5 Easy Hacks to a Good Product Presentation
In 2016 a product manager’s job is increasingly demanding, as rapid technological advances mean new product roll-outs and updates are more frequent than ever before. This means a correspondingly large volume of product presentations for managers and developers are needed – and with attentions spans lower than ever before, these presentations better be smart, snappy, and on point (no pressure!).
Maybe you’ve got presentation fatigue approaching your 3rd product presentation of the month, or maybe you’re not super comfy speaking to a group of judgemental stakeholders? Whatever ails your when it comes to presenting your product, we’ve compiled five easy steps to improving your product presentation.
5. Be versatile
Play to your audience – you can’t give the same presentation to every crowd.
This is by far the most important point straight out of the gates. Of course, your presentation will have the same foundation – a great product presentation will focus on the strengths of your product, and it’ll clearly explain what your team is selling. Your message will be consistent, but your method for presenting it should vary based on who you’re talking to. It should change with their focus and background, or the way they react.
Do some quick research on your audience before presenting – are they a financial crowd? Then they’d prefer a focus on hard numbers. A creative team will want ideas, and more visual aids. If you’re successful in customising and engaging, your audience shouldn’t be taking notes, they should be listening. Make it interesting to them!
Remember you’re here to sell them something, not brief them on how amazing they already know you are. No speech should be set in stone, that’s why you should be extra prepared, and know what you’re talking about!
4. Have good data and facts about your product
This is about being prepared.
You need to know your stats so you can know where and how your company, or your product, is lacking; but more importantly to show where it excels. This isn’t about hammering your audience with charts and numbers until they give up on life.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking solid numbers necessitate fancy flowcharts or dry diagrams – these facts are not made to be PowerPoint fuel, but they’ll be a good base for curve ball questions you might get, and they can support your claims and ideas.
You just need to show you know – people will trust you’ve got all this figured out if you have numbers to prove it.
3. Get customer feedback – before, and after!
This happens outside of the arena, but if you walk in not having listened to the people you’re about to pitch to, you’re in for a world of hurt.
Customers and users in this day and age carry immense weight. Bad reviews and unresolved bugs and issues can flatten even the biggest business giants for years to come. When building and developing your business you need to listen to, and change with, customer feedback. Adapt your product to your users, they’re the ones using the products after all, they know what they want.
Building good customer service interactions and reputation is a slow grind, but the advocates you amass are invaluable. They will stand with you to the end, that’s the beauty of fulfilled customer relationships.
During your presentation you can always open the floor for questions too – take note of all the feedback you get in the room, and take it with you to improve future presentations and even enhance your product development. You could even use a free app to integrate your audience’s reactions into your presentation in real-time! Customer centricity is a mindset, not a quirk.
2. Remember where you’ve come from
Everyone can relate to a great story of progress and development.
You have to be up front about what how far your product has come. If one of your previous products or iterations wasn’t a hit with your current audience, then don’t be afraid to admit to previous pitfalls and weaknesses.
And if your company, product or campaign has been well received with a particular audience in the past, be sure to do justice to your base and the features that make your product great. While change is good, you should do all you can to avoid disappointing an already loyal audience.
You need to bring these people along with you through the steps you’ve taken and the ones you’re planning. You should also make sure your product story is about progress, not change for change’s sake. Guide the audience through the features and changes, show them the evolution and why it is necessary.
If you listened to your customer feedback, this should be a breeze, they’ll have been the inspiration for most of the changes!
1. Get the right tools
Invest in a system that will help you make the right calls, and sell things the right way.
A good presentation is built on a good sales pitch combined with good data, solid facts, a well-rounded product development history and obtaining feedback.
An “I could sell you anything” winning attitude is only a small part of what will make your product journey successful – your company needs to have a comprehensive base of research over time in, available in a structured and shared space. The foundation of your presentation will be the platform on which your team have chosen to gather all this data.
We at OneDesk offer a platform that handles management of projects, products as well as customer service and feedback.
So if you find yourself lacking in ideas for your next product presentation, why not request a demo from OneDesk? On a single platform, your team will be able to handle all it needs to garnish the right data, and succeed.
Photo Credit: “Back to School” / Martin Abegglen / CC BY