The Presentation: The Power of Solving Problems

The Power to Adapt

The sales presentation is where adaptive selling makes all the difference. Up until this point, you have researched and prepared and developed a solution that you think will meet your prospect’s needs, but walking into the presentation and delivering on that preparation requires a different set of skills. Among other things, it requires flexibility and the ability to think on your feet. The best salespeople adapt their presentations to their prospect’s reactions, and they go in knowing they may have to adapt to surprises for which they were unable to prepare (maybe the building has a power outage during the slideshow, for instance, or maybe one of the people from the customer organization decides to send another employee in his place at the last minute). These top-performing salespeople know that keeping a customer-centric focus, visualizing a successful outcome, and mentally rehearsing your presentation before you deliver it will give you the power to adapt with confidence and ease.

Adapting is all about listening. As Paul Blake noted in the video ride-along at the beginning of the chapter, your sales presentation is really a compilation of all the listening you have done to this point. And listening doesn’t stop there. It’s impossible to adapt if you’re not listening. When you are creating your presentation, keep in mind that it is not a one-way communication. Presentations are for listening, adapting, and solving problems.

The Night Before

The evening before your meeting, read over your precall objectives; practice your presentation a number of times out loud; and walk through your mental rehearsal, visualizing success. You can’t practice too many times. The content of your presentation should be second nature by the time you get up in front of your audience so that you can focus your energy on your prospect. Rehearsal is one of the best ways to calm your nerves so that you can focus on delivering your presentation naturally and connecting with your prospect.

The night before, you should also get together all the materials you’ll need for your presentation—handouts, files, product samples, and contracts—and have them ready to go for the following morning. This will save you time tracking down loose supplies at the last minute, when you’re trying to get out the door to make it to your meeting. It’s also a good idea to set out your clothes the night before for the same reason.

If you are planning to use multimedia equipment in your presentation, make sure in advance that your prospect will have everything you’ll need to make it run. If you aren’t sure, bring everything (e.g., cables, adapters, remotes) with you. And of course, make sure you know how to use all your equipment. When Keith Waldon, CEO of Earth Preserv, was preparing for a meeting with JCPenney, one of his biggest prospects, he spent hours rehearsing with his multimedia equipment. The technology was a key element of his presentation, and he wanted to make sure everything would work perfectly for the big day. “I had to learn how to use all the remote-control equipment,” he says. Waldon also brought a technical assistant with him as backup to safeguard against any glitches.Susan Greco, “Anatomy of a Launch: The Five-Hour Multimedia Sales Presentation,” Inc., October 1, 1995, http://www.inc.com/magazine/19951001/2441.html (accessed May 16, 2010).

Getting There

It might surprise you to know how often salespeople show up late to their own presentations because they get lost on the way to the meeting. When you are traveling to an unfamiliar place for your appointment, get directions in advance, and allow extra travel time in case of traffic delays or wrong turns. Make sure you also research the parking situation beforehand. If your prospect is a large corporation with its own complex, are there reserved employee lots and visitor lots? Will you have to walk a considerable distance from your car to the meeting room? If you’ll be meeting in an urban area, is street parking available, or will you have to find a parking garage? You don’t want to arrive on time only to get delayed because you spent twenty minutes driving around in search of a parking spot. It’s a good idea to make a “test” trip in advance of your meeting. That will help avoid surprises with traffic, parking, security, or other areas that might cause a delay. If something unavoidable does come up to set you back, make sure you call ahead to let your customer know you will be arriving late.

Besides the extra time you allow for travel, plan to arrive at the meeting a little early. Not only does this convey professionalism, but it also gives you the time to mentally prepare once you arrive and to set up any equipment you’ll be using. It’s a good idea to allow time to stop in the restroom and take one last look to be sure you’re at your best (and it’s a good time to use a breath mint). Finally, bring something to read in case you have to wait: a business magazine, a newspaper like the Wall Street Journal, or maybe a Kindle.

