The following article is written by a guest author Kelly Vandever. Kelly is a speaker and sales presentation training coach that helps leaders improve their business results by enhancing their speaking and sales presentation skills. Also be sure to follow Kelly Vandever on Twitter.
1. Telling the client “Why us” before explaining “Why should I care”
Whenever an audience sits down for a sales presentation, or otherwise, they want to know, “Why should I (the audience member) care?”
The person making the sales presentation needs to answer that question first to create interest in the buyers mind. Human nature is that people care more about themselves. If you don’t capture the buyer’s attention with what’s in it for them, then you risk boring or annoying the prospect before you even have a chance to tell them how your company can help.
Once you create the curiosity, and see in the buyers body language that you have their attention, then you can explain “Why us (the vendor)” – why we’re qualified to help them meet their needs.
2. Saying too much
Time is precious for all of us, including our clients and prospects. If they only give you five minutes to make your sales presentation, honor that five minutes literally. Ruthlessly cut extraneous material from your “normal” sales presentation. Don’t try to tell the prospect everything you know about your company, their business, and your product. Choose carefully what you plan to tell them and if they’ve specifically asked you to address certain items in your sales presentation, address those items first, always remembering that they still want to know “Why should I care?”
Rehearse what you’re going to say, timing yourself to ensure you honor their time requirements. For each sentence you plan to say, ask yourself: Do they care about this? If I cut this sentence, will it be missed? Boil your message down to what’s really necessary.
If the prospect asks you additional questions and allows you to have more time on their agenda, then great, it’s their choice. Be ready to work with them, provide more information and answer their questions. But go into the meeting ready to get to the point.
3. Invalid assumptions
Often, sales people will follow a formula to create their sales presentation to a client. Having a sales process allows us to have greater success than a hit or miss approach. But in following the formula and doing your “homework,” don’t assume that you have all the details right.
Test your assumptions, preferably with someone in the prospects organization before the sales presentation. If that’s not possible, state your assumptions during the sales presentation, so you can see if you’re on the right track.
Each prospect’s business is different. Regardless of how similar it may be to other customers, each prospect wants to be treated like they’re unique. If we go in and always assume we’re correct about their business, then we will miss opportunities to find out if we really can better their current situation.
To learn more about sales presentation training contact Kelly Vandever at Kelly.Vandever@CommunicationsForEveryone.com.
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Nice! Especially line item 2. It’s so hard to get sales people to keep it short. I tried to instill this in my sales people as well back in the days of my last sales career. It’s worth noting that even with a short presentation, if your prospect looks like their ready to invest; STOP talking! I’ve seen over zealous sales reps try to get their whole presentations in before asking for the sale only to inadvertently talk the customer out of the sale. If someone says “I’ll take it”. Give it to them.
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