ndcoveni.info

Effective Sales Presentation

Giving effective sales presentations can be challenging, but also very rewarding. Mastering this skill can mean the difference between a mediocre career in sales, and that of a sales super star. For non-sales professionals, knowing how to give effective sales presentations can be a huge boon to your career. Although you may not be paid on a commission basis that is tied to the purchase price of a product, or the fee of a service, in many ways, sales presentations are a part of our every day life, whether we know it or not. In other words, we all have to “sell” – whether we are selling our position or viewpoint, our information and expertise, or simply ourselves. Whichever of these may be the case, the better we do that, i.e. the more effective our sales presentation is, the better we are perceived and the more rewarded we will be – on the job, and everywhere else too.

What is an Effective Sales Presentation Anyway?

So what exactly defines an effective sales presentation? Well, frankly, there is no one answer to that question. The only thing that really counts is that you convey your message effectively, without losing the attention of your audience or prospects at any point in the process. In other words, your prospects will “get” your point, and they will not have nodded off or lost interest at any point in the sales presentation. If you can accomplish this much, you are off to a great start, but this is not the complete picture yet either.

Influence V. Information

The point of all sales presentations is to influence your prospects to take a desired action, regardless of whether you want them to literally buy something – or just to “buy-off” on it. So, the art of giving an effective sales presentation should not be thought of as a quest to be the most informative person on the planet about your subject or product. If you take this approach, which more closely resembles a lecture than a sales presentation, there is a good chance that won’t have a positive influence on your prospects, and likely the abundance of information you rain down on them will fall on ears deafened by boredom.

So, rather than putting a huge effort into “sounding smart”, think about how to make your presentation interesting, and convey how your product or subject can solve a problem for your prospects. In other words, what’s in it for them? What are the benefits (not just the features) and how can you convey those benefits succinctly, and therefore, effectively?

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

As cliché as this expression may be, it is true. The consensus more and more each day among those who study learning and communication, is the notion that people think in images, not words. The ancient languages of the world were generally pictograms, and the concept of logic conveyed through syntax was a relatively late, and some may argue counter-intuitive, development in the evolution of written language.

As such, people are much more responsive to thought provoking, relevant images than we are towards a “sea of text”, whether it’s being projected on a screen in the conference room, or presented on a web page. If you have the choice between showing and telling, choose to show. You will create much more effective sales presentations with this in mind.

Pull, Don’t Push…

Many salespeople are trained, or somehow programmed, that they have to push in order to get results. The problem with that is, no one likes a pushy sales person, no matter how great the product or service may be. Being pushy usually just equates to pushing your prospects away, literally.

To create an effective sales presentation, focus on solving a problem or providing a benefit for your prospects. Illustrate how your solution does this, and even better, provide good, useful information in your sales presentation. In doing so, you will build immediate credibility and trust, and with any luck, your prospects will also like you. These qualities are all very powerful ingredients in creating effective sales presentations that inspire action on the part of your prospects.

An Experience is Worth a Thousand Pictures

One of the surest ways to make your message stick and have a lasting influence on your prospects is to engage them directly during your sales presentation. In other words, pull them into your presentation, so that they are taking an active role in the process, instead of pushing the presentation on them. If it is possible, allow your prospects to experience a product, rather than just passively observing while you “demonstrate” it.

If you are doing a sales presentation on Italian glass tile, put samples in your prospects hands. If it is vacuums, turn a machine on and let the prospect try it out. This is much more interesting, and takes the old concept of “show and tell” to a whole new level in creating dynamic, memorable, effective sales presentations.

“Wow! That was a fantastic negotiation! It’s almost like you had him dancing on a string. How did you learn to become such a powerful negotiator?” Those were the admiring sentiments bestowed on a senior member of a negotiation team by his junior.

Do you know how to be more powerful when you negotiate? There are strategies and techniques you can employ to accomplish that goal. Discover how to implement the following strategies in your negotiations and you’ll become more powerful when you negotiate, too.

Pre-Negotiation:

• Planning

In every negotiation, your degree of planning determines your degree of success. In your planning stage, think about the strategies you’ll implement and what might cause them to become altered during the negotiation. Consider how you might challenge the opposing negotiator to make him alter his strategy too; the purpose is to get him off his game plan so that he’ll be more susceptible to following your lead. To do this, compile alternative strategies that allow you the flexibility to adapt to unexpected challenges. That’ll help you prioritize their possibility.

• Practice

It’s stated that practice makes perfect. That’s a half-truth because imperfect practice will only serve to make you more imperfect.

To enhance the possibility that you’ll have a winning negotiation outcome, practice implementing your plan. When possible, practice with individuals that possess skills comparable to the opposing negotiator(s). Attune your attention to things you’d not considered and modify your plan accordingly.

Conflation:

Always be aware of how you arrive at your decisions. In your thought process, don’t conflate disparate situations. If you do, be aware that you’re doing so and why.

By accepting conflated dissimilar information as being valid, you might lend more credence than what’s warranted to the skill level of the other negotiator. That will cause you to negotiate differently than if you’d not assigned him such benefits.