Business Attire

For most of your business-to-business (B2B) sales situations, business attire will be the norm. For a while in the ’90s there was a trend toward more casual clothing in the workplace, but that trend is mostly on the way out. “I see a return to more traditional business wear,” says Gary Brody, president of the Marcraft Apparel Group.Paul Burnham Finney, “Redefining Business Casual,” New York Times, October 23, 2007, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EEDD1F39F930A15753C 1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all (accessed May 16, 2010). For that matter, even if your customer says business casual is the standard in his workplace, if you are aiming to dress a notch up from that standard, you might decide that business attire is the way to go. As Mark-Evan Blackman of the Fashion Institute of Technology says, suits “universally project an air of authority.”Paul Burnham Finney, “Redefining Business Casual,” New York Times, October 23, 2007, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EEDD1F39F930A15753C 1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all (accessed May 16, 2010).

For men, business attire means a suit (matching pants and jacket), a necktie, a long-sleeved shirt, and lace-up shoes.Andy Gilchrist, “Cracking the Dress Code,” Ask Andy about Clothes, http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Clothes%20Articles/cracking_the_dress_code.htm (accessed May 16, 2010). Go for conservative, dark colors such as gray, black, or dark blue for the suit; white or light blue for the shirt. For women, business means a suit (skirt or pants and matching jacket), shoes with moderate heels in a basic pump style (closed-toe), a blouse, and tan or light pantyhose.

Business Casual

Business casual can sometimes be tricky because it’s less clearly defined than business attire. According to Monster.com, business casual “means dressing professionally, looking relaxed, yet neat and pulled together.”Paul Burnham Finney, “Redefining Business Casual,” New York Times, October 23, 2007, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EEDD1F39F930A15753C 1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all (accessed May 16, 2010). For men, a bare minimum approach to business casual means dress pants and a collared shirt. Women can wear skirts or pants, but skirts should be a conservative length, and pants should be well tailored: not too tight or too loose. On the top, a blouse or a tailored knit sweater are good choices, and for footwear, make sure to wear closed-toe shoes.Virginia Tech University Career Services, “Business Casual Attire,” Virginia Tech University, http://www.career.vt.edu/Jobsearc/BusCasual.htm (accessed May 16, 2010).Business casual for men or women does not include workout clothes or shoes, wrinkled clothing, worn blue jeans, shorts, miniskirts, athletic socks, or overly revealing clothing.Paul Burnham Finney, “Redefining Business Casual,” New York Times, October 23, 2007, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EEDD1F39F930A15753C 1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all (accessed May 16, 2010).

Presenting to Individuals

In one-on-one presentations, of course, you only have one person’s needs, preferences, and background to research and adapt to, so customization is usually an easy task. You can closely observe your prospect’s nonverbal communication and listen to her stated needs and concerns and respond accordingly. Does he look worried when you tell him that your company’s integrated marketing plan usually takes four months to develop? You can explain that for preferred prospects you are sometimes able to turn around a faster solution. Does he seem distracted when you begin discussing product features? You can back off and begin asking more questions.

As you learned in Chapter 3 “The Power of Building Relationships: Putting Adaptive Selling to Work”in the discussion about social styles, you will be in a better position to deliver value during your sales presentation if you know something about your buyer’s personality before going into the meeting: Is your prospect conversational and people oriented, or is he task oriented and businesslike? Does your prospect care about details and thorough descriptions, or does he prefer to see the “big picture”? Is he competitive? How does he feel about change? Understanding these things about your prospect will help you to favorably position your product and plan your presentation so that you can put emphasis on the things that matter most to the individual. If you know your prospect is highly competitive, for instance, he will probably be interested in learning about the features that set your product apart from others on the market and the ways in which your product can give him or his company a competitive edge.

Writing up a customer trait description before your meeting can be very helpful so that you can use the information as a guideline in preparing your presentation.Gary M. Grikscheit, Harold C. Cash, and Clifford E. Young, The Handbook of Selling: Psychological, Managerial, and Marketing Dynamics, 2nd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), 127. If you’re working with an existing customer or if you’ve interacted with your prospect prior to the presentation, you can use your observations to write a trait description. If you haven’t met the prospect before, try asking other salespeople in your organization, noncompetitive salespeople at other companies, or other contacts you have who might have met your prospect and who can tell you something about her personality.Gary M. Grikscheit, Harold C. Cash, and Clifford E. Young, The Handbook of Selling: Psychological, Managerial, and Marketing Dynamics, 2nd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), 136. Also, use the company resources including the CRM system to gather as much information as possible about the company and your contact. In addition, it is also a good idea to send a precall questionnaire to your contact to gather information such as the names and titles of the people who will be attending the presentation, how much time has been allotted for you, objectives for the meeting, and any other information that will help you plan the meeting. This information can provide valuable information and help you create an agenda, which is a good idea to send to the prospect before the meeting.

