Monday, October 20, 2014

The 5th Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

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PowerPoint is the easiest platform to use. It is the de-facto software for presentation most businesses use. However, many people are still unaware of its full potential. (Attend our seminar to master the art of creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations.)

Here, I am going to present to all my readers the 5 immutable tips you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations (with a step-by-step approach).

Now, let’s first have a look at #Tip 5. In case you missed the #Tip 4, it’s here.

#Trick 5- Turn Square Images Into Custom Shapes

We all know how important it is to use photos in your marketing (maybe you downloaded our recent stock photo collection, perhaps?), but do you know how to customize them? Make them fit into your favorite shapes in PowerPoint -- all with just one click.

Crop-to-Shape:
1) Click on the image and select 'Format' in the options bar.
2) Choose 'Crop,' then 'Mask to Shape,' and then choose your desired shape. Ta-da! Custom-shaped photos.

What other PowerPoint tricks do you keep up your sleeves? Share them with us in the comments below!

Also attend our seminar on “Creating and Delivering Effective PowerPoint Presentations”. Hope to see you there! | Know more



The 4th Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

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PowerPoint is the easiest platform to use. It is the de-facto software for presentation most businesses use. However, many people are still unaware of its full potential. (Attend our seminar to master the art of creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations.)

Here, I am going to present to all my readers the 5 immutable tips you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations (with a step-by-step approach).

Now, let’s first have a look at #Tip 4. In case you missed the #Tip 3, it’s here.

Trick 4#- Having trouble aligning all your items at the right place? Here’s the key!

You can manually try to line up your images, but we all know how that works out. You're trying to make sure all of your objects hang out in the middle of your slide, but when you drag them there, it still doesn't look quite right. Get rid of your guessing game and let PowerPoint work its magic with this trick.

How to align objects to each other-
1) Select all objects by holding down 'Shift' while clicking on them.
2) Select 'Arrange' in the top options bar, then choose 'Align or Distribute.'
3) Choose the type of alignment you'd like.

How to align objects to the slide-
1) Select all objects by holding down 'Shift' while clicking on them.
2) Select 'Arrange' in the top options bar, then choose 'Align or Distribute.'
3) Select 'Align to Slide.'
4) Select 'Arrange' in the top options bar again, then choose 'Align or Distribute.'
5) Choose the type of alignment you'd like.
Click here to discover The 4th Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations.

Want to learn more on conceptualizing, creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations? Register for our seminar | Know more

Hope to see you at the seminar!


The 3rd Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

No comments :

PowerPoint is the easiest platform to use. It is the de-facto software for presentation most businesses use. However, many people are still unaware of its full potential. (Attend our seminar to master the art of creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations.)

Here, I am going to present to all my readers the 5 immutable tips you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations (with a step-by-step approach).

Now, let’s first have a look at #Tip 3. In case you missed the #Tip 2, it’s here.

Trick 3#- Having trouble with pesky background problems? Save only the slide components

One of my clients wanted to make a presentation for a brand. However, he was facing trouble when he tried to save every slide as an image. Doing this he found unwanted background colors and other background problems. Hence, it deterred the process of making versatile images in the PowerPoint presentation. I suggested this tip and it worked well!

Save as image-Follow the steps below:

1) Select all items by holding 'Shift' while clicking on the items.
2) Do right click; select 'Grouping' & then 'Group.'
3) Do right click on the entire group and then choose 'Save as Picture.' Boom, no white space at the back!
Click here to discover The 4th Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations.

Want to learn more on conceptualizing, creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations? Register for our seminar | Know more

Hope to see you at the seminar!



The 2nd Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

2 comments :

PowerPoint is the easiest platform to use. It is the de-facto software for presentation most businesses use. However, many people are still unaware of its full potential. (Attend our seminar to master the art of creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations.)

Here, I am going to present to all my readers the 5 immutable tips you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations (with a step-by-step approach).

Now, let’s first have a look at #Tip 2. In case you missed the #Tip 1, it’s here.

#Tip 2- Having trouble making everyone understand your presentation’s theme? Use the Slide Master

Many have complained about how difficult it is to have everyone on same page. For instance, many of my colleagues expressed difficulty to get the marketing team understand the core theme or idea while developing slide shares for a brand. Well, here’s the key to let your branding commence without any hassles.

