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An effective sales presentation is more than show-and-tell. You need to be strategic about how you present and illustrate an understanding of your client’s needs and wants. You also need to analyze the possible competition that client might be speaking to. It’s vital you have a clear pitch to present that demonstrates why your service or product is better, and why it is in the best interest of the customer to go with you.

The first step to a winning sales presentation is to know when to best present it. A common mistake is to launch into your pitch immediately. What needs to occur prior to a pitch is a brief discovery phase. Even if you’ve spoken to the client previously regarding their wants and needs, it’s important to clarify in person prior to the presentation to see if anything has changed. Perhaps they have recently met with a competitor or a part of their process has changed since you last spoke.

Speak directly with your client and ask questions to understand their challenges, desires and methods. You can determine from this conversation the best way to approach your pitch by understanding fully what they need, and whether you are able to adequately provide the solution.

Don’t get so wrapped up in your presentation that you stop paying attention to your client. Remember to look up, make eye contact, and look for body language that might signal they have a question or aren’t following you, such as a slightly raised hand or facial expression. Stop your pitch and let them ask a question. What they have to say is more important than what you have to say.

Always be courteous of your client’s time by being concise and to the point. Rambling at great lengths can often lead to an aggravated customer. Get to your key points and illustrate why the client will benefit from what you can offer.

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Dan Pink’s Puzzles of Motivation TED Talk asserts that the ways of “sticks and carrots” motivation is outdated and that people’s reaction to incentives has changed. To achieve peak efficiency in tasks, Pink suggests three tactics: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Autonomy, in Pink’s definition, is “the urge to direct our own lives.” Mastery is “the desire to get better and better something that matters.” And purpose is “the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.”

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Pink references the early 1900’s, speaking on the scientific management premise that worked during a time period when work more than likely consisted of simple, boring tasks. Back then, managers deduced that in order to get people to take on these tedious tasks they had to incentivize them properly and monitor them closely.

Put even more simply, Pink says that business owners knew that in order to get the most production out of your workers, you rewarded behavior you wanted and punished behavior you discouraged.

As Pink notes, this suggests “human beings aren’t much different from horses – that the way to get us moving in the right direction is by dangling a crunchier carrot or wielding a sharper stick.” But according to Pink, this is no longer the case, and today people are motivated differently.

So what does motivate modern-day people?

Allowing autonomy to workers lets them feel and be more in control of their production. Some studies have indicated that letting workers hold themselves accountable for finishing tasks (rather than being micromanaged) and allowing for ‘creative’ days results in workers that are happier overall.

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Mastery allows employees to become better at something that matters to them. People like to extend themselves and develop their skills, and they also often enjoy working in an environment where learning and development are encouraged.

Purpose means taking steps to fulfill one’s natural desire to contribute to a greater cause. A person who understands their company’s purpose and vision and knows their individual role contributes to this vision is more likely to be happy at work.

Dreamers and entrepreneurs are separated by one simple thing: the ability to successfully execute an idea. Assembling the right team to implement an innovative idea takes a strong leader at the helm to make it a reality. The term ‘leadership’ has various definitions, and everyone will have an opinion on the qualities a great leader should possess. However, there are universal key factors that the most successful trailblazers should have.

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Confidence: Those put into leadership roles might worry that showing too much confidence can come across as egotistical or arrogant to their co-workers. A reality is that everyone wants to know and feel that their leader is both capable and secure in their decisions and knowledge. Showing confidence in your posture and presence along with using positive language is also vital. There is also poise in those leaders who are capable of saying, “I don’t know” to their co-workers. It takes great confidence for a leader to admit to not knowing the solution; it also requires having trust in their team to kick into gear and help out.

Communication: A trailblazer can have a lot of ideas, but are they capable of clearly expressing their thoughts effectively to others? Honing communication skills is vital, as you want to be able to succinctly designate and describe what needs to be done in order to produce the idea and meet the goal. Being unable to relate a vision to a team can lead to severe miscommunications and misunderstandings.

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Create a productive atmosphere that focuses on everyone’s communication ability. Open door policies, daily updates and check-ins—and making those in decision-making and planning roles available for discussion—can all contribute to a healthy interoffice environment.

Obligation: Lead by example. A leader has an obligation to stay committed to their goals, and there is no greater motivation for a team than seeing their leader get down alongside them and muscle into the workload. Proving commitment to the brand and idea can earn a leader respect among their workplace. Create a reputation for working hard and keeping promises.

Here is Cydcor's review of Radical Openness: Four Unexpected Principles for Success by Anthony D Williams and Don Tapscott.

About Radical Openness: The authors of Radical Openness, Anthony D. Williams and Don Tapscott, are thoughtful leaders on business, government and society, and speak on the technologies that can achieve new opportunities. They offer real world examples to show an application of their ideas and how to fulfill a vision.

The authors also speak on the importance of organizations embracing transparency with customers and society to foster trust. They also speak at length regarding innovation and successful companies that dissolve corporate boundaries.

