In 2013, I presented a business plan to a panel of senior executives in the software company I was working for. The presentation went horribly wrong.
My pitch was about how I would launch a new line of computers for consumers in Singapore. I had spent weeks collecting data and preparing the PowerPoint.One then said coldly, “Ian, we don’t know what you were talking about, but it sounds like a poor business plan. Your plan is not approved.”
Office workers often have to deal with colleagues who are distracted by work demands, family matters, or just plain exhaustion. Thus, if you ask someone “which is the most profitable product” or “the fastest growing division” in their company, he or she may be stumped. When you are “business literate”, you will understand what makes management tick. Then you will be able to craft a relevant message that gets them to sit up and pay attention.People often like to say they are “data-driven” and indeed, having good data does make for strong business cases.
For example, the finance guy will advise you whether your plan fits into the profit goals of the company, and the operations person will help you source the best suppliers.Workers can spend hours or days preparing many presentation slides to impress management, but most of the time, the crucial discussion will centre around just a few slides.Your PowerPoint presentation just needs three to five key slides to sell your idea.
First, the senior executives I pitched to were people who had sold highly profitable software for years and they were unfamiliar with the low-margin consumer hardware I was in charge of.
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