The Slide Master! Follow the below steps-

1) Choose 'Themes' on top navigation bar.
2) Click 'Edit Master on far right, then click 'Slide Master.'
3) After making changes of your choice, click 'Close Master.' Now all your current as well as future slides will use the template you’ve selected. (This will make it easy for everyone concerned to understand the core theme or idea of your presentation easily!)
Click here to discover The 3rd Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations.

Want to learn more on conceptualizing, creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations? Register for our seminar | Know more

Hope to see you at the seminar!



The 1st Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations

No comments :

PowerPoint is the easiest platform to use. It is the de-facto software for presentation most businesses use. However, many people are still unaware of its full potential. (Attend our seminar to master the art of creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations.)

Here, I am going to present to all my readers the 5 immutable tips you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations (with a step-by-step approach).

Let’s first have a look at Tip 1.

#Tip 1- Having trouble with distorted images? Get your background customized!

Have you ever felt the pain of creating an infographic and then it does not fit correctly in the slide’s default size? Probably yes. Now you can easily unhinge yourself from such clutches of PowerPoint slides by embracing customized background of your choice.

To change the background size, follow the steps below-
1) On the slide’s top-left corner, select 'File.'
2) Choose 'Page Setup.'
3) Type in the required height as well as width of the background you need. Click 'OK.'
4) Click 'OK' again as the dialogue box appears.
5) There it is, your customized background is ready!

Note- It’s good to resize your slides prior to adding any objects, otherwise your objects will appear distorted.
Click here to discover The 2nd Immutable Tip for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations.

Want to learn more on conceptualizing, creating and delivering effective PowerPoint presentations? Register for our seminar | Know more

Hope to see you at the seminar!


Thursday, October 16, 2014

How To Identify and Strengthen The Financial Benefits of Your Solution?

7 comments :
Take help-
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Take help from your sales representatives and marketing teams for existing ROI case studies, calculators, graphs or other related material to get started.

Keep it easy-
The proposal should be compelling as well as easily understandable. I recommend creating a spreadsheet containing maximum 7-15 rows. Above this limit, it becomes confusing to anyone except the most technical buyers.

Attain an agreed analysis-
Both parties must co-author see eye-to-eye on the potential financial benefits. The analysis need not be perfect, nor should it be binding.  However, it does need to estimate the financial benefit to give your buyer a clear understanding of the magnitude of the benefit of your exclusive solution.

Consider all the possible scenarios-
This refers to considering all the possible worst scenarios. It helps to enhance your value proposition which is the value created from your solution. You’re able to enhance your solution’s value proposition by examining the entire “pain chain” from the buyer’s perspective. This pain chain refers to the all the possible chain of incidents or events which may occur if things go wrong.

Illustration-

For instance, in future there can be a missed shipment of auto components to a supplier. As a result the supplier may fail to provide the required components to the respective auto company thus causing a rippling effect.

However, even in such adverse scenarios, you give the buyer an assurance of a back-up plan which will prevent the client from the ripple effect. For instance, in the same example, if the supplier has multiple suppliers of the same components then there won’t be any such hassles!

This kind of approach will take you a long way in building a credible, trusted and valuable client base which will act as a rich source of revenues for any business!

Attend IAM’s seminar to enhance your various professional skills | Know more

The 2nd Immutable Rule Of Sales Negotiation To Remember

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Attend IAM's seminar to master the art of sales negotiation and selling | Know more
After several years of working around sales negotiation, I have come to realize 2 essential rules of sales negotiation which I want to share with you.
In this article, I am going to reveal the 2nd immutable rule of sales negotiation. You can browse through the 1st immutable rule of sales negotiation here.

Note- This is also applicable to all kinds of business negotiations other than sales negotiation.

After reading this article which includes easy-to-understand illustrations you’ll be able to achieve a win-win negotiation deal!

#Law 2- Knowing the financial benefit of your solution-

Unawareness of the financial benefit that your solution will provide to the other negotiating party will put you in a defensive situation. It will make you the underdog thus forcing to defend your price by offering discounts to enhance value. However, no negotiating party whether in sales negotiation or other type of negotiation would enjoy being in such a vulnerable position.
Hence, it’s essential to determine your solution’s financial benefit to prevent yourself from such losing situations.

