When invited to speak<\/a>\u00a0or present on a topic chosen by someone else, it\u2019s time to negotiate the topic<\/a>.\u00a0And when invited to speak for 45 minutes, it\u2019s time to negotiate the length of the talk.<\/p>\n I was recently asked to speak on the subject of differentiation in a sales presentation. I didn’t think that was a good idea.<\/p>\n A company differentiates itself either through its unique products and services, its unique strategy, or perhaps its key competency.\u00a0 But not through its sales presentations<\/a>.\u00a0And how can you differentiate yourself in a sales call if you don\u2019t know what all your competitors are doing in their<\/em> sales calls?\u00a0 It\u2019s preposterous.\u00a0Trying to be different in a sales call is a recipe for burnout.\u00a0 You are who you are.\u00a0 Try to be the best you, and try to use the best practices of sales when introducing yourself to prospects.<\/p>\n So I won that argument.<\/p>\n Then there was the time thing.\u00a0 They wanted me to speak for 45 minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy,\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause that\u2019s the time slot.\u201d they said.\u00a0I wanted to ask them if they would ask me to speak for five minutes if that was the time slot, but I kept it zipped.<\/p>\n What they meant, I assumed, was that I had 45 minutes in which to do whatever I wanted.\u00a0So I spoke for 30 minutes, and talked to the audience for 15.\u00a0 Nobody seemed unhappy that I stopped talking and started listening.<\/p>\n So negotiate the topic and negotiate the time.\u00a0 It\u2019s better for you, the audience, and the sponsors of the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When invited to speak\u00a0or present on a topic chosen by someone else, it\u2019s time to negotiate the topic.\u00a0And when invited to speak for 45 minutes, it\u2019s time to negotiate the length of the talk. I was recently asked to speak on the subject of differentiation in a sales presentation. I didn’t think that was a… Read More »Think twice about the topic and length when you present<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[149,1],"tags":[912,167,913,904],"yoast_head":"\n