Here’s the thing: the odds are really good that your sales presentation sucks. Please don’t be offended – I don’t mean that the presentation is not well thought out or you didn’t work hard on it. What I mean is that your prospects are not impressed, for a wide variety of reasons.
Sometimes, it’s just…well….plain old awful: dull, boring, self-absorbed, and in many cases, taking the abuse of PowerPoint to an all-new low. Yes, if you use PowerPoint to…er…enhance your presentation, the odds of it sucking increase exponentially. Why? Because PowerPoint was designed as a presentation tool – a one-sided, sit-and-take-notes, no-comments-allowed, listen-while-I-read-my-slides tool. Your sales presentation, on the other hand, should be a two-sided, ask-questions-and-listen, create-a-productive-dialogue, prospect engagement tool. See the difference?
Can PowerPoint be used effectively in a sales presentation? Sure. But, as the standard warning goes, “Do not try this at home; these are trained professionals.” If you are not a trained professional, you should get help immediately because you are losing business left and right – because your presentation sucks. Get the picture?
After “plain old awful” comes the next level of bad presentations: the standard we-give-this-presentation-the-same-way-to-everyone kind of bad. It’s not personalized; it doesn’t address the prospect’s specifics; it a dog-and-pony show that tells the prospect how awesome you are. And does your prospect care? Nope. The prospect doesn’t care how many awards you have and they don’t care how many pages your brochures have. They care about solving a problem or creating an opportunity or saving money – anything except watching you preen (how is that for word choice? Yeah, I know, it’s mildly insulting).
Then there is my personal favorite form of awful: “I just wing it.” Sure you do – and we can tell. Your prospects wonder if you know anything about their business. You’ve got an answer for everything, but no real depth. No real insight. Because you didn’t do any homework. You’re the guy that thinks he has the “gift of gab.” That isn’t what your prospect calls it. Two letters generally suffice for their description.
Finally, there is the “feature-feature-feature” presentation. New salespeople are generally good at this one, but some veteran salespeople have trouble letting go of it, too. This presentation is a lengthy recitation of every known feature of your product or service, and is designed to address every possible set of circumstances a prospect may encounter. Throw enough stuff against the wall, something is bound to stick. The problem here is that customers don’t buy products or services, they buy what those products or services do for them. Describing a bunch of features is a far cry from describing a real solution to a real problem. That is a much different kind of presentation.
Presentation Fundamentals
I love evaluating presentations, but, admittedly, I don’t make a lot of friends doing so (a personal bad habit I am working on). I try to warn people up front: look, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but if you can deal with me, you will handle a difficult prospect with ease.
The truth is salespeople need to get real. If your presentation sucks, it costs you money. Chances are good you don’t practice. Chances are good you don’t have anyone evaluate your presentation. Chances are good that if you worked at it, you could really get out ahead of your competition.
You could get started by considering these tips:
- Do your homework. Find out everything you can about your prospect’s business. Not just their specific needs, but how they compete, how they go to market, what their goals are, what challenges they face, and on and on. With the information that is available today, you should know just about everything about your prospect.Talk to people that know people at the prospect’s business. Get some insight. Discover their issues. You will be amazed how often an approach to that account becomes crystal clear.
- Turn your presentation into a narrative (a story). Start with a headline – a compelling headline. Then describe the issues you’ve discovered. Talk about the benefits you believe you can offer. Once you’ve laid the foundation, add stories about similar successes with other customers. Finally, tell the prospect how you would solve the problem and/or create new benefits for them.
- Prepare and ask a number of key questions. Involve your prospect in the narrative. Pay careful attention to their level of engagement – if you’re missing the mark, ask why! No, really. If you feel that you’re presentation is falling short in reaching the prospect ask him if you have missed something important.
One thing is clear – if your prospect is talking at least half the time during your presentation, the odds are a lot better that it doesn’t suck. And did I mention that if you use PowerPoint, you should get some professional help?