Remember- Numbers talk. When you know the financial benefit you’ll be able to achieve a win-win deal by driving a compelling reason of profitability to both the parties.

So how is this done? You’ll understand as you read forward.

How to present one’s financial benefit of a solution?

There are 2 proven methods of conveying a solution’s financial value which you can use-
#Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) –

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) conveys, “My solution will cost less in terms of usage and implementation than the competitors.”

TCO focuses on cost factor and not your solution’s unique value which it creates. Now there’s a catch! You do not want your buyers to compare your solutions in terms of TCO. This may put you in a situation where you no longer compete based on the value proposition of your solution.

Hence, the buyer will make decisions based on cost. And the best manner to enhance the TCO is by lowering the price further, a situation nobody wants to be in.
#Return on Investment (ROI)-

ROI terms to be a better option as it focuses the attention on the value proposition. By quoting a yearly or a monthly benefit to buyer, you assure him a payback within certain period of time. This is much more appealing due to the predictable and measurable factors it consists of.
Illustration-

Say your solution helps the client to save or earn $25,000 every month. Your total solution cost is $100,000. Therefore, the payback period is 4 months. In this way you present a measurable solution which the client will always feel safer to go with!

The major salient feature of the ROI system is that you’re able to convey how much value will be created through your solution over a period of time. This shortens the sales or business cycle. The buyer actually realizes the gains after a period of time which makes sense to any negotiating party.

Note- If you show your solution’s ability to give a payback within less than 1 year, the buyer will usually allot your funds from his operating budget than the capital budget. This requires fewer approvals and shortens the business cycle. Also it’s easier to close!

Stay tuned for my next article on How To Identify and Strengthen The Financial Benefits of Your Solution?

Till then you can browse through useful business and management related articles to get useful tips to enhance your business related skills and management efficiency.

Attend IAM’s seminar to enhance your various professional skills | Know more


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The 1st Immutable Rule Of Sales Negotiation To Remember

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Attend IAM's seminar to master the art of sales negotiation and selling | Know more

After several years of working around sales negotiation, I have come to realize 2 essential rules of sales negotiation which I want to share with you.

In this article, I am going to reveal the 1st immutable rule of sales negotiation. Let’s begin the journey towards achieving a win-win negotiation deal! (You can attend our seminar on “Effective Professional Selling Techniques” & Become a Sales Superstar! | Know more)

Note- This is also applicable to all kinds of business negotiations including sales negotiation.

After reading this article which includes easy-to-understand illustrations you’ll be able to achieve a win-win negotiation deal!

#Law 1- Prior to beginning any negotiation, ask yourself, “Am I or Are We the buyer’s top choice?

Never start your negotiations until you’re sure that you’re the buyer's top and foremost choice. This is the golden rule to remember, why? It’s because you cannot simply drive your way to the number one preference merely by quoting lower price. Also you should not! If you do then it will become a race towards the bottom. This is because there will always be several competitors who will be willing to offer at lower price tags. However, if you also take the same road it will put a dent in your profitability and margins. Hence, you will end up in a win-lose situation where you’ll be the loser!

#Remember-
·        If you are not their 1st preference, the buyer is only using you to achieve a lowered price compared to the cost of their top preference– your competitor. 
·        If you’re the top preference– you enjoy the right to quote a price premium.

How to position yourself as the buyer’s top preference?

An important fact relating to sales negotiation or any kind of negotiation-

People don’t buy price, they buy risk!
Hence, don’t focus on cutting your price but focus on the other party’s risk factors, both business as well as personal. Embark on methods on how you can reduce them and give the party a comprehensive solution.

Illustration-
Taking the business perspective, while evaluating solutions, the client is focused on risk factors like, “If we choose a particular party and its solution fails then…”
  • Will it negatively affect our profits?
  • Will it hamper our relationship with shareholders and employees? 
  • Will we lose out on valuable customers to the competition? 
  • Will it make us uncompetitive in the market?   

Now talking from a personal perspective, your client is more likely to ask himself, “If we happen to choose this party and our relationship fails then… ”   
  •       Will I be fired? 
  •       Will this put a dent in my 10-year stint at the company? 
  •       Will it affect my appraisal or bonus? 

Understand what the client actually wants?

As per my experience, there are few buyers who worry about marginal differences in costs which exist between you and competition. However, if they are assured of the best solution from you, you’ve just cracked the sales negotiation or any other business negotiation pretty well!

