Posted by Chris Davis on Thursday, April 2, 2009
Under: Path to Success
As an entrepreneur and future leader in business, it is important to
remember that presenting at an excellent level is crucial to reaching your
greatest potential. If you take one thing away from this post, let it be a
desire to improve and continually refine your presentation skills.
The business of entrepreneurship begins and ends with a presentation. The cycle
starts with you "presenting" an idea to yourself. Is this feasible? Is
there a market for it? How can I profit from this idea? You ask yourself these
questions and once you discover the answers, you proceed as necessary.
Step two requires you to present your idea, which by now should be in a well-refined
and polished state due to extensive research and analysis, to an outside
individual. Will you need funding? Will you need to bring in others who have
strengths where you do not? If the answer is yes, you must be able to clearly
express the idea and your findings to the respective parties. Exceptional
presentation skills will almost guarantee that you proceed to the next step
provided this idea is indeed worthwhile.
Now that your idea has become reality, how do you go about getting your
prospective clientele or customer base to realize the benefits of your product?
What needs does your product or service fill that is currently being overlooked
by competitor's products and services? Essentially, why should I spend my hard-earned
money to help you? As you can see, being able to communicate correctly to
another is extremely beneficial and potentially quite rewarding. If you can
articulate superb answers to those questions (or relate that information to a
marketing professional so that you can ensure the messages align) you have a
leg up on the competition.
Being able to deliver exceptional presentations is a skill that must be
developed in order to maximize potential, to maximize dollars, to maximize your
business experience as a whole. The effects of your efforts even spill off into
your civilian life. Whether you are looking at starting a business, expanding
your business or lead in any fashion, I strongly encourage you to evaluate the
way in which you speak and present yourself and your company. A resource that I
have found more than useful is The Exceptional
Presenter by Timothy J. Koegel. I highly recommend the book to anyone
serious about achieving their goals and fulfilling their ambitions in life.
I created this site to encourage individuals to capitalize on their entrepreneurial spirit and pursue their ambitions. I also want to highlight student business leaders and minority entrepreneurs. As I continue down the path towards business ownership, I will share my views and the knowledge that I acquire from those much wiser than me.