Choosing images for your sales presentations: don’t illustrate, suggest!

It is often tempting to illustrate words: the sales rep says “car”, and shows a picture of a car. In doing so, he is taking his client for an idiot, matching the image with a direct description, much like children’s books do. But that is not the goal: what you want to do is inspire your client, by creating inspiring analogies. To inspire the right brain and get it up and running, you have to allow room for imagination. Illustrating the word with a literal image does not allow any space for imagination. It is better to use analogies, from outside the business world whenever possible, to engage the right brain and the imagination… suggest rather than describe, to allow the client to imagine… let him imagine the situation, the parallels with his situation, the outcome, the whys and the wherefores.

The image should not serve to illustrate any given word, it should serve to engage the client’s attention. For instance:

Opt for ↓

To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Change
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Coach
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓
Listen
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Effort
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
International
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Result target
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Prospection		or
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Think
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Risk
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Delay
To illustrate ↓	Avoid ↓	Opt for ↓
Speed

See this news in French: http://presentations-de-vente.com/images-pour-presentations-de-vente-suggerer-plutot-que-illustrer

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