Note- The best solution garners protection from the several risks of the negotiating party which we just discussed.

Remember- No one would want to risk their personal careers, business profile and bonus to take care of families just to save a few company dollars!

#Concluding note- Focus on re-affirming the negotiating party of securing their risk factors. This will place you in a better position than competitors and you can then command a price premium! 

In the next article, I will be revealing The 2nd Immutable Rule of Sales Negotiation to Remember. Till then stay tuned and have a look at other useful business and management related articles to get insights to enhance your business related skills and management efficiency.

Attend IAM’s seminar to enhance your various professional skills | Know more

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The 3 Sales Prospecting Errors One Must Stop Committing Today!

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Join us at the seminar of "Effective Professional Selling Techniques" | Know more
The 1st impressions are everything when it comes to sales. If any sales rep fails to begin with a right pitch to the appropriate person at right time, he is likely to lose the deal. Hence, when it comes to selling the right way, right sales prospecting is one of the crucial aspects. (Join us at IAM’s seminar on Professional Selling Techniques | Know more)

As per my experience, many reps ignore this important aspect of the right sales prospecting approach. As a result, they fail to understand who is a good lead, what should they talk and when should the prospects be contacted.
Further you’ll learn to overcome the 3 most flagrant sales prospecting errors which are also easily fixable.

1.  Pitch not the decision maker but other influencers-

Many sales reps attempt to find the decision maker at the respective company through their job titles. Once acquired all the contact information, assuming the person to be the contract signer, the reps communicate with him/her through call or email.

However, what do you do when there’s no revert? You’ve already pitched your brand to a potential valuable client but now you have nowhere to go!

Therefore, I suggest sales reps to avoid searching the decision maker while at 1st attempt of sales prospecting. Instead, reach out to other horde of influential people in the company. Ask for referrals towards the person you ultimately want to meet. This strategy is likely to be successful as there are greater chances the decision maker will consider your pitch!

2.  Concentrating on short-and-quick fixes doesn’t work-

When it comes to sales prospecting, many sales representatives think it’s all about uncovering the buyer’s pain points and explaining how your service or product will help. Before you buy that, consider the following illustration-
It’s the wedding of a man’s daughter’s. The man however faces a blown tire while driving his car to the wedding. Seeing another driver walk towards him the man feels fortunate. However, there’s a paradigm shift when the other driver utters the following solution-
“Hey, you need a tire it seems” says the driver.
“No! I need a ride not a tire!” the father replies, frustratingly…

You see that? It points out a very important difference in selling remedies for certain pain points (tires) Vs. providing a well-thought and comprehensive solution! (Ride to the daughter’s wedding).

Hence, sales reps should not concentrate on short-and-quick fixes. However, you must listen to the buyer’s concerns carefully and then provide a comprehensive solution!
3.  Don’t act desperate!

Following up is a vital aspect of sales prospecting. Many sales reps claim of being persistent without pestering. However, many do not end up being either.
Illustration-

The wrong approach-
A sales rep ‘A’ has got 5 touches to spread across a month. He chooses the too-early-too-many-times approach and blasts the prospect at several times trying to get attention within short time. He spends his first 2 touch points on the very first day followed by sending 1 message each of the following three weeks.

The right approach-
Sales rep ‘B’ spends only 1 touch on the first day followed by the 2nd after two couple weeks. He then spends the 3rd one during the month’s last week. The remaining 2 is spent on the last 2 days of the month.

In this way, you should patiently wait for first few weeks and gradually ramp up, not other way around!


Want to learn more about effective prospecting and selling techniques? Come to my seminar on “Effective selling techniques” and become a sales superstar! It’s going to be held in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. Hope to see you there | Know more

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Co working hubs- The Preferred Workstation Of Future Business Entrepreneurs!

9 comments :

Get introduced to 21st century workplace! Co-working hubs boasting fun and luxury amenities like cafeteria, fun zones & meeting rooms, even crèche for women entrepreneurs to carry their child with them are becoming the most preferred workstation of tomorrow!

They are a great option for businesses and start-ups who want well-equipped places at lesser costs compared to rents and purchase of a place.

Versatile- Get all your needs nurtured under one roof!
There’s one major striking aspect of these co-working hubs which makes them a perfect workstation! Apart from offering a favorable working environment, it helps startups & businesses greatly to build valuable networks! You get everything from technical help, valuable mentoring sessions, getting investors to meeting new customers & even hiring an essential talent pool all under one roof!

