How to Display Your Materials 4Profit

Now that you’ve made the move from the back of the room to the front of the room, you must follow an important rule for how you display your materials. It’s a complicated rule. Are you ready to learn the rule for displaying your materials in the front of the room? Here it is…DON’T!

Don’t display your materials in the front of the room (or in the back of the room if you still don’t believe me about “front vs. back.”) The last thing your audience wants to see when they arrive at your speech is your table full of stuff to buy. Remember, no one wants to buy anything—especially before you’ve given them any reason to, and walking into your room and seeing your stuff is a kiss of death.

How have you felt when you walked into a presentation and seen a table full of books and tapes? What goes through your mind? “This person is just here to sell his/her stuff.” Admit it, it’s true. And that negative perception stays with you throughout the speech. When the speaker finally gives the sales pitch, you think, “Here it comes, I knew it.”

The worse thing you can do is let your audience look at your materials in the front of the room during your entire speech. Two hours or more looking at your “sales pitch” and two hours or more deciding NOT to buy no matter how good you are or what you say.

If you are going to sell from the front of the room, how do you keep your audience from looking at your materials during your entire speech? Easy. Get an extra tablecloth and cover them. Of course, they will see that there’s something under the tablecloth but that actually creates interest and the curiosity will drive your audience nuts until you introduce your materials. When you finally peel back the tablecloth, your audience is sufficiently motivated to buy.

You don’t make it want to look like you’re hiding a Volkswagen under your tablecloth. So don’t pile up your entire stash of materials. Only put out one set so that the table looks flat. Leave the rest under the table and bring them out as you need them. This prevents turning off your audience with a three-foot pile under the tablecloth and adds to a scarcity perception you want to create.