10 Profitable Tips For Creating Better Sales Presentations

Writen by Thom Reece

No matter what your business is, you will enhance your level of success by developing a well-organized sales presentation. A good sales presentation involves two primary elements:

(1) The pre-planned sales talk.

(2) A carefully conceived and organized visual presentation that documents, confirms, supports, and strengthens the oral.

Your visual aid can take a variety of forms. It may be a multi-page flip-over type with elaborate charts and graphs, extensive artwork, color photos, and other attention getting devices. It may be a computer driven multi-media event or a simple on-line presentation from a laptop. Or, it can be a basic set of 8 1/2 X 11 loose-leaf pages that can be arranged to fit diverse selling situations.

Presentations, whether professionally designed or home made, are a vital component of your selling process. Why? Confucius put it this way: "In all things, success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure." First prepare. Then sell.

Here are ten tips for selling better with prepared presentations.

1. Plan Ahead. Advance preparation is nine-tenths of the sale. Be sure you are organized and equipped to talk, show, and sell. Know all you can about your prospect before you make the presentation. Tailor your products/services benefits to solve your prospects' problems and fill their needs and desires.

2. Make A Great First Impression. A clean uncluttered sales presentation, like an artist's creation, is a mirror-image of your character, personality, and attitude.

3. Be Clear. Be Logical. Be Brief. Don't be brief at the expense of being misunderstood. Clarity starts with you. Clear answers to your prospects overriding question... What can you do for me?...will lead to understanding and sales.

4. Maintain Control. Never sit between two buyers. Don't let the prospect read ahead or thumb through your visual aids until you're ready for him to. Ask the prospect to instruct his secretary to hold all calls during your presentation. (It takes guts to sell.)

5. Seek Change of Pace. Put bounce in your voice. Change pace, tempo, and volume. Ask lots of questions. Get verbal confirmation of agreement at each stage of the presentation.

6. Prepare For Interruptions. Don't be flustered or thrown off balance. Expect interruptions and use them to summarize key sales points.

7. Involve The Prospect. Give the prospect something to feel, handle, manipulate, examine. Let the prospect mentally take possession of your product or service.

8. Gauge Your Progress. Progress should be measured in terms of understanding. No understanding...no sale. The more the prospect agrees with you, the more progress you are making.

9. Give A Complete Sales Talk Every Time. Your presentation must perform four important functions:

(A) Win the prospects attention,

(B) hold his interest,

(C) persuade and convince him of the rightness of your proposition,

(D) prove that a buying decision is a logical step for him to take.

10. Seek A Buying Action...Expect To Close. A good presentation naturally leads to a buying decision. Make it easy for the customer to buy. If your prospect was properly qualified and your sales presentation on target, you will find the selling process goes quickly and easily.

© Copyright 2005 Thom Reece All Rights Reserved

Thom Reece is CEO of Online Marketing Resource Center [http://www.E-ComProfits.com] and publisher of "Thom Reece's Web Marketing Strategies & Techniques Newsletter". You may subscribe free at: http://www.WMSTDirect.com, mailto:thom@e-comprofits.com

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What Has Matching Got To Do With Presenting

Writen by Tessa Stowe

The secret to presenting to a potential client is "matching." Prior to presenting, you would have asked plenty of questions and uncovered the problems they want solved. The next step then is to present your solution and to do lots of matching.

What do I mean by matching? Matching is where you make the connection between the problems a potential client wants solved and the features/characteristics of your service that solves those problems.

Your solution has lots of features/characteristics and some are relevant to the potential client and some are not. You want to sort all your features and characteristics into two piles. Pile one consists of the features/characteristics they care about - as they solve the specific problems they have discussed with you. Pile two consists of the features/characteristics they will not care about - as they don't solve any of the problems they have discussed with you. Note that you can only do this sorting if you've asked enough questions before you present.

To prepare for your presentation, look at all the features/characteristics your potential client cares about (pile one). The next step is to then "match" each of the problems they want solved to the feature/characteristic of your service that will solve it for them. When you present, you then show the connection between the problems they have agreed they want solved and the features/characteristics of your service that solves those problems.