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Why Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders:  This is a good introductory read for anyone who is considering the implications of openness and transparency for either themselves or their organization. It also focuses on dynamic platforms to provide opportunities for people to collaborate with and contribute ideas to one another.

The book also speaks about digital technologies and how they reduce costs by allowing new ecosystems of companies and organizations to work together in a new way. Today, companies are able to tap into global talent pools via social media—something that was never so easily possible in the past.

Our favorite part: Tapscott and Williams offer example after example of how people are harnessing contemporary communication, consumer engagement and transparency tools.

Tapscott also acknowledged that there may still be proprietary information that needs to be protected, but increasingly companies default "toward an open position." They cited Ikea, which engages customers in co-designing its products.

“It's called 'prosumer.’ You turn your consumer into a producer, by engaging customers and providing them with information they need to produce."

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We are Cydcor, the outsourced sales leader providing clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results. Follow us on Twitter @Cydcor.

Here is Cydcor's review of That's Not What I Meant: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships by Deborah Tannen.

About That’s Not What I Meant: The book explains the old saying “It’s not what you say, but how you say it that counts” with a revolutionary thought process about how words and their tones can make or break relationships.

Tannen looks to demonstrate how something very small and insignificant can turn an entire conversation upside down, bringing the opposite result of what was expected. Between family, co-workers, friends or partners, she shows how everything from how our body language, hand gestures and tone can bring successful communication with those around us.

Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because:

The author looks to have those be aware of how they habitually communicate, and the reasons behind why they communicate in such ways and what to look for to correct them. A poor communication style can break a professional relationship, so it’s relevant to leaders to have each piece of communication broken down and to explain how it effects others. Tannen does a terrific job of providing clear, understandable information in an entertaining tone.

Our favorite part:

Tannen helps us understand how we don't just pay attention to the words spoken: in fact, we pay less attention to the message than what she calls the "metamessage": the implied and inferred meanings that each utterance evokes.

An example provided is the question, "Does this dress make me look fat?", as there is no right "yes" or "no" answer, as the question is not about the affect a particular garment has on one's appearance.

The real question, what Tannen calls “metamessages, is about whether the listener still finds the questioner attractive. Miss the real question, and conflict follows.

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A lack of motivation at work is a difficult problem for many. There are many elements that can contribute to it: perhaps you feel overwhelmed with many tasks or have personal and family stressors that make it challenging to come into work raring to go.

Get your motivation back by incentivizing yourself. Schedule something mid-day with co-workers, such as lunch or a quick trip for coffee. Make plans to do something fun after work, like a nice dinner or a meet-up with friends. Having something to look forward to is a great motivator to start your day off with a positive attitude.

If you’re struggling to feel productive, choose or create one goal that you can get excited about. It will be a lot easier to put time and energy into an objective if you’re invested in the outcome and not just going through the motions. You’re much more likely to be motivated towards something that you genuinely want to achieve, and starting and finishing such a project is a great way to transfer that momentum to other tasks.

Many feel they are great at multi-tasking; however, it can sometimes be difficult to get everything done when there are too many goals involved. Write down one priority goal each day. It is much easier to focus on one goal at a time, giving it your full attention. Don’t overload yourself trying to do several important asks at once—instead, prioritize. When you do complete your goal, check it off and move to the next one.

Your environment can be a sneaky de-motivator. Check your desk and office space for things that might be a distraction. A messy space can often pile on extra stress without us realizing it. Talk to your boss about different options available as well, such as changing to a window desk, organizing your area, or the possibility of working from home on some occasions. Sometimes a clean, refreshed environment can promote a better mind-set, thereby increasing motivation.

The worldwide leader in outsourced sales solutions, Cydcor provides clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.

Here is Cydcor's review of The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg.

About The Victory Lab: This is an insider’s account of how database marketing and psychology has caused political campaigns to gradually become more science than art in recent years. Issenberg introduces us to groundbreaking ideas that were the works of such iconoclasts such as Todd Rogers, Mark Grebner and Ken Strasma.

Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: Victory Lab takes a look at many of the key players involved in political campaigns, going back to many presidencies. We learn much about one in particular: Hal Malchow, one of the most prominent pioneers of political direct marketing in fundraising, voter contact mail, micro-targeting and Internet.

This book isn't just for those who are into politics; it's for any reader that loves books about what make people make the choices they do. The author does a great job of straddling the center of politics - showing no favoritism to either side, something that can be very hard authors to do these days.

Our favorite part: The Victory Lab takes everything you thought you knew about presidential elections and turns it upside-down. The argument of Sasha Issenberg is that elections have become not so much about convincing the public you have a winning argument, but rather micro-targeting the voters. Finding the low-information voters and determining exactly what they needed to hear to vote for a given candidate.

By using the science of behavioral economics, expert campaigners have found ways to determine why certain voters do or do not make it to the polls, and to adjust their message accordingly based on the voter they are trying to reach.

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A quote by Carl Zuckmayer says, “One-half is luck; the other half is discipline—and that’s the most important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.”

