Developing Management Capability - Assignment Example

Developing Management Capability As a whole, the presentation given was ineffective because most of its parts were not delivered in a persuasivemanner, as follows: a) Starting your talk by saying, “Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, I will briefly tell you what I’m going to talk about this morning by giving you an outline of my speech. First of all…” is ineffective. Such boring choices of words fail to capture the attention of the listeners. Instead of starting your talk by providing your listeners an outline of your speech, focus instead on presenting one interesting idea after another so that they will be eager to hear more. Listeners generally decide during the first minutes of the speaker’s presentation whether or not they will pay attention and listen to him. Your first lines, therefore, should be creative, exciting and interesting. b) These next lines are good, and they can be effective if said with passion that will show the listeners how significant a small percentage (like 2 per cent) can be when considered in context of the base amount which, in this case, is 1.2 billion in euro. Assuming that these figures are all well-researched and accurate, this part should serve to be when the you - the speaker - convince the listeners that what you are presenting is worth looking into. The presentation slides used to highlight these lines should show pictures of the market that the listeners would want to tap. Without such critical slides, the important point relayed by this part of the presentation – the market you want them to target - will just be missed by the listeners. c) These lines should never be said, “What sort of things do I mean by informational-educational? This is not the best example, but it will help to illustrate the idea: Sothebys has produced a video guide to eighteenth-century French furniture.” They are ineffective points that will only ruin your presentation. These lines give your listeners the feeling that your presentation is not the best that you can give or do. Citing examples to make things clear would be effective only if the examples used for the purpose are the best and the most fitting. It is one big blunder to use second-best examples to illustrate a point; and it is another equally big blunder to actually tell the listeners that the example you are about to name is actually not the best. To be persuasive and convincing, your listeners should be made to feel that you took pains to put together for them a great presentation that contains accurate data and intelligent choices of words, examples, and lay-out of the slides. d) “Now Id like to talk about where I see the opportunities in this market. I see them at the high end - the affluent - I think its a defined target, it has a lot of discretionary income, and its interests lie in the areas I want to market into.” These lines are ineffectively worded. There are better ways to put the points therein to words. Instead of those lines that rather sound dragging, you should instead use a slide or two to show the listeners a diagram of the entire DVD-renting population and then to specifically point out the specific part of it that represents the market niche that you want to capture. Attaining such goal should be doable if your listeners will be fired up and become enthusiastic and passionate believers of what you yourself believe in. e) “The project would investigate the viability of starting a production and distribution outfit in Europe; it would investigate the potential product portfolio in the market, and would essentially turn an idea into a business proposition that can be put to a bank to raise capital.” These lines would dampen the excitement roused by your earlier lines. These are ineffective points, unless they are rephrased and discussed with more optimistic and energy. The financing concerns are to be dealt with by the finance people, and maybe the conservative and serious words are the ones to use when talking with them. But when talking to a group for the purpose of presenting a business plan, you will have to be vibrant with confidence and firm belief in the success of the product once it is launched in the market. This is the way to persuade them to do their part with bright hopes for the project or product line. f) The types of questions I want answers for are these (puts up overheads and reads from it: a) How is the market structured? ; b) What alternative distribution systems are there in the market?; c) How are products presently distributed?; and d) And, most important, what makes for a successful product? Is it the pricing? Is it the quality of production? Is it the content? Or is it re-usability? For example, an exercise tape that you can go on us and amortising your costs on. These questions are listed in the file I gave you to take away and study.” This part points out good questions, except for the example provided after the last question, which seems to contain an error. All slides should go through editing and re-editing before being used for actual presentations so that no typographical errors would go uncorrected. It should be pointed out as well that presenting a business plan presupposes the inclusion therein of the marketing strategy aspect of the project. To be convincing, then, you as the speaker will have to explain well that these market information you now need will serve to bolster the positive conclusions arrived at in the business plan. The marketing of the product has been looked into and considered, and thus far, good marketing prospects that need to be further validated and explored have been uncovered. Sincerity throughout the presentation will come a long way. It will establish a connection between you and the listeners and will rid of any amount of suspicion and doubt among all of you. g) Im running over a bit in time but (smiles at audience) I hope youll allow me that.....’ This extract of the presentation consists of an ineffective point. It lacks the same confidence that has been repeatedly cited as very important. For one, if you have important things to say still, extending your presentation for a few additional minutes should not matter a lot. These words are better not said at all. You simply should go straight to the point and say what you have to say. The more punch lines that leave good marks on the listeners, the more appreciated your presentation will be. h) So, in conclusion, I would say that this is a very fast-growing market, with a very interesting market opportunity; there is ample room for good new ideas on distribution and thats where the key problem lies in the market right now. There is, with this, a need for some real solid information on how large this market is, how it is structured, where it is going, what shape it is assuming. This conclusion contains effective points. It relays the direction that will be taken and brings home the urgent message regarding the importance of the listeners’ cooperation in the overall preliminary work for the project. i) At this point Id like to hand over to you for some questioning. This part is most effective when said with quiet confidence and an encouraging smile for those who have questions to bring up. It is an effective way to set clear any gray areas or vague points that require clarification. Questioner: “What I would like to know is how you are going to go about meeting all the information requirements that youve identified as needed for your plan.” Presenter: “Right. Er, there is tons of desk research because theres lots of material written on this market. Some of it is in Germany, so Im probably going to go there for some of it; um, I think at some point Im going to have to do some primary research on what are the motivations behind buying patterns, what price are people prepared to pay, those sort of questions....” This answer may not have contained all the needed effective points, but it provides an answer in part to the question. This would have been a good time for you to remind them of your needed help in research. Questioner: “Do you see it as an international market?” Presenter: “Very much so - it is already an international market, but what I see as happen­ing is that there are some very good products out there that have a lot of investment put into the production but with little into the marketing. And I think thats whats killing the market right now....” These are effective points to bring to everybody’s attention the resolve to not overlook marketing as has been done by other entities. Thus, after the preliminary market study has been conducted as part of the early phase for putting together the business plan, the more rigid and detailed marketing research will have to be done next to validate and substantiate the initial projections made. For this part of the Question and Answer Portion of the presentation to be effective, this fact will have to be disclosed. It will lead the listeners to do their part with resolve. Questioner: “The main question I have is to do with competition. Do you expect some of the other companies like TVmatic or....” Presenter: (interrupts): “They already are - theyre already in it....” You as the speaker should not have interrupted the person asking his question. Interrupting while somebody is in the middle of his question is an act that can be misinterpreted by many. It might be misconstrued as a defensive move on your part, which would lead to speculation and further questions on why you behaved in such an unexpected manner. It then makes you less persuasive, less credible and less influential as a speaker and eventually, as a leader. On the whole, learning the art of persuasion in the corporate world is vital for every person therein wanting to sell an idea, a product, a method, a goal, a new vision whether to the market, to his bosses, colleagues or subordinates. The same art of persuasion enables people to get help and support from the others, as needed. It also enables a manager to teach and train his team members to be better employees of the company, to give more and to do more, knowing that it will all redound to their own good. WORKS CITED Guirdham, Maureen. Interactive Behavior at Work. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2002. Read More