A sales presentation is “what you say to the customer when you have the floor.”
It is not a conversation, a questioning session, or a rapport-building chat. It is what you say when you must literally “stand and deliver”–whatever selling proposition you have to offer.
I recently had a conversation with the scintillating Terri Sjodin, author of New Sales Speak: The 9 Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Here are some quick pointers to make your presentations better:
Make certain it’s the right time.
Never make a sales presentation or pitch to an individual or even to a group of two or three people. If the size of the group is small enough to have a conversation–that is, a real give and take of ideas–have a conversation.
You still may end up making the same points, but if the meeting is personal, it’s more effective to have the points evolve from the conversation rather than presenting them in a one-to-many format.
Don’t give a keynote–or a lecture.
Some people wrongly believe that sales presentations should be like keynote speeches–entertaining but without much meat. Other people are believe that sales presentations should be like lectures–informative and instructive. Both groups are wrong.
The purpose of a sales presentation is to persuade a large group of people to make a collective decision. Any entertainment or information that’s included must be subservient to that all-important goal.
