Presentations
Last Updated: Feb 17th, 2004 - 15:16:58
How
well do you tell your sales story with power, believability and
behavior? How effective are you at virtually guaranteeing that your
prospect will become a customer? In order to do this successfully
there are two simple principles to keep in mind, no matter what
you are selling. Here they are:
-
People buy anything they will buy for their reasons, not your
(or mine)
- Prospects
expect salespeople to exaggerate the value of their product or
service (you or me, included!)
Once you understand
and accept these two realities what can you do about them? The first
principle can be dealt with very easily and systematically by remembering
two things:
- The more
you are in front of qualified prospects, the better off you’ll
be…And
- The secret
is to ask the right questions of the right people (qualified prospects)
related to what they’ll buy, when they’ll buy, how
they’d like to buy, under what conditions they’ll
buy – and then ensure your product or service meets those
exact standards.
The second principle,
though, creates a little larger obstacle. Most salespeople are accustomed
to "telling and selling" instead of "involving and
asking." It is true that people learn a lot more from what
they experience and actually do than from what they simply hear,
isn’t it? The same is true about your product or service presentation.
In fact, I prefer to use the term "application" rather
than "demonstration" or "presentation." The
former means a mutual discovery or learning experience as your product
or service is unfolded to your prospect while the latter terms refer
to a standard, sterile and boring monologue related to your product
or service’s features or, perhaps, even irrelevant benefits.
It has often
been said that features "tell" and benefits "sell."
Unfortunately, it is far deeper than that! You need to determine
which benefits actually do sell! You also need to discover the role
that active participation, involvement and education play in the
effective presentation of your product or service.
Always remember
that people are far more likely to believe what they experience,
do, feel, touch, smell, think or immerse themselves in than from
what they simply hear from you!
Our son, Will,
a college student, recently experienced a wonderful, 21 day tour
of Europe. He and his friends traveled from Rome to Paris and from
Paris to London. Then they went to Munich, Austria and back to Rome.
What did Will learn?
That travel
is expensive (much more than he thought)
That travel is fatiguing (much more than he thought)
That Europe is rich in history (much more than he thought)
That he was happy to come home (much more than he thought he’d
be)
That he can be independent even in a foreign culture (much more
than he thought)
What does this
mean to you as a sales professional? Simply this – never underestimate
the importance of allowing your prospect to learn all they can about
your product or service. Your job? To serve as the tour guide, interpreter
or facilitator. To allow them to reach their own conclusions, draw
their own comparisons and discover precisely how your product will
address their concerns, enhance their profits, solve a problem or
meet a need.
Some tips? Let
me give you six very specific things you can do today. Here they
are:
- You need
to know how to prepare your "lesson plan" (your presentation)
by addressing only the specific issues your customer has.
- Your product
or service must be seen strictly from the perspective of your
prospect or customer – not you, your marketing department,
R&D staff or anyone else within your organization.
- Keep your
presentation simple yet elegant. Don’t confuse your prospect!
- Make your
application interactive. Show and tell, ask and explain –
educate and involve.
- Ask feedback
questions to ensure your prospect or customer understands and
emotionally accepts your solution. Questions like, "What
do you think?" "How does it fee," "Do you
understand?" Do you have any questions?" or "Would
you like to try this yourself?" are all essential to ask.
- Don’t
talk too much, non-stop or in jargon your prospect or customer
will not understand.
Always remember
that people don’t want to be sold. Instead, they really do
want to buy. Ask the right questions (What do you want to buy? When
do you want to buy it? How will you buy? What do you need?) and
then present only the right solutions – and allow them to
experience your product or service. Then, they will buy! And you
won’t have to sell them anything.
Copyright©
2000-2003, The Brooks Group, All Rights Reserved.
About
The Author:
Bill Brooks, CSP, CPAE, CMC, CPCM former CEO of a $300,000,000 corporation
and two-time sales award winner from an international sales force
of 8,000, Bill has real-world expertise. Bill has spoken or consulted
in over 300 different industries while being engaged by at least
150 clients an astonishing six times each. Bill is the author of
nine books, including the
best-seller, “High Impact Selling.”
Contact
Information:
The Brooks Group
3810 N. Elm Street - Suite 202
Greensboro NC 27455
800-633-7762
www.brooksgroup.com
e-mail: sales@thebrooksgroup.com
© Copyright 2003 by SalesVault.com
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