Beating Sales Presentation Boredom!
Is your aim to get sales or to ensure that your client is fully informed on every last little detail? Imagine a sale that runs like this. “I can see you are busy Mr Manager, but you are about to run out of labels. Shall I order 10,000 for you? Just sign here.” That sales person achieved his sale with minimal effort, because he understood the manager and saved him time. That was the benefit!
In the same way you need to know how much time (s)he is going to give you and what is likely to interest them. Now most sales people will turn round at this point and tell me that they are not mind readers…. Yes, you may not be mind readers, but you should be able to read simple body language for boredom!
So how can you ensure that your sales presentations tell the client what they want? There are five key techniques to beat sales-presentation boredom.
A. Use numbers
Are you aware of the number skip function in PowerPoint. All you have to do is remember the number of your key slides and you can can get to them at anytime. In a presentation simply type the number and enter and you will instantly go to that slide.
Forgetful? Use Ctrl-S and it will bring up a list of all the slide titles!
B. Build in menus
Wouldn’t it be so much more efficient if you asked your client, which product or benefit they wanted to see? You can do the same for case-studies. All you have to do is build in hyperlinks to your presentation.
1. Select any text or even a picture.
2. Press the right button and click Hyperlink (Ctrl-k)
3. Select place in this document and choose the best slide.
C. Keep On Trying To Close
Don’t feel that you can only start to close at the end of the presentation, get started as soon as you have introduced your products! If the manager is in a rush he may buy straight away and you’ve appeared to be an understanding sales person to boot!
D. Ask about their business!
Always ask about their business, keep it focussed on their needs and match up your slides on the fly. With your new menu system you will be able to go backwards and forwards to drill in why your product is the best for them.
E. Know their comfort factor
Sometimes a simple sales folder with colour copies will beat a complex PowerPoint, because it takes away barriers, it can be shown anywhere and you can instantly go to the page you want.
If you are presenting to one or two people try not to use a projector, because it creates a distance between you and the people you are trying to sell to. Many sales centres now have LCD or Plasma TVs to enable sales to groups of 5 to 10 people, so that everybody can sit and relax and it can be more interactive.
For larger groups you will have to use a projector. If at all possible get a remote control, so that you have control over the slides and you will still have some freedom away from your laptop to approach people and use the stage.
A good sales person always carries a sales folder and a laptop with PowerPoint so that they can adjust to the situation they find themselves in.
In one of life’s little ironies, the best sales people are fully prepared to give a 2 hour presentation, but rarely have to give more than 10 minutes of key benefits!
James Abela came from an online Marketing background, his biggest responsibility was looking after 5000 pages for ARM Plc in England. He also did a number of other websites and his first position was as a product manager travelling the country.
Since he’s started teaching he’s done teacher-training, taught absolute beginners through to advanced, IELTs and the Cambridge exams and worked for a few companies and the big names include: British Council, Ministry of Defence, New Strait Times, University of Southern California and DHL.
His Website is at http://www.jamesabela.co.uk/ and has a wealth of resources for Business English learners.
Tags: boardroom, boardroom presentation, closing, Hyperlinks, navigation, sales, sales presentation