Hear from some of the executives turned successful start-ups with the help of co-working hubs!

Ritu Ghuwalewala is the owner of big-data analysis firm MavenMagnet started in 2009. She, at the age 28, learnt to fire a worker. He was highly qualified & was the only local team member in Mumbai in 2012.

And for Ritu, it was a tough moment as it was a growing phase. "If there had been a concrete office resembling our only company, I would not have been able to do it," says Ritu. Her brother & cofounder worked from United States.
“Luckily, I wasn’t operating from our own office. I had peers around me at Bombay Connect (coworking hub in the upscale Bandra in Mumbai) where large group of skilled entrepreneurs advised me on how to fire an employee who’s not shaping up,” said Rita.

Huddled round a table on the 1st floor of Social Connect in Bangalore are Anjali Batra & Shuchir Suri, the young founders of Food Talk India. They work hard on their phones & notebooks. However, the ambience boasting soft lighting and couches along with EDM music and bar counter only suggests that the duo were living it up all-away from the office!

Searching for lucrative business opportunities? Get in here!

Satish Khanna who’s a former pharmaceutical honcho turned successful entrepreneur says: "Networking is key for a successful business." He works out of Regus which is a multinational co-working hub boasting 5-star feel. 
"Every Monday I remove time to meet corporate and executives of 2 companies which work from here. This helps me greatly to make new contacts & further new connections which lead to newer and lucrative business opportunities."

There are more things you’ll love about co-working hubs. The work tables there gets easily converted into the lunch tables & you can quickly revert back. 
For instance, at 91Springboard in Delhi, the reception area can become a lounge with carom board and so on. This reflects good utilization of space. They’re flexible, nimble and modern which have made startups & businesses go gaga over these evolving workspaces of future!


Know More about Indian Academy of Management’s (IAM) practical and highly informative business seminars and corporate events to take your business and career to a new high!

Corporate Trend Alert- Picturing 21st Century Workplace!

2 comments :
Co-working hub

Centuries ago, hunter gatherers possessed farms. 20th century manufacturing era reflected the start of factories. And then the services era brought a wave of snazzy corporate offices boasting glass and chrome. Do you have any clues on how the tomorrow’s workplace will look like?
It’s here! Driven by lively startups & scrappy entrepreneurs to passionate freelancers & consultants, it’s going to be the era of virtual world leveraging the power of networking.

The DEN of the future entrepreneurs!
In the past week, I spent time with startups in their lovely den only to find clues of 21st century workplace! They’re none other than what are known as co-working hubs. Increasing number of startup businesses are showing interest in setting up offices in various co-working hubs.

What is a co-working hub?
Co-working hubs are shared office spaces. You can book space on a per seat basis which is much cheaper than the enormous rents or buying a place and even getting a plush ambience!

Start-ups are undoubtedly becoming a hot favorite so much so that young, old & experienced executives are trading their comfy jobs for a rough ride building businesses with these startups. No wonder, co-working hubs are the best place to spot such start-ups.

You’ll find them mushrooming all over. Examples include, 91Springboard, Stirringminds & Social Offline In Delhi. There’s also Bombay Connect and The Playce in Mumbai. All have of expanding to multiple cities & fast. Bangalore also known as India’s Silicon Valley is the startup hub which seems far ahead with such exciting facilities.

What’s special about these co-working hubs which have made them so popular?
There are 5 reasons-
   1)   They offer great flexibility while startups scale up or scale down. Here, one needs to book space on a per seat basis which helps to cut significant costs related to buying or renting a place & it’s very easy!
   2)   Co-working hub reflects a plug-and-play model. It cuts down all administrative hassles which distracts several startups and tends to eat into their precious energy and time.
   3)   Talent hiring & retention is a big issue today where young entrepreneurs prefer a hot-and-happening work place. And for bootstrapped businesses it’s a hard one if gone by renting or buying a place! In such scenarios, co-working hubs act like a boon offering great place to work!

Boringbrands.com’s Aakriti Bhargava says, “To operate out of trendy co-working hubs are major drivers to help her attract & retain talent.”

Know More about Indian Academy of Management’s (IAM) practical and highly informative business seminars and corporate events to take your business and career to a new high!