Creating a great sales presentation isn't very different from crafting a great speech. You want to keep attention. Motivate. Convince. Move to action.
Here is a formula I follow - learned from the American maestro Patricia Fripp - that should help you to vastly improve your success when putting together and delivering a sales presentation. (By the way, you can download a chart from my website.
1. TO WHOM ARE YOU SPEAKING?
Be prepared before you go in, and know as much about your audience as possible. Age, attitude, industry and gender will all have a bearing on how you present your points. Men and women have different senses of humour. Younger audiences will be more impatient than older. C-level executives don't need the details. Your presentation style and content must fit their perspective.
2. YOU ARE NOT THE HERO
What is the ratio of your PowerPoint slides (or written material) devoted to your company versus the potential client? It stands to reason that if you are invited to pitch, you have already passed the preliminary vetting. The convincing is done. Wow them, stand out from your competition by focusing on them - not stories about you, your company, achievements or accolades. Do you like listening to egotistical sales people? Share the glory with sales teams. Be sure you put the prospective company in the limelight.
3. THE I-YOU RATIO
Likewise, look through your sales presentations and count how many times you use "I", "we" and "us". Make certain your slides and stories are about them, not you. Change the perspective at every opportunity possible.
Wrong: "Our company is number one in ..." Right: "You benefit from our number one standing because ..."
4. STRONG OPENING
If you're pitching a $500,000 contract and have only 10 minutes, then "good morning ladies and gentlemen, thank you for having us here" just cost you more than $8300 by wasting 10 seconds.
Open differently and strongly. Paint a picture. Take them into the future. Describe how they're benefiting from the clever decision they made years ago to work with you. Decision-makers want to benefit the company, they also want personally to be sure they are taking the right action. So highlight how they'll be remembered for doing the right thing by using your company (don't make it too much of a butter-up, though).
5. ANSWER QUESTIONS UP FRONT
What do they want to know from you? How can you help them? If you're more expensive, will take longer, are the underdog - don't ignore that fact. They're thinking it. Come straight out early with an "I know what you're thinking" statement, then answer their objections.
6. PREMISE
Build the sales presentation around the structure of how they will benefit from what you are asking them to do. "You will save $2 million by using our software"; "you will cut maintenance expenditure by 20 per cent". Phrase it so they ask themselves "how?" - which you then answer in a logical and structured way.
7. POINTS LAID OUT LOGICALLY
You can help them make $2 million. How? You enumerate and discuss the points one by one with examples. Point one is cutting costs. Point two, increasing revenue. Point three is boosting staff productivity. Highlighting points by telling a story will work infinitely better than simply stating it or just saying why. Give your stories flesh-and-blood characters and dialogue.
8. SEAMLESS TRANSITION
Moving from a main point (cutting costs) to the next (increasing revenue) should have a smooth flow instead of an abrupt change. Carrying on our example, you could transition by saying lowering costs is only one side of the equation of that will boost your profit. Increasing sales in a challenging environment might not seem easy, let me show you how we help. That places you nicely into the segment on how you increase their revenue.
9. QUESTIONS
Don't end with questions. Rather, take them before you review so you can close on a high note.
10. REVIEW
If possible, use a story again - outlining a client that benefited in all the ways you said that they would.
11. REPETITIVE REFRAMES / SOUND BITES
You can be sure they'll remember stories. Hit home for better retention by giving them little sound bites and repeating them often.
12. STRONG CLOSE
Refer back to your opening story or bring all the elements together, describing how they'll benefit. If you didn't use the looking-into-the-future in your opening, use it in the closing: "Picture yourself in two years' time. It's the gala dinner. Award night. Everyone is abuzz from the success of the new software system you approved and installed a year ago. Five different staff have come to you throughout the evening - all award winners from a significant leap in productivity ..."
Debbie Mayo-Smith is a best-selling author and international speaker.
website for Motivational Speaker Author Debbie Mayo-Smith
