From the Inside Flap
PowerPoint® has turned selling on its head. Sellers have become projectionists, rather than persuaders. They recite sentences from laptops or room screens—often word for word. Viewers, in turn, disregard the presenter and instead read the screen or handout. Most pitches are driven by wordy text slides and a tedious delivery. Sellers have unwittingly undermined their own influence. Prospective buyers used to judge a seller's product by how well the seller presented it. Now it's what's read, not what's said.
Visual Selling shows you how to regain control. You'll learn how to radically change your visuals so viewers look to you instead of the screen for answers. You'll understand how your delivery dramatically biases the sale. It should. You are, after all, the most important visual in the room. Your every move and what you show, from clothes to body language to the room setup to your slides and handouts, shapes the buyer's decision. Visual Selling explains that what the pro-spect sees is as important as what you say—often more so. This book shows you exactly how to visually switch gears and pull ahead of your peers or competitors.
Drawn on the authors' years of experience as renowned consultants to those giving competitive pitches, this book explains the art of visual selling, sharing stories and techniques that are proven and effective. Whether you sell one-on-one or to large groups, the strategies you find here will guarantee that your visuals never muddy your message. You'll learn how to:
Put yourself and your message at center stage
Never let a handout upstage you
Eliminate PowerPoint® text and use powerful visuals instead
Choose and use appropriate images to persuade
Manage the visual effect of your selling environment
Control your body language for maximum visual impact
Visual Selling covers virtually everything you need to know to make sure all visual elements enhance your presentations and your selling ability. It's the perfect resource for anyone who gives sales presentations, no matter what they sell or who they sell to.
From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR VISUAL SELLING"The lessons found within Visual Selling nearly jump off its pages. This book is chock-full of reasoned insight, proven technique, and compelling logic. Perhaps most importantly, it challenges the seller to return to the center of the selling process."
—John J. O'Connor, Chairman and CEO, DMJM Aviation, Inc.
"I actually read Visual Selling straight through, because I found it so relevant to my job as an investment banker. Literally, the day after I read it, I used many of Paul's suggestions. I have also had the pleasure of seeing the highly successful output of the authors' advice in presentations to Wall Street and the scientific community. . . . Those seeking outside funding would be wise to read Visual Selling."
—Grant Harshbarger, Managing Director, Caris & Company
"It's ironic that as architects, we're trained to think visually but we rarely use visual selling ideas in our presentations. After successfully using these concepts, I'm only afraid of what will happen when my competition reads this book."
—Peter Schlossman, AIA, Senior Associate Principal, Loebl Schlossman & Hackl