Luck doesn’t just happen, and it’s Cydcor is a firm believer that it's entirely possible to create your own. There are many events that happen over the course of an individual’s life that they have nothing to do with—both negative and positive occurrences.

The concept of ‘luck’ is truly about being at the right time and the right place. But how can you be sure you are?

Those who are successful project an appearance of being positive. When someone is positive, others want to be around him or her. What does ‘be positive’ really mean? Radiate appreciativeness and share your knowledge and friendship with others. Everyone has insecurities, and spending time with those who are negative only exacerbates them.

The more effort you put into creating a positive, professional relationship, the more opportunities will be presented to you. Others will see you have a ‘can-do’ attitude and will turn to you for help. People want to work with those who provide solutions and aren’t bogged down by negative frustrations.

Things are also not as black and white as they appear. Try to keep an open mind and make sure your vision isn’t narrow when it comes to what you feel is possible or impossible. You can miss out on opportunities if you have tunnel vision.

Create your own luck by setting yourself up for opportunities!

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Delegation: Learning to trust your colleagues in helping you complete work is an ability that some struggle with. However, everyone will need help every once in a while; be it covering for you while you are on vacation, handling an emergency situation, or taking on a task simply too large to handle alone.

Communication is important. Be sure to tell your team member or co-worker the key goals of your project or work being handled with a client. Also be sure to give them all the resources available, along with relevant contact information and documents.

Lists: Despite our best intentions, many to-do items can get lost in the fray of our everyday lives. Writing things down and creating lists is a great way to manage and check-off tasks that have been completed.

For larger tasks, break them down into multiple, smaller tasks. For example, writing a ten-page document can be pared down to creating two pages a day up to its deadline.

One of the most satisfying aspects of creating a to-do list is crossing off things when they are done.  It gives you a sense of accomplishment and gives you a visualization of progress for tasks both large and small.

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Breaks: Studies have shown that spending more than eight hours a day at a desk without moving around much is detrimental to one’s energy level and focus. Productivity is not measured by the number of hours sitting at your desk, but by how much work you get done.

Many recommend getting up every hour for a ten-minute break to walk, stretch and drink some water and socialize with your co-workers.

Goals: Set ambitious, yet realistic goals. Create goals both in your professional and personal lives. One of biggest reasons why people don’t succeed with their goals is because they didn’t set a deadline. Goals should be specific, measurable, and they should be written down. It is also good to get feedback about the goals in order to refine them.

Here is Cydcor's review of The Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun.

About the Myths of Innovation: Author Scott Berkun explains how to transcend the false stories that many business experts, scientists, and much of pop culture foolishly use to guide their thinking about how ideas change the world. He asks readers to question where ideas come from, and what people focus on when discussing those ideas.

The book is a short yet still fun read. Berkun has a witty, and at times hilarious, writing style, and his personal experiences help to explain some of his counter-intuitive demythologizing.

Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because:  True leadership requires a great deal of knowledge and understanding of trends in many different areas. Being innovative is not only for lone geniuses, but is also for anyone who looks to improve himself or herself by being realistic and observant.

This book, if nothing else, will remind you that the world is not as simple as we think it is.

Our favorite part: Berkun begins the book with a great story of when he visited Google's headquarters and joined a tour group. He describes the moment when two of his co-tourists whispered to each other, pointing over to a group of programmers, saying, “I see them talking and typing, but when do they come up with their ideas?"

This lays the groundwork for the rest of the book. It's a question many people ask of any creative/innovative person. Scott Berkun continues to explore the fascination with innovation and the desire to find the “hidden secrets.” Like all myths, the ones behind innovation are derived from quaint stories from history like Newton's Apple and Archimedes' bathtub.

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Cydcor hosted a toy drive to benefit the Children's Hospital Los Angeles during its annual corporate kick-off meeting.

About 70 participating Cydcor team members were given $50 each to create warm and fuzzy companions at Thousand Oaks’ Build-A-Bear and then deliver them to chronically and critically ill pediatric patients at the hospital. With the help and generosity of Build-A-Bear’s 10 percent discount, Cydcor was able to donate $3,000 in furry friends.

“As uncertainty looms throughout the country, Cydcor is thrilled to kick off 2009 with this positive team-building event,” said Gary Polson, chief executive officer of Cydcor. “We’re grateful we’re able to both give back to local business and brighten the day of a sick child as we continue to create a company culture of giving back to the communities in which we thrive.”

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles distributes approximately 500 toys a week. Children receive toys after a week-long hospital stay, when they’re preparing for a painful procedure or operation, have a birthday or simply don’t have toys from home.

“As a diversionary and a therapeutic approach, toys play an important part in enhancing the well being of hospitalized children,” said Wendi Kellaris, Manager – Volunteer Resources of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. “Cydcor’s efforts are greatly appreciated and provide our patients a positive experience that is so vital to their recovery.”

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About Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has treated the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is recognized throughout the country and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America’s premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932. It is a national leader in pediatric research. For more information, visit www.childrenshospitalLA.org.