In adapting to an individual buyer, it’s also important to consider his motivation.Gary M. Grikscheit, Harold C. Cash, and Clifford E. Young, The Handbook of Selling: Psychological, Managerial, and Marketing Dynamics, 2nd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), 128. What are his responsibilities in the organization? What pressures does he face? Is he on a strict budget? Is he concerned with his status in the company? If you have two buyers who purchase the same product, chances are they’ll be doing it for different reasons:Gary M. Grikscheit, Harold C. Cash, and Clifford E. Young, The Handbook of Selling: Psychological, Managerial, and Marketing Dynamics, 2nd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), 135. one person might buy a car from you because he sees it as a status symbol, while another person might buy the same car because it gets good gas mileage and is well built and reliable. Keep in mind that delivering value isn’t only about meeting a prospect’s needs; it’s also about showing him that you understand his specific motivations and concerns. The best salespeople present themselves as advisors their customers can trust.Ian Brodie, “Becoming a Trusted Advisor,” Ian Brodie: Business Growth for Professional Service Firms, blog post, July 5, 2008, http://www.ianbrodie.com/blog/becoming-trusted-advisor (accessed May 16, 2010). Is a prospect worried about proving herself in a new role in her company? Show him how your product can help him perform her role better, or demonstrate how people in similar positions at other companies have used your product with success.

Presenting to Groups

If customization is that straightforward with an individual buyer, why would you ever choose to sell to a group? Besides the fact that sometimes the nature of the sale demands it, selling to groups is also more efficient than selling to individuals. If you’re selling accounting software to a number of departments in an organization, rather than meeting individually with a decision maker from each department, you can save time by giving your sales presentation to a number of decision makers at once. Group presentations can also help you identify the decision makers in an organization if you aren’t yet sure who they are. By keeping an eye on group dynamics during the presentation you can usually observe the “pecking order” among members and identify the individuals in the group whose opinions hold the most leverage.

Additionally, group presentations can be a way to win greater support for your sale. If you know one or two people in an organization who are excited about your product, you can allow their enthusiasm to influence others in a group setting.Gary M. Grikscheit, Harold C. Cash, and Clifford E. Young, The Handbook of Selling: Psychological, Managerial, and Marketing Dynamics, 2nd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), 165. Recall Selena Lo of Ruckus Wireless, who finds the “fox” within each of her target organizations and leverages his support of her product to sway the group buying decision.

If you know what is at stake for each member of the group, you will be able to facilitate the discussion during your presentation much more effectively. This is why it’s important to gather information about everyone who will attend your sales meeting. Again, think of Lo’s method, where she reads each group member’s bio and googles their names before going into a group meeting. Find out the individual’s needs within the organization. What is her status? How does she perceive the urgency of the problem you want to solve? Does she have any ego involvement in the product or service?Barton A. Weitz, Stephen Byron Castleberry, and John F. Tanner, Selling: Building Partnerships, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003), 264. (For instance, an accountant in the organization might feel threatened by new accounting software if it replaces part of her current role.) This will help you understand the most important concerns you will need to address in the presentation, and if certain parts of your presentation apply more directly to certain members of the group, you can direct those parts specifically at those individuals.

Keep in mind that people act differently in group settings than they do when you are interacting with them alone, so finding out about individual members’ personalities is less important in group presentations. Instead, adjust your presentation to the dynamics in the room. Watch the group for nonverbal cues; when one member is talking, observe how others react to see whether or not they support what she’s saying.Barton A. Weitz, Stephen Byron Castleberry, and John F. Tanner, Selling: Building Partnerships, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003), 265. If the energy in the room feels low, or if you get the sense that the group is getting restless, consider moving on to the next part of your presentation or changing tactics.

Sometimes you won’t know who or how many people you will be presenting to beforehand, so you won’t be able to research the individuals. However, it’s always a good idea to ask when you call to schedule your meeting. You may be able to find out information that your contact at the organization wouldn’t otherwise volunteer.

