Recently,
the Hollywood gossip site Defamer
posted an article about Mitch Grossbach, an
agent at the powerful CAA talent agency in Los Angeles. The article discusses how Grossbach is
seeking to move his fashion representation team to another talent agency, and
how he’s using a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Agency Expansion Opportunity”
to explain why he should be hired.
According
to Defamer, Grossbach is having a difficult time finding a new home for himself
and his team, and a quick look at his sales presentation reveals why.
Whether
your goal is to do business on Wilshire Boulevard, Wall Street, or Main Street,
here are five of Grossbach’s mistakes that you should avoid in your own sales
presentations:
1.
Don’t be misleading.
In
his presentation, Grossbach says that the largest deal that his team created at
CAA was an “8-figure Creative Director renegotiation”. Since agents are paid a commission of 10%,
that would be a lot of revenue on one deal for CAA. However, insiders know that the deal wasn’t
paid in one lump upfront sum: it was
likely a multi-year deal with performance bonuses that, if the performance
targets were achieved, would result in an 8-figure payday. The actual upfront payment and guaranteed
compensation were probably much lower then what Grossbach is purporting.
Avoid
the inclusion of such murky hyperbole in your own presentations. Don’t bend the truth or play loose with the
facts about what your product or service can deliver: a savvy prospect will see right through any
misleading info and absolutely call you on it.
This will diminish your credibility and eliminate your chances of
closing the deal.
2. Don’t
be confusing.
Grossbach
claims that his fashion division at CAA “will be cash-flow positive and
profitable this Fiscal year”. If that’s
true, why would CAA be willing to let him go?
In
order for your presentation to be persuasive, make sure that the info you
present is precise. Don’t toss in any
details which could create friction, hesitation, or indecision from the person
who’s reading it.
3. Don’t
be vague.
Grossbach
offers information about his accomplishments that’s written so loosely, it
raises more questions than it answers.
Your
presentation should be crafted to be clear and convincing with zero usage of
industry lingo or jargon. Prospective
clients will pick up on any hazy generalities, superfluous fluff, or cliché
biz-speak, so don’t share ambiguous information that could possibly raise red
flags.
4. Don’t
be unverifiable.
Grossbach
promises that his team “is uniquely positioned to identify fashion industry
deal flow prior to anyone else.” It
would be interesting to hear how Grossbach can confirm that bold proclamation.
All
declarations in your presentation should be provable with facts, data, and
examples. Just because you say something
doesn’t make it true or believable. In
terms of what you need to include in order to back up your assertions, if it takes
you more than one sentence to make your case, then the assertion probably shouldn’t
be used.
5. Don't
forget to include metrics and results.
If
it’s your opinion against the opinion of a prospect, the prospect’s opinion
usually wins. But if it’s your data
against the opinion of a prospect, the data tends to win the day.
Grossbach’s
presentation didn’t offer much in the way of metrics or results, and the
integrity of his information was suspect.
To
maximize your presentation's reliability and credibility, incorporate as many
measurable results and metrics as possible.
Did your product or service help a client to make money? If so, how much? Did what you're selling help to save a client
money or increase productivity? If so,
by how much? These kind of inarguable
figures bulletproof your presentation, and make your product or service that
much more desirable to a prospect.
Grossbach’s
presentation may or may not win him a new home for his fashion team’s
services. But if the info that he
pitched was more clear, concise, and convincing, he absolutely would have had a
much better shot at landing a fab-ulous new gig.
