TerraCycle's business is to make nonrecyclable waste recyclable by creating national collection and solution programs for things like cigarette butts and chip bags. Today, we have more than 32 million people collecting waste in 22 countries. We offer free shipping and, typically, a small donation of 2 cents per piece of waste to the collector's favorite school or organization. As you can imagine, this is an expensive undertaking. To make it work, we go to hundreds of major companies like Imperial Tobacco and Frito-Lay to gain their financial backing and sponsorship.
Years of appealing to these large clients has taught us that our best tools to reach them are the slide presentations, or decks, that we create. While these presentations are a staple of today's business world, it is surprising to me how much our employees vary in their abilities to make them. Some seem to have an innate talent for producing compelling decks, but the majority need guidance and education.
One reason the presentations are so important is that after we give them, we leave them behind - in fact, it's usually the only thing we leave with the client. And many times the client will take the presentation and share it internally, without us in the room. As a result, it is the most important tool in our sales arsenal.
Six months ago we decided to try to articulate the fundamental tenets of great presentations. Because they are stories that are told to convince the viewer of something, they should have an arc: a beginning, an apex and a conclusion. They should be purposeful, beautiful, even entertaining and enjoyable. My conclusion is that there are three critical aspects to a convincing and successful presentation, and these should be applied not only to each slide individually but to the presentation as a whole.
Aesthetics: For a deck to be credible and convincing, it has to look the part. The extra minute spent on maki ng a slide look sharp is worth everything. Anyone can take a PowerPoint or Keynote template and add some bullet points, but few people take slide design seriously. A former employee who used to work at one of the big consulting firms told me that it has a set of templates ready to go to help tell any story. Some common mistakes include using too many font types, having too much text on a slide and having too few visuals. When you complete a slide, ask yourself whether its layout is the best you could possibly have created.
Clarity: The most important question is whether the client might misinterpret information in the deck, and it's crucial because so many presentations are e-mailed around by the client or presented internally without you there to explain. Common mistakes include not labeling both axes of a chart, using internal lingo that may not mean anything outside your organization, and making false assumptions about your client's level of understanding. Ask yours elf whether a random person with your client - unfamiliar with the context of your proposition - could explain your pitch.
Purpose: This is probably the most overlooked aspect of a successful presentation. Does the presentation build to a desired outcome, or is it just a collection of random facts? The most common mistake here is not being conscious of the flow or arc of one's presentation and not building to a climax. Ask yourself whether every slide - and the presentation as a whole - advances your objective.
Not only have we developed tools and seminars to help train staffers, we also recently created a deck-review committee that checks every presentation before it leaves the building. This means we are reviewing 10 to 20 presentations a day, but the time invested has significantly improved our proposals and our chances of getting a yes.
Tom Szaky is the chief executive of TerraCycle, which is based in Trenton.