Your Place of Business

When the prospect comes to you, treat her like you would treat a guest in your home. Make sure you set up any presentation materials well in advance and have refreshments set out in the conference room or your office. Think about ways you can add personal touches—for instance, a sign with the prospect’s name on it (“[Your company name] welcomes [prospect’s company name]”), or, for a group presentation, information packets at each person’s seat with his or her name on the front. Sales professional John Chapin suggests having small items on hand that you can give to your prospect, such as pens or calculators with your company logo on them.John Chapin, “Sales Presentations—How Location Can Affect Your Presentation and What to Do,” CompleteSelling.com, blog post, March 14, 2008, http://www.completeselling.com/members/completeselling/blog/VIEW/00000009/00000076/Sales-Presentations—How-Location-can-affect-Your-Sales-Presentation- and-What-to-Do.html(accessed May 16, 2010). Small, thoughtful details can make an important difference.

A Neutral Location

If you are giving your presentation in a neutral location like a rented conference room you have the freedom to set up and work out any technical bugs well beforehand. When Keith Waldon of Earth Preserv was preparing for the presentation that secured his biggest customer, JCPenney, he rented a boardroom in a building near JCPenney’s corporate headquarters. He opted for the rented space so that he could pull out all the stops for the presentation. “I wanted to catch JCPenney by surprise,” Waldon says.

When the five executives arrived, Waldon had set up multimedia equipment for video, sound, and slides. He had placed a thick binder of presentation materials (including television storyboards, magazine advertisements, and product comparisons) at each executive’s seat with his name and the JCPenney corporate logo embossed on the front. Besides the conference room, Waldon had also rented an empty storefront in the same building, and halfway through the presentation, he took his customers to see the retail window display he had created there to look like one JCPenney might use to display Earth Preserv products in their stores.Susan Greco, “Anatomy of a Launch: The Five-Hour Multimedia Sales Presentation,” Inc., October 1, 1995, http://www.inc.com/magazine/19951001/2441.html (accessed May 16, 2010).

Since you will have time to set up beforehand at a rented location, you can treat the presentation the way you would treat a presentation at your home office. Bring refreshments, set up any multimedia equipment well in advance, and arrive early to make sure everything is in working order at the facility. Make sure you know the name of the facility’s contact person; you can call her several days ahead of time to find out what equipment she has at on hand and what you will need to bring.John Chapin, “Sales Presentations—How Location Can Affect Your Presentation and What to Do,” CompleteSelling.com, blog post, March 14, 2008, http://www.completeselling.com/members/completeselling/blog/VIEW/00000009/00000076/Sales-Presentations—How-Location-can-affect-Your-Sales-Presentation- and-What-to-Do.html(accessed May 16, 2010).

Your Prospect’s Place of Business

When you deliver your presentation at your prospect’s location, you won’t have the luxury of extensive setup time, and you may find that you have to adapt to the space and resources on hand. However, there are a few things you can do to make a good impression and ensure that things go as smoothly as possible:

• Arrive early and set up any technology you plan to use so that you can minimize the chance of something going wrong.
• When it’s possible, call ahead to find out about the space in which you will be presenting and the materials that will be available to you.
• Let your prospect know how long you will need to set up—particularly if you are using multimedia equipment.
• When you arrive, the first person you interact with will probably be the receptionist. Introduce yourself and let her know that the customer is expecting you.
• In addition to your presentation items, consider bringing food, coffee, or small giveaway items.
• In B2B sales, if your presentation will be around the lunch hour, it’s often customary to offer to take your prospect to lunch before or after the meeting.John Chapin, “Sales Presentations—How Location Can Affect Your Presentation and What to Do,” CompleteSelling.com, blog post, March 14, 2008, http://www.completeselling.com/members/completeselling/blog/VIEW/00000009/00000076/Sales-Presentations—How-Location-can-affect-Your-Sales-Presentation- and-What-to-Do.html(accessed May 16, 2010).

Webinars and Video Conferences

So how do you give a sales presentation if your prospect lives across the country, but you have a limited budget for travel? Unless there is a good chance that a prospect will become a key customer, it usually isn’t practical for a salesperson to travel long distances to make one presentation. However, thanks to improved technology, it’s becoming increasingly common for salespeople to address this problem using Webinars, video conferences, and online meetings. These technologies are allowing companies to reach more prospects in less time and to reach prospects internationally and across long distances.

