--- title: The Company Pitch - No Time to Show Up and Throw Up description: Why many sales presentations turn audiences off, rather than on ... --- This is a search field with an autosuggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # The Company Pitch - No Time to Show Up and Throw Up ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) January 30, 2009 John Holland, co-founder and co-author of CustomerCentric Selling(r) has just reminded me how painful company presentations can be to the audience - and how damaging they can be to the vendor's change of establishing rapport with the prospect. I've sat through many toe-curling moments listening to some of these "spray and pray" presentations - as I am sure you have, and I may well have inflicted unintended suffering and a fair amount of collateral damage on a few audiences myself.  Sometimes, the largest vendors are the worst offenders.  You would think they ought to know better. I recently sat (fidgeting) through a 45-minute presentation from A Very Large Database Vendor filled with Most Uninteresting Facts about their history and market leadership, backed up by a few slides about their customers and partners.  The analyst quotes formed the light relief, which says something for the overall tone.  Nothing about the prospect's needs, and not attempt to engage the audience. Maybe the strategy was to bore us into submission.  Needless to say, it didn't suceed (at least, not the second bit).  Fortunately, there is a better way, and it is nicely encapsulated in [John's latest blog](http://invision.mindmatrix.net/LiveContent/Items/90963/Feature_Article_-_Jan_2009.pdf).  I'll leave you to read the full article for yourself, but here are a few points that I felt resonated particularly strongly: - **Do your research**: find out who is going to be in the room, and familiarise yourself with their objectives - particularly if they are key players - **Tune in to their buying vision** - and tailor your presentation to match it - share the business issues you have uncovered in your research-and seek to gain the audience's agreement - **Align your capabilities to their needs** - and illustrate - perhaps with reference to the potential consequences of not achieving them - how you can help - **Offer a way forward **- and suggest how they could go about evaluating your offerings Simple, but compelling advice.  Makes you wonder why so many ignore it, and why they fail to avoid the "show up and throw up" trap. ###### Tags: [B2B Buying Process, ](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/b2b-buying-process) [Complex Sales](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/complex-sales) ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) January 30, 2009 Bob Apollo is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales Professionals, a regular contributor to the International Journal of Sales Transformation and Top Sales World Magazine, and the driving force behind Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, the leading proponents of outcome-centric selling. Following a successful corporate career spanning start-ups, scale-ups and market leaders, Bob now works as a strategic advisor, mentor, trainer and coach to ambitious B2B sales organisations - teaching them how to differentiate themselves through their provably superior approach to achieving their customer's desired outcomes. [Follow me on my website](https://www.inflexion-point.com) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bobapollo) [Follow me on Twitter ](https://twitter.com/bobapollo) ### Comments ###### Related Articles ### [It's better to sail with the wind than against it...](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/10286/It-s-better-to-sail-with-the-wind-than-against-it) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 17, 2008** Most of the best recent thinking about the complex B2B sales environment suggests that the primary role of the sales person ... ### [Navigating the BuyerSphere](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/22049/Navigating-the-BuyerSphere) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 30, 2009** Today's buyers are influenced by a wide variety of sources, far beyond the conventional analyst and press community. They ... ### [Why CRM Is the Right Investment in a Bad Economy](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/17481/Why-CRM-Is-the-Right-Investment-in-a-Bad-Economy) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 03, 2009** There's a very interesting article in the latest edition of Selling Power (registration required). They quote market ... 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