a Business Week article over the weekend and it printed a list of “10 Ways to Sell Your Idea the Steve Jobs Way.” The points are simple but brilliant and there is a take-away from them that can help all of us. Although the points were geared toward ad agencies, they also resonate with anyone who is looking for new business. I personally have a major presentation for a potential new large client next week; I have already started preparing for it. I am grateful indeed to have these points to help guide me.
Remember, every business pitch should do 3 things: inform, educate, and entertain. Enjoy!
- Plan your presentation with pen and paper. Begin by storyboarding your presentation. Steve Jobs will initially spend his preparation time brainstorming, sketching and white-boarding before he creating his presentation. All of the elements of the story that he wants to tell are thought through, elements are planned and collected before any slides are created.
- Create a single sentence description for every service/idea. Concise enough to fit in a 140-character Twitter post. An example, for the introduction of the MacBook Air in January, 2008, Jobs said that is it simply, “The world’s thinnest notebook”.
- Create a villain that allows the audience to rally around the hero—you and your product/service. A ‘villain’ doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct competitor. It can be a problem in need of a solution.
- Focus on benefits. Your audience only care about how your service will improve their lives. Make the connection for your prospective clients. Don’t leave it to your audience to figure it out for themselves.
- Stick to the rule of three for presentations. Almost every Jobs presentation is divided into three parts. You might have twenty points to make about your service, but your audience is only capable of retaining three or four points in short term memory. Give them too many points and they’ll forget everything you’ve said.
- Sell dreams, not your services. Steve Jobs doesn’t sell computers. He sells the promise of a better world. When Jobs introduced the iPod in 2001, he said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place.” Where most people see the iPod as a music player, Jobs sees it as tool to enrich people’s lives.
- Create visual slides. There are no bullet points in Steve Jobs presentations. Instead he relies on photographs and images. When Steve Jobs unveiled the Macbook Air, Apple’s ultra-thin notebook computer, he showed a slide of the computer fitting inside a manila inter-office envelope. Keep the presentation that simple.
- Make numbers meaningful. Jobs always puts large numbers into a context that’s relevant to his audience. The bigger the number, the more important it is to find analogies or comparisons that make the data relevant to your audience.
- Use plain English. Jobs’s language is remarkably simple. He rarely, if ever, will use the jargon that clouds most presentations—terms like ‘best of breed’ or ‘synergy’. His language is simple, clear and direct.
- Practice, practice, practice. Steve Jobs spends hours rehearsing every facet of his presentation. Every slide is written like a piece of poetry, every presentation staged like a theatrical experience. Yes, Steve Jobs makes a presentation look effortless but that polish comes after hours and hours of grueling practice.
Isn’t that great! I found these points to be an amazing guide for me in planning my next presentation; I want to avoid jargon, keep it real with my clients, and show my future customers how Global2Local services will make their lives better and their businesses more profitable.
-GB (points written by Carmine Gallo of Businessweek.com)
