Sales Training and Presentation Skills Enhancement

Knowing how to say something is as important as what you’re saying

Brian Harrison Smith teaches sales management and key account management at York University Sculich School of Business, and First Principles Communication's clients. — Brian Harrison Smith teaches sales management and key account management at York University Sculich School of Business, and First Principles Communication’s clients.

It doesn’t matter how good your message, or your product or service is, if the person you’re talking to doesn’t hear, understand and remember what you’re saying.

There’s a skill to presenting effectively and the skills can be learned.

Over the years, First Principles has worked with countless people – from executives and professionals to sales people and middle managers – to help them present more effectively. Whether in front of an auditorium full of people or one person sitting across the desk, knowing how to say something is as important as what you’re saying.

Presentation Skills

There’s a skill to presenting effectively using tools that can be learned.

People hear very differently than they read. When you read something, your brain wants information in a logical, 1-2-3 way. But when listening to the same information, the brain wants to know where you’re going so it can follow along.

We teach people how to be more effective communicators with some simple techniques:

Mark Twain’s time-tested advice for people giving speeches and presentations.
Simplicity, clarity and repeatability are key.
Why “inverting the pyramid” is crucial, and how to do it.
Think about benefits for the audience: Why should they care?
The value of “word pictures.”
The power of story.
The importance of rehearsing, even if you’re not performing at Roy Thomson Hall.
The “never, ever do this” rules of PowerPoint.

We also developed a proprietary workshop for clients who want middle managers and first-line supervisors to communicate with each other and with subordinates more effectively.

Sales And New Business Situations

We have integrated PR, marketing, and sales for decades, for the benefit of our clients. We understand the B2B and B2C sales processes, our team oversees sales meetings for major corporations and lectures regularly at Schulich School of Business.

Our unique approach turns your sales staff from “peddlers” into trusted advisors who help customers prosper. We show them:

How to frame a unique value proposition for each customer.
How to collect and then apply critical information about customer needs.
How to know which customers make you money and which are unprofitable.

Whether it is presenting to a room full of people at a seminar or to one key buyer at a time, we can help you be more effective, productive and profitable.