You’ve got a major client presentation next week, and you’re nervous. You’re prepared, you’ve got your speech down pat… and you know it could mean a big order for your company’s products if you pull it off. But if you think your presentation will be over as soon as you’ve stopped talking, you’re wrong.

The best way to "seal the deal" with potential clients is to have a question and answer (Q&A) session after your speech. And that’s where you have to be firing on all eight cylinders.

Your prospects will have questions – and you’d better have the answers. Here’s how to prepare for it:

1. Set guidelines before launching into the Q&A. Tell your audience that you have time for few questions – but set a time limit. And keep to it. Make your answers as succinct as possible so you can answer as many of their questions as possible.

2. Learn to paraphrase rather than repeat a question before answering it. Paraphrasing allows you to remove any skepticism or hostility from a question.

Here’s an example. Say an audience member says something like, "I’m in customer service… and I tell you, it’s tough. We already sell a product similar to the one your company has, and we seem to get a lot of irate customers who want to return it and get their money back, even if they bought it more than 10 years ago. How would you handle this?"

In that case, you might paraphrase the question this way: "Okay, a customer bought that widget way back when Clinton was in office and NOW wants a refund. Here’s what you do…"

3. Listen carefully to the entire question. Never interrupt people before they are finished speaking (even if you know where the question is going). Maintain eye contact to show you’re focused on the question. And when the person is done speaking, address your response to the whole room.

With these three techniques, you can make your Q&A sessions more valuable to everyone in your audience.

[Ed. Note: You don't have to be a professional speaker to benefit from public speaking techniques. They can help you convey your message to colleagues, employers, and clients. Get public speaking expert Peter Fogel's guide to speaking like a pro right here.]

If you’ve been following Michael Masterson’s tips on marketing/copywriting, you know this "law": To boost sales, you should make specific claims for your product. Specificity always sells better. It’s more truthful and more interesting. And you can use the same strategy when giving a speech/presentation to your colleagues, board of directors, or employer… and especially when trying to impress a new client.

Instead of making broad, sweeping statements, spice up your presentations with lots of details.

• Use concrete examples.

Let’s say you’re giving a sexual harassment seminar for your employees. Come up with real-life or hypothetical examples of what constitutes harassment – and what doesn’t.

• Use facts and figures.

Telling a prospective client that you’ll make her company "more money in the long run" will make her eyes glaze over. Instead, explain exactly how you can increase her bottom line by 62 percent over the next three years.

• Use visual aids.

Visual aids can get your audience’s attention and stick your message in their minds – especially if you’re talking about something abstract or complex. Trying to explain to your employer how much better you could do your job if you worked from home? Show him graphs illustrating the rise in productivity of other telecommuters. Throw in a chart showing how his expenses will drop, and your words will have a much stronger impact.

Making any speech or presentation more specific will make it really hit home with your audience. They’ll remember you and what you talked about. And isn’t that the point?

[Ed. Note: Peter Fogel is a copywriter, speaker, author, and creator of Peter "The Humorator" Fogel's Guide to Effective Public Speaking. For more information on it or his free 7 Days to Effective Public Speaking e-course, click here.]