First you must know your target's "hot buttons". You obtain these during the needs/wants analysis which is when you ask them a series of questions to determine their wants, needs, desires and objections.

You then press them during your presentation to spike the person’s interest level. For example, if you are selling a car to someone who has already let you know that saving on gas is what they are most interested, stay away from sports vehicles and large SUV’s.

Instead, spend time small to mid-sized vehicles that have good gas mileage and keep pointing it out during the presentation. Don’t even mention the time it takes for the car to go from zero to sixty (something you may think is cool) as that will make the person automatically associate the speed with gas being guzzled.

The point is this, the presentation should be built around the other person’s perception of value. But aside from that, there are a few more things you should know about a presentation.

1.)           Keep the flow of conversation moving – Awkward silent moments make presentation seem, well awkward. Awkward is the opposite of interesting, exciting and just about everything else you want the presentation to be. Aside from that, when you are not speaking about the benefits of what you’re selling, it appears that here aren’t many benefits to talk about. If you’re mind goes blank for am moment you can you can make small talk about things (if you’ve determined that the other person will open up). In fact, if they do open up, the rapport that has been built will be even stronger than it was before.

2.)           Assume the person is buying – During the presentation, make small statements which suggest the person has already bought. For example, don’t say things like “If you purchase this car”. Instead, something like “when you purchase this car”. That gets the person into the mind frame that they’ve already bought. Do that enough times during the presentation and by the time it comes to make the purchase, the person will have created such a vision of themselves owing the product, it will be very hard to do otherwise.

3.)           Ask “yes” questions – Asking a series of questions that warrant the answer yes will make it difficult for the person to say no at the end. Something like, “What’s great about this gym is that all of equipment is new; don’t you agree?” Getting a person into the habit of saying yes and agreeing with you will lower the chances of them saying no or disagreeing with you.