A Road Warrior's True Stories

#1 On a short, direct flight, the airline loses my bag. It’s 10pm by the time I’ve finished waiting to see if it will turn up. Next day I have to attend the meeting in jeans and a t-shirt.

But it turns out ok, when the delegates hear my story a couple of them tell me that the same thing happened to them also.

#2 My colleague is going to give an important presentation to raise finance for a new project. When he switches on his laptop computer, it refuses to work and he is unable to make the presentation he had planned. He tries to improvise a pitch, but the event is a disaster. It’s cost a lot of money to put on and weeks to get the investors to agree to attend and now he’s blown his opportunity.

Don’t let this happen to you.Prepare a version of your presentation which can be done with no sales aids.

#3 Before I bought a digital projector, I used an OHP supplied by the venues. Frequently they didn’t work. As a result I made it my practice to travel earlier so I could have time to check the meeting room the evening before the event.

#4 Allow for the unexpected. Get to the meeting place early in case some disaster has struck.

* I’ve been in places where a pipe has burst in the ceiling above, a football club has had a party the night before and no one cleaned up.

* On a hot summer’s day the heating was stuck on and the windows wouldn’t open.

* The event is scheduled for 8.00 and by 9:10 the facility manager who should have unlocked the meeting room has failed to turn up.

* The meeting is scheduled to start punctually at 9:00 the attendees drift in gradually up to an hour and a half late.

* The projector bulb has blown and there is no replacement.

* The meeting room is right next to the staff restaurant and there is a the noise of dishes and raucous conversation intruding into my event.

* I’ve been for a drink the night before the meeting, and discover that a business companion is an out and out alcoholic who leads you astray. Wake up the next morning with a splitting headache|thundering hangover.

* Assume that your audience has been told the wrong start time or was expecting you to present on a different topic. And that they will have to leave early to catch a flight. So check and double check.

* My bags have been lost by the airline on four occasions and once someone took my case by mistake and I picked up his identical one and didn’t know what had happened until later at where I was staying.

* A construction crew begins noisily outside of the venue.

* After lunch a member of your audience is obviously drunk and starts to heckle.

* You finish the event and go to settle up with the hotel for the use of the meeting room and discover that your credit card is declined, there is no money on your other one and you don’t have a cheque book with you. (This happened to me twice. On one occasion, my client helped by coming round with my fee in cash, in an envelope).

* The flight I’m waiting for is delayed, then it’s announced that when the plane leaves it will be diverted to another airport 200 miles from my destination. The only way to get home at that time being a taxi.

* We wait for 3 hours in the terminal because all landings in the London area are cancelled because of a snowfall. Finally we are allowed to take our seats on the plane, and then have two more hours wait before finally departing. On arrival at the destination it is so late that I miss my train connection, wait all night in a railway station, eventually reaching my hotel at 6 in the morning, sleep until 7.00 and go to meeting for 9.00.

* I’ve been stuck on a busy road miles from the meeting place, no taxis available, no buses and no signal on my cellular phone.

To make a sales presentation persuasive and apparently effortless – ironically what is required is thorough preparation and practice. And a constant awareness of

Murphy’s Law. ‘If it can go wrong, it will’.

Article Source: http://www.articlesinsight.com

Download a Free Sales Masterclass Information on the Selling for Engineers manual and Seminar Robert Seviour is a sales trainer specialising in business development for technical companies.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Entrepreneurship Articles Via RSS!

Additional Articles From - Home | Business | Entrepreneurship

Facilitating Entrepreneurialism In Your Business – 6 Steps To Take Tomorrow - By : Naz Daud
Why Are Business Franchising Models So Effective? - By : Naz Daud
Entrepreneur Responsibilities and Definition-Start a News Business - By : Constantine Balbozar
Failing In Business To Succeed Second Time Round - By : Naz Daud
Making The Correct Startup Decisions - By : Kelly Church
Components to Build a Concession Business - By : Kelly Church
Four Steps to Building a Succesful Business - By : Ben Anton
The Lure Of Quick Easy Money - Can It Really Be Achieved - By : Arthor Pens
Use Resale Rights for Niche Marketing Success - By : daleeast
If You Don't Ask, The Answer Is Always No - By : Willard Michlin

	Print This Article
	Post Comment
	Add To Favorites
	Email to Friends
	Ezine Ready

Member Login
Submit Articles
Top Authors
Most Popular Articles
Submission Guidelines
Article RSS Feeds

New Stuff
About Us
Site Blog
Links
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Sitemap

articlesinsight.com » Copyright © 2006
Links | Terms of Service | Submission Guidelines | Contact Us | Improve google rankings| Privacy Policy | About Us