Chapter 3
Self-Assessment
Are You Slide-Addicted?
At this point in the book you should be convinced that using slides to communicate internally and with customers and prospects might not be the best approach. And maybe you're even ready to learn a new way. But first, here's a question—how hard will it be to let go of using slides? Are you hopelessly addicted to them?
We've put together a quick assessment to help you find out. Because sales and marketing may have their own special relationship with slides, there's one assessment to use if you're in sales, and another if you're in marketing.
If you're in (or manage) sales:
1. When you see the ad for the thin and light slide projector in SkyMall magazine on your flight, you:
(a) Turn the page to look at the new food processor being advertised
(b) Think it's kind of cool but your sales office already has some older ones
(c) Start feeling your palms sweat
(d) Purchase in-flight Internet to place the order
2. When building or playing a slide presentation, you:
(a) Have trouble figuring out how to get it to play in slide show mode
(b) Know where to find the slide animations tab but have never used animations
(c) Creatively combine swirl, wipe, and fade bullet builds
(d) Actually know how to show slide notes on your screen but only slides on the projector
3. If the only customer conference room with a projector is unavailable, you:
(a) Shrug your shoulders and ask, “Do you have a whiteboard?”
(b) Are relieved that you have paper handouts of your presentation
(c) Request to reschedule the meeting, giving the first reason you can think of
(d) Pull out the thin and light projector you bought on SkyMall magazine
4. If your customer starts checking his/her smartphone during your PowerPoint sales presentation, you:
(a) Switch off the projector, turn on the lights, and ask, “May I use your whiteboard?”
(b) Lose focus on your presentation and become slightly agitated
(c) Start going faster through your slides to regain attention
(d) Raise your voice to refocus your customer on your presentation
5. If your PC is incompatible or doesn't work correctly with the customer's projector, you:
(a) Do nothing. You didn't bring a PC, just a set of dry erase markers to present a whiteboard story
(b) Fiddle with the PC and projector settings to try to fix them
(c) Ask to use the customer's laptop instead
(d) Pull out the backup PC you brought just in case (with the presentation preloaded)
If you're in marketing:
1. When putting together product information for sales, you:
(a) Use PowerPoint sparingly and complement it with podcasts, internal blogs, collaboration tools, and videos of product managers using whiteboards you helped design
(b) Use a lot of PowerPoint, but use visual images with just a few words
(c) Use a lot of PowerPoint but have a rule of no more than 20 words per slide, 5 bullets or less, and always using the “build” feature
(d) Open up a dozen different slide presentations for source content
2. When giving PowerPoint presentations at sales trainings, you:
(a) Don't use it. Instead, you use an interactive, hands-on activity to teach the content
(b) Use it only to support a panel-based discussion with sales representatives and product managers
(c) Prepare printouts with notes pages for the participants that exactly match your presentation delivery
(d) Provide printouts with note pages plus a thumb drive with the presentation on it
3. When you shop at an electronics store, you:
(a) Browse a variety of electronic sections including home entertainment
(b) Look through the business productivity software section
(c) Purchase some PowerPoint templates
(d) Clean out the clip art section
4. When a co-worker asks for help sprucing up his or her PowerPoint presentations, you:
(a) Apologize and say you don't use it much and so probably are not the best person to help
(b) Suggest eight other people in the department who would be better candidates for helping
(c) Modestly agree to offer up your PowerPoint skills
(d) Run-walk rapidly over to their cube and insist on helping right then and there
5. When using a friend's home computer with an older version of PowerPoint, you:
(a) Can't tell the difference
(b) Become slightly annoyed that you can't find certain menu items
(c) Have no problem since you are an expert on all versions
(d) Insist on downloading a trial copy of the latest version to their machine
Scoring
Whichever test you took (sales or marketing), score yourself:
For each question you answered “a” give yourself one point.
For each question you answered “b” give yourself two points.
For each question you answered “c” give yourself three points.
For each question you answered “d” give yourself four points.
If you scored 5–8:
You belong in the Whiteboarding Hall of Fame.
If you scored 9–12:
You're well on the road to recovery.
If you scored 13–16:
Have a co-worker hide your projector where you'll never find it.
If you scored 17–20:
Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to PowerPoint Jail.
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