What really makes a good MLM presentation?

This is a 3-part series in which I’ll discuss:

Part #1 (this part) – Your state of mind when you conduct an MLM presentation

Part #2 – The problem and solution approach

Part #3 – What is your offer to your prospects?

Here’s Part 1:

Not long ago, I watched Ruben Gonzalez — a 3-time Olympian in a sport that takes him down an icy mountain on a

sled at an incredible speed — who is now a motivational speaker.

He started after a short video clip of his triumph by saying:

“Many people asked me if going down an icy mountain at 85 mph is scary?

“I told them, ‘No, it’s not scary…

“It’s terrifying! It’s awful!”

As he said that with full of passion, energy and emotion, I began to wonder how many times he had said those same words that would capture anyone’s attention right from the very beginning of his talk?

5 times? 20? 100? 500?

I would reckon he had spoken those same few paragraphs at least a few hundred times. In fact, someone once told me that Madonna typically rehearse a song for at least 500 times before she performs on stage.

How is it that Ruben Gonzalez is still able to maintain his passion and energy level as he related his experience with the audience for the umpteenth time?

… Or should I put it this way:

Ruben Gonzalez is a professional motivational speaker who is able to make sure that every time he speaks – no matter whether it’s his 10th time or the 1000th time – with the same passion and energy!

And that’s expected of him, isn’t it?

After all, he’s a motivational speaker…

But, on the other hand, have you ever thought that he could in reality be sick and tired of telling the same old story over and over again no matter how exciting that story can be?

Now, think for a moment of those days when you first joined your MLM business…

You were totally excited and charged up… especially after your sponsor shared with you that you can earn a mind boggling income by simply sponsoring a few downline…

…And then you went out there and shared with your friends.

…And it was easy to sponsor a few people – I’m sure you know what I mean

Your excitement, enthusiasm, eagerness, energy literally ‘electrified’ the prospect and he would be a fool not to take up your amazing offer!

Now… FAST FORWARD 3 months, 6 months, a year or two…

What happened?

You did your best to show your plan but found that your closing rate hit rock bottom.

How many times have you shared your business?

A hundred times? 200? 500?

Aren’t you like Ruben Gonzalez who’s sharing the same old plan, talking about the same old company, same old products?

It had gotten a little boring now and you just want to finish off quickly and get your prospect to sign up so
he won’t take up your precious time.

After all, this business is so simple and why did he (the prospect) not see it and kept asking so many questions?

So, before you make your next MLM presentation, take a moment to reflect on those days when you first joined and do your best to share with the same enthusiasm and then watch your success rate go back up again.

In other words, do you need to make sure that each time you talk about one of your ‘power’ topics, does it need to be custom fit to that specific audience?

Well, yes and no.

In other words, it depends. I’ve seen speakers that go to great lengths to make sure that they are relating to a specific audience.

For instance, when I saw Tony Robbins address the audience at the Natural Products Expo West a couple of years ago, his presentation had a lot to do with that specific industry. But he had a lot invested in it – financially. One of his companies had an interest in new FDA rules that might affect them, so his knowledge of the industry was extremely high. And because of that, his presentation was specifically tailored to the audience – even though his core message could have been delivered to virtually any gathering.

I’ve also seen keynotes that were ‘cookie-cutter’ and could have been virtually cut-and-pasted to any group without changing a single word.

Both went over quite well.

So what’s the answer?

In those cases, the audience was large – a few thousand at least. The speakers were well known, and the audiences quite receptive.

If you’re speaking to a smaller audience, your payoff will be worth it if you can tailor your presentation.

Let’s say you’re speaking to a group of fitness trainers. Before the presentation if you take some time to chat with some of the audience (either in person or with one of the organizers ahead of time) and learn a bit about the group, you’ll have some good ammunition to add to your speech.

For example, perhaps you speak with Carol, who’s been training and helping clients who are recovering from auto accidents. You tell her that an acquaintance of yours was in an auto accident recently and is in need of some direction. In your conversation you may uncover a couple of tidbits that might help your friend. If you find a way to work a few elements of that conversation into your presentation it does a couple of things:

First, it shows that you took the time to talk to and learn a bit about your audience. It shows them that you care.

Second, when you mention Carol’s name, several members of the audience will perk up a bit more because they’re sure to know who Carol is. So you’ve got them paying closer attention.

Both of those elements will make you more attractive to the audience as a good speaker. It wouldn’t surprise me if a number of them took mental notes and remember to call you when a group they’re associated with needs a speaker.

So all the way around, customizing your presentation – whether a full-blown speech written specifically for the group, or adding some elegant personalization touches – makes a lot of sense.

Have you ever seen a presentation which has content all over the place, and you wonder, which part to look at first? The slide may have charts on one side, text on another side and pictures on another side. They presenter assumes that since they are explaining what is written, the audience will ‘get it’.

Such slides typically happen when presenters use presentation templates provided along with their presentation software. While such complex presentation templates make the presenter look intelligent, they confuse the audience.

The reason for such ppt slides confusing the audience is – the way we read.

When we read, eyes typically travel in the following order:

1. From left to right

2. Top to down and

3. Clockwise

Given this order of reading slides, can you imagine how confused the audience becomes trying to read the slides with a lot of content?

A good presentation template should have content placed in a way that audience can read without feeling confused. The presenter’s aim is to always keep the audience focused on his content and not on reading tough to understand slides.

How much content on the slide is too much? Here are 2 simple rules to determine if there is too much content on the slide.

1. Follow the eye movement: Using the order in which eyes move, read the slide and see if your eye movements are smooth. If the eyes move in a zigzag way, then the ppt template is too complex and needs to be simplified.

For example if the slide requires the reader to move his eyes from left to right, it is simple enough. If it requires the audience to read from left to right and up to down and left to right again, it is too complex.

2. Two is company, three is a crowd: This common saying holds good for slides as well. If there are more than 2 types of elements on the slide, it is probably too complex. By elements, I mean a text box or graph or an image. For example, when a presentation template has text box, image and a table, it counts as 3 elements. It is probably too complex and needs to be simplified.

Remember, that adding a new slide does not cost anything. It is better to add another slide than to confuse your audience. When you confuse your audience, they stop paying attention to what you are saying.

So, whether you are selecting a ppt template, a presentation background or a readily available presentation template, remember to use 2 elements or less in a slide. We have seen a number of templates on offer that use strong colours as well as too many elements on a slide.