Of course, there are some drawbacks to giving sales presentations through video conferencing rather than in person. For one thing, it’s always easier to establish rapport with your prospect if you’re able to have a face-to-face interaction. Video conferences offer the benefit of visuals, so you and your prospect can read one another’s body language and visual cues, but this is not a complete substitute for sitting in the same room with someone. Additionally, since the presentation relies entirely on technology—both on your end and on the prospect’s end—there is a greater chance that a technological malfunction could prevent the presentation from working.

In-person presentations are still the most effective and personal method, so whenever you are able (and when it is practical) to give a face-to-face presentation, this is your best option. However, technology keeps improving, and online meetings and video teleconferences are becoming more successful as an alternative method all the time.“Sales Trends: Electronic Sales Presentations,” KnowThis.com, http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/personal-selling/selling-trends-electronic-sales-presentations (accessed May 16, 2010). Depending on your selling situation, this is something you might consider. As online sales strategist Joanna Lees Castro points out, video conferencing can be almost as effective as an in-person meeting in a number of selling situations, and it is certainly a better, more personal approach than e-mail or telephone.Joanna Lees Castro, “Using Video Conferencing to Host an Effective Online Sales Presentation—6 Best Practice Tips,” EzineArticles, http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1316495 (accessed May 16, 2010).

Even though video conferencing feels different from in-person communications, you should essentially treat your online meetings the way you would treat any sales call. Keep in mind that nonverbal communication has a strong influence on interactions—and, especially with good technology, your customer can see you clearly. Pay attention to your body language and facial expressions, and avoid personal gestures (like playing with your hair or scratching an itch).“Video Conferencing Etiquette Checklist,” Manage Smarter, June 8, 2009, http://www.presentations.com/msg/content_display/training/e3i0fe06f39ca140432cc75be4595e2c6e1 (accessed May 16, 2010). Dress professionally, plan your agenda carefully, and make sure to prepare and get your materials set up ahead of time. If you are conferencing from a location other than your office, arrive early to make sure the technology is set up to run smoothly for your presentation.

It is also important to resist the temptation to multitask during your video conference. Close down any other applications you might have open on your computer, clear off your desk, and make sure you will not be interrupted until the call is over. Mute any cell phones and close the door to the room in which you are presenting. Give your customer your full attention. While this level of focus is a given on your end, unfortunately, you can’t always be certain that your prospect will give a video conference meeting his full attention by minimizing distractions. For this reason, it is especially important to have a clear agenda that you follow closely. Keep your presentation brief, and be aware that you will have to work harder to hold your prospect’s attention. Live interaction from your audience is critical to make sure your participants are engaged.

Besides a greater likelihood of distraction, there are a few other extra considerations to keep in mind in a video conference situation. Sales and Management magazine notes that privacy is expected during a video conference, so if you want to record part of your presentation, it is important to ask your prospect for permission.“Video Conferencing Etiquette Checklist,” Manage Smarter, June 8, 2009, http://www.presentations.com/msg/content_display/training/e3i0fe06f39ca140432cc75be4595e2c6e1 (accessed May 16, 2010). When the presentation is over, Joanna Lees Castro suggests closing the meeting with a clear call to action in which you include a wrap-up and well-defined next steps that you and your prospects should take. At the end of a conventional sales presentation, Lees Castro points out, next-step discussions can happen more organically, as the customer is walking you to the door, but this is obviously impossible in an online situation.Joanna Lees Castro, “Using Video Conferencing to Host an Effective Online Sales Presentation—6 Best Practice Tips,” EzineArticles, http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1316495 (accessed May 16, 2010).

PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint slides provide an easy way to organize your presentation and add helpful visuals. For many salespeople, PowerPoint is one of their go-to presentation tools. It can be an especially helpful tool for salespeople who are starting out and want the security of a clear framework from which to present. An added benefit is that it doesn’t take much technological know-how to put together a clean-looking PowerPoint demonstration.

