Discussion Question

Discuss Kolin’s Chapter Ten and how you would make specific distinctions between a written sales proposal and a presentation of a sales proposal (face to face, video conferencing, etc.) keeping in mind what you learned in Chapter Eight about sales proposals for (your initial posting 320 words min). Then discuss (your one response posting 200 words min).

Post 1

Kolin’s chapter 10 discussed making and delivering effective presentations. The chapter introduced the topic and gave an overview of the types of presentations. The chapter went on discussing all aspects of a presentation, including the audience, parts of a presentation, and tips to deliver strong presentations.

When crafting sales proposals, the medium that is used, whether written or oral, requires difference considerations. For instance, although they contain fundamentally the same information, a written sales proposal and a presentation of a sales proposal must be formatted differently to deliver the same persuasive impact to their respective audiences.

Whereas a written proposal can be viewed as many times as is necessary for complete comprehension, an oral presentation (unless recorded) is often viewed only once. Therefore, in order to increase the audience’s retention of information that is crucial for influencing their decision, it is important to keep a presentation clear by removing extraneous details that would have moved your audience in a written proposal. Such details might include, for instance, a breakdown of every single cost your audience would incur if buying from you. Instead, it may be more effective to showcase the final cost to your audience, while comparing it to your competition’s costs.

Also, since your audience will have more distractions in a noisy presentation setting and will have less time to digest your words, it is crucial to be diligent with your word choice to ensure the audience knows what you are saying. Although clarity and conciseness is important in all communication mediums, it is especially important in presentations, in which your audience will often have a shorter attention span, preventing them from fully understanding many technical details at once. Whereas in a written proposal you can get into the technicalities over why your solution is better than your competitors’, it may be more beneficial to give a brief overview and instead emphasize what your solution will accomplish for your audience.

Producing effective written and oral sales proposals goes hand in hand with understanding your audience and tailoring your approach to their needs.

Word Count: 343

Hello Kiryl. I liked how in-depth you got when describing an oral presentation. That shows how there are more factors there are to making a good oral presentation than a good written sales proposal.

You describe some of the most important aspects of an oral presentation that are crucial to a successful presentation. It is good to address these aspects because a failure to perform well in them will result in a bad presentation, which could lead to conflicts between the presenter and their audience.

Keeping a presentation is important since the audience will likely not having a long attention span. You are right when you say that the presentation should highlight the important facts while the paper can go over the technicalities. Usually, at a company, both a written and oral presentation of the same topic are both given to the audience. The reason for this is to allow the audience to revisit the issue at hand. By giving the audience a paper version of the oral presentation, they can look over the issue that they read from the paper and heard from the presentation and determine the best solution.

I like the connection you make about the different types of sales proposals and audience. Each type of sales proposals may require the same audience, but they have to be structured differently to accommodate to their needs. Overall, great work!

Word Count: 231

Post 2

Koplin’s Chapter 10 discusses the strategies to make an effective and successful written document and presentation. It also describes the types of presentations and informal briefings. When presenting a sales proposal, it is imperative to have a nice appearance and delivery. To ensure this, one should make sure that their proposals are clear and concise, their voices can be heard, and their visual presentation is understandable.

Unlike presenting a sales proposal, a written sales proposal is easier to decipher since all of the words are shown in the paper. However, this means the paper has to be concise to make sure that people do not get bored of reading it or misunderstanding the message.

Presenting a proposal presents some challenges that a written proposal will not. For example, one can be nervous right before presenting due to believing that people will judge them in a negative way. To counter this, one should take some deep breaths, get away from the room they are supposed to present in and confide in others about your feelings.

By doing all of these relaxing techniques before the presentation, it is more likely that one’s presentation will be successful in many ways, such as having a clearer voice, better posture, and better pacing.

One of the most important things when doing an oral presentation is to avoid information overload. This will cause the audience to be bored and as a result, they will stop listening and not hear your message. Information overload can be avoided by deciding on one’s main points.

By getting straight to the point, the audience is able to understand what the purpose the presentation was. Knowing only the most important facts allows the audience to decide on what is best for the company.

Effective presentation of a sales proposal requires more careful strategies and tactics than written sales proposals. While written sales proposals only have to worry about the amount of information present and the grammar, an oral presentation deals with this and the actual delivery of the presentation.

Word Count: 338

Hey Michael,

I thought you made many insightful remarks about the things to keep in mind when presenting written and oral sales proposals. I loved that you mentioned the personal challenges of an oral proposal. It totally went over my head that many people, including myself, get very nervous when speaking to a big enough audience. It can be very difficult to mentally overcome giving an oral proposal, especially given the fact that such proposals are often high stakes situation, in which poor delivery can scare away potential buyers.

I agree with you that finding an emotional outlet can be an excellent way to mitigate excessive stress from having to deliver a proposal. I would also add that many people find different ways to mentally prepare themselves and all avenues should be considered. For instance, swimming and working out really helps me in these situations. I also agree that mentally relaxing can do wonders to your body language in a presentation, making you seem more open and genuine, which will ultimately help you to persuade your audience.

I also totally agree that the amount of information presented in an oral presentation needs to be taken into account. Whereas you can get away with elaborating excessively in a written proposal, doing so in a presentation would surely diminish the impact your presentation could have delivered otherwise.

I thought you did an excellent job on this discussion! Have a great rest of your semester!

Kiryl

Word Count: 235