If you do not do the matching for your potential client, they will be left trying to work out what aspect (features/characteristic) of your service can solve their problems. Also if you do not do the matching, your potential client will feel you haven't listened to them, amongst other things.

To explain this further, I am going to use a simple example of buying a car. Even though I do not like stereotype car salesmen, this is a good example for matching, plus it is an example you can probably relate to.

Scenario One

The car salesman asks you what sort of car you're looking for and what is important to you. You tell him. He then shows you a car and proceeds to tell you all about the features of the car that you frankly could not care less about. He just goes on and on telling you absolutely everything about the car. Sound familiar?

Scenario Two

The car salesman asks you what sort of car you are looking for and what is important to you. You tell him. He then shows you a car and describes exactly what features of the car will give you each of the things you said are important to you.

Who would you buy the car from? Would you buy from the car salesman in scenario one or scenario two? Who did matching?

What would you be thinking with the scenario-one car salesman?

You might be thinking:

- He didn't listen to me.
- He doesn't understand me.
- Why did he ask me what I wanted as he clearly wasn't interested?
- I am not sure if it meets my needs. I am confused.
- I am bored and irritated.
- How can I get away from this person?

What would you be thinking with the scenario-two car salesman?

You might be thinking:

- He really listened to me.
- He understands me.
- I can clearly see how this meets my needs.
- I am interested.

When you present your solution, demonstrate that you have been listening and that you understand their problems. Only present the features/characteristics that solve the specific problems they have been telling you about. That is what they're interested in and what they will care about. The key to presenting is in the matching!

(c) Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2006. You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end).

Tessa Stowe helps Coaches, Consultants and Service Professionals who are resisting selling their services, as they don't want to be seen as pushy and sales-y. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at http://salesconversation.com.

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Participating In A Trade Show Or Convention The Right Promotional Products Can Do Double Duty

Writen by Aldene Fredenburg

If your company participates in trade shows or conventions, its ultimate goal is to generate business. The right promotional products can be a big help in doing just that.

The perfect promotional product is one that represents your company and its business well, and is used - often - by the recipient. Practical, attractive giveaways can include simple items like pens or mechanical pencils, pads of paper, or rulers, or can be more substantial, like hefty three-ring binders, canvas totes or portfolios or backpacks. A pen with your company's name, phone number, and website address puts your company's essential info literally at the fingertips of prospective customers; and, considering the propensity of writing implements to get passed from hand to hand, you've no idea how far your company's message will really travel. If you have lots of printed material to hand out to prospective customers or conference participants, a great giveaway is a sturdy tote with your company logo and contact information printed on it. Participants will use your promotional tote throughout the day and likely after they return home, either at work or in their personal life, thus keeping your company in their mind.

Trade your info for theirs.

Offer a high-quality giveaway like a sturdy book bag in exchange for participants' business cards or other contact information; for a modest investment, you'll gain a substantial list of prospective customers. You may also want to tailor your giveaways to your company's industry, or to the industry of your potential clients. A company marketing to architectural firms, for example, may want to offer drafting pens or even a small drafting kit; an architectural firm may want to offer an attractive day calendar with spectacular photos of some of their most dramatic designs.

Offer a free service to participants.

If your company is service-oriented, you may find that offering a free analysis of customer needs, something you would ordinarily charge a fee to do, will bring in extra business. Tuck a coupon for the service in with your other promotional materials, or pass them out to participants after a lecture if the opportunity presents itself. Or provide a special website address which will allow participants to receive a free online analysis and quote, or will allow them to ask questions of an expert at your firm. A marketing firm or job training company may offer free training seminars to interested individuals to promote their expertise.

The right promotional products or services can reflect your company's professional image and expertise, and can go a long way toward making connections with future customers. The trick with products is to make them attractive, useful, and durable, and to somehow make the recipient's life easier; with services it's to provide value. With both products and services, the aim is to make a professional, personable, and enduring impression on people who may decide to do business with you in the future.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire, who has written numerous articles for local and regional publications. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.

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