As an example, don’t over inflate your opponent’s skills, just because he’s negotiated multi-million-dollar deals. That doesn’t mean he can out negotiate you in your current situation. Don’t disadvantage yourself by thinking he can.

Mental Agility:

• Mindset

When considering the mindset you’ll adopt for a negotiation, consider the style and type of negotiator you’ll compete against. Consider the demeanor and mindset you’ll adopt to negotiate with that type of negotiator (i.e. soft, middle, hard). In considering the demeanor you’ll adopt, view yourself as being worthy to negotiate with your counterpart and project the image.

• Subconscious

Your subconscious mind speaks. Do you know what it’s saying when it does? Pay close attention to the feelings and intuitions you have during a negotiation. In some cases, those feelings will emerge from subconscious thoughts you’re having. That might stem from micro expressions your sensing (Note: Micro expressions last for less than one second. They’re insights that reveal the unrevealed thoughts of someone.)

Reading Body Language:

When deciphering body language, you must establish a baseline to compare to. You can establish the baseline of the other negotiator by observing gestures he emits in non-stressful environments. Look for gestures that indicate his happiness (i.e. the degree of felicity), sadness (i.e. stooped shoulders, down-turned face), indecisiveness (i.e. hand to forehead, slight erratic movement). If you can’t establish his baseline, due to whatever prevents you from doing so, compare his actions in the negotiation to what’s normal in such situations. Once you establish that baseline, you can use it to compare his future actions/reactions.

In every negotiation, there are advantages to be had. If you know how to enhance those advantages by the strategies you implement, you’ll have a greater chance of a successful negotiation outcome… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

In my previous article about presenting, I was talking about how we can’t all be at our best every day or every hour.

But if you get your best possible presentation down on paper and then firmly entrench it in the back of your head, you’ll be certain to make a better average presentation than you ever have before. It will also give you confidence during off days.

Now, knowing what you do about your own proposition, if you were in your prospect’s shoes you’d want it, wouldn’t you? Well then your task is simple; you have only to make your prospect feel the same way about it that you do yourself and the order is yours.

And how are you going to do this?

By conveying to your prospect the very things that have made you feel the way you do. You can hardly expect the prospect to view matters the way you do in the first place. If they did, their orders would be coming in through the Internet or the mail.
That’s what you are there for – to make them feel the way you do and arouse their desire.

Fear – Haste – Uncertainty

* Fear is a dangerous four-letter word – an emotional response to impending or imagined danger that is tied to anxiety. They’re all enemies of the successful presentation. Why should you fear? The worst that can happen to you is not to get the order. And you can’t lose anything that you haven’t got.

* Haste, why should you hurry?
You must make your listener understand in order to get the order. You certainly can’t make them understand by rattling off your presentation as if you were paid by the number of words you got out per minute. Listen and record yourself sometime. Are you interesting to listen to? Are you clear and with a voice of different tones?

* Uncertainty?
You can’t be uncertain. You know too much of the merit of what you’re selling to waver one second from the absolute knowledge that you are there to benefit the person you’re talking to.

You’re too strong to let fear, haste, or uncertainty wrecks your plans. Leave them to the weaker ones.

I’ve seen lots of salespeople who the minute they encounter opposition put themselves on the defensive, and take the attitude of trying to prove that they are not liars. They’re predestined to failure. You are the captain of your presentation.

You know what you are going to say. You know how you are going to say it. You know that what you are going to say and the way you say it are going to direct your prospect’s mind to the final point of desire for what you sell.

So let your facts come as gospel. State them as undeniable, irrefutable truths. Let your deep sincerity and positive statements head off objections and overcome arguments before they are raised. Assume that your listener believes you; give them facts they can believe, and in the majority of cases they will.

Simply make it easier for them to believe than not to.

Avoid the pitfalls of long words and small superfluous arguments. Remember that the salesperson, to be effective, must get it across in the quickest, most convincing sort of way. Long words and so-called “clever talking” defeat their very object; they are offensive instead of impressive. And those little, good-for-nothing arguments don’t get the orders. Stick to the big points of your proposition: the points that count – the tried and true order-getters. You know them. Use them.

Whenever you open your mouth to make a presentation forget that you ever made one before, or that you’re ever going to make one again. There is just one person in the world to be sold, and that is the person you are talking to. You can’t sell that person by thinking of the person you sold yesterday or the one you are going to sell this afternoon. The person is before you; concentrate on that one.

Remember, no matter how old your arguments are to you, they ring fresh in that person’s ears. And the same points that sold your proposition last year and the same ones that will sell it next year will sell it this very minute to the person you’re talking to.

Leave no possible questions unanswered in your prospect’s mind. Some people have a tendency verbally to say, “Yes,” without really being convinced, just to be agreeable or avoid argument. Instead of trying to get a mere verbal assent, bend your endeavors toward making a prospect’s mind completely and absolutely convinced of the truth of what you are saying.

In this way, step-by-step, as you go through your presentation you will gain a general approval on every point you make. Then – when you return to the net result of getting the order – your prospect cannot raise a point, and go back and disagree with you.