4 Mistakes to avoid in your Company Profile Presentation

My last post was about how to go about making a company profile presentation. We have to start with our goal and write everything that can be shared about the company. We then eliminated not to important stuff and designed the final slides. What I did not cover in the post are the most common mistakes I have come across in most profile presentations.

#1 Focus too much on the company and too less on the audience

While it is true that the corporate profile presentation is meant to talk about the company, it does not mean you talk stuff which makes no sense to your audience. Your audience is asking itself; 'What's in it for me?'. Every slide in your presentation needs to be of use and interest to the audience. Why should they know this about you?

It is a common practice to have 'Mission, Vision and Values' in corporate profile presentations. 99% of the companies in the world have nothing unique to say here. It's all the same stuff. Every company's purpose is to enrich lives of its customers and enhance shareholder value. Every company's values are integrity, quality and innovation. Please ask yourself, what will my prospective customer benefit from knowing this? If the answer is nothing much, just keep it out of your profile. It will cause no harm to you.

#2 Lack of Credibility

Make no claims in your presentation without supporting it with evidence. Take the case of testimonials. Look at these two testimonials:

"XYZ company is a passionate group of people who have done a wonderful job for me. I recommend them to everyone." - Senior HR Manager at an Bank

"XYZ company is a passionate group of people who have done a wonderful job for me. I recommend them to everyone." - Mukesh John, HR Manager at Ceetee Bank [add person's photo]

Which one is more credible? The second one. The first testimonial was not untrue but fails to make the impact because it lacks credibility.

If you give data and statistics about your industry or market share, support it with the source. It is great if it can be validated by visiting a link which you provide. The taller the claim, the more the need for strong evidence.

#3 Lengthy Presentation

Since it is your company, you will have a lot to say. This might be fine with you but not with your audience. No one wants to sit through or view a lengthy presentation. If I send you a corporate profile presentation which is 25 slides long (and full of text), would you like to sit through everything?

Try to have no more than 10 slides. If there are some slides with only images, you might not want to count them and have 10 slides other than these in your presentation. The point is, be as crisp as you can. This is why 'thinking' is so important. Spend time figuring out how to say what's most important and skip the not-so-important stuff.

#4 One size fits all

Customisation is key. A company profile presentation can be made to a prospective employee, a prospective client, a government agency or a prospective business partner (advertising agency, consultants, etc.). One presentation cannot suit everyone's need.

It is better if you customise it every time before presenting. A prospective employee will love to know your work culture but your customer would love to know what you do and why are you best at it. Prospective employees will love to hear your origin and milestones but not your legal consultant.

Open the company profile presentation of your company now and see if you can improve it using these tips. If you have anything to share/discuss, leave a comment.