On the other hand, not all presentation situations lend themselves to PowerPoint (e.g., conference rooms with no wall space on which to project or presentations given in the field), so if you plan to use this tool, make sure that you will be presenting in a space where you can make it work. Additionally, be aware of—and avoid—a number of common mistakes salespeople make when using PowerPoint that can ruin a presentation. As sales coach and author Anne Miller says, “Putting PowerPoint into the hands of some sales reps is like putting matches into the hands of some children.”Anne Miller, “Death by PowerPoint,” Sales and Sales Management Blog, February 22, 2008, http://salesandmanagementblog.com/2008/02/22/guest-article-death-by-powerpoint-by-anne-miller (accessed May 16, 2010). To maximize PowerPoint as a tool to successfully sell your story, use the tips in Figure 10.5 “Guidelines for PowerPoint Visuals”.Anne Miller, “Death by PowerPoint,” Sales and Sales Management Blog, February 22, 2008, http://salesandmanagementblog.com/2008/02/22/guest-article-death-by-powerpoint-by-anne-miller (accessed May 16, 2010).

The following dos and don’ts can also be helpful as you are creating a PowerPoint presentation.

• Don’t turn down the lights. It takes the focus away from you, and it can put people to sleep.
• Don’t go overboard with technological gimmicks. Fancy fades and clever add-ons will only distract from you and from the content of your presentation.Jim Meisenheimer, “How to Use PowerPoint During Sales Presentations,” EvanCarmichael.com, http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/407/How-To-Use-PowerPoint-During-Sales-Presentations.html (accessed May 16, 2010).
• Don’t hide behind your computer screen when using PowerPoint; make sure you face your audience and make eye contact. This can be a temptation when the computer is set up on a podium close to eye level.
• Don’t fill your slides with words. Use bullet points, separate each point with white space, and cut out any unnecessary words you can.
• Don’t bore your audience with visual sameness. Slide after slide of bulleted lists gets monotonous; visuals and charts have a stronger impact.Anne Miller, “Death by PowerPoint,” Sales and Sales Management Blog, February 22, 2008, http://salesandmanagementblog.com/2008/02/22/guest-article-death-by-powerpoint-by-anne-miller (accessed May 16, 2010).
• Do make your slides easy to read. Avoid small fonts, visual clutter, and dark text against dark backgrounds.Jim Meisenheimer, “How to Use PowerPoint During Sales Presentations,” EvanCarmichael.com, http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/407/How-To-Use-PowerPoint-During-Sales-Presentations.html (accessed May 16, 2010).
• Do replace descriptive headlines with headlines that sell. No one cares about a headline that describes what’s already on the page.Anne Miller, “Death by PowerPoint,” Sales and Sales Management Blog, February 22, 2008, http://salesandmanagementblog.com/2008/02/22/guest-article-death-by-powerpoint-by-anne-miller (accessed May 16, 2010). For example, rather than writing “Our Statistics” at the top of the page, write “See Significant Savings in the First Year.”
• Do use the 10/20/30 rule: Make sure you limit your slides to 10 or fewer. Focus on the things you want people to remember, rather than overwhelming them with information. Give yourself 20 minutes to go through your 10 slides. Any more than this and you will reach the limit of your audience’s attention span. Finally, use only 30-point or larger font size so that your audience can clearly read what you’ve written.Jim Meisenheimer, “How to Use PowerPoint During Sales Presentations,” EvanCarmichael.com, http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/407/How-To-Use-PowerPoint-During-Sales-Presentations.html (accessed May 16, 2010).

• Do remember that that PowerPoint is only an aid. “You are the star,” says communications consultant Ronnie Moore. “The media and visuals support you.”Geoff William, “The Perfect Presentation: Technology,” Entrepreneur, July 13, 2007, http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingbasics/article181582.html (accessed May 16, 2010). Use dynamic speaking strategies, move around, keep your audience involved; don’t let your technology take over.

Brochures, Premiums, and Leave-Behinds

It is usually expected that you will have printed material to give your audience during a presentation. In addition to a printed supplement to your PowerPoint presentation (i.e., something that conveys the same information as your slides and on which your audience can take notes), you might decide to bring along brochures with information about your company, products, and services. What are the benefits of brochures? According to sales expert and author Geoffrey James, in some situations you need a brochure to make your firm look serious. However, James lists “I promise to read your brochure” as one of the top ten lies customers tell sales reps. His conclusion: the brochure might gain you credibility, but it probably won’t get read.Geoffrey James, “Top 10 Lies Customers Tell Sales Reps,” BNET, April 23, 2009, http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=2323&page=2 (accessed May 16, 2010). Don’t rely completely on brochures because they won’t be a focal point of your presentation.

Sometimes a brochure can work as a reminder about you and your company after you’ve left, but this is assuming your customer doesn’t throw the brochure away. When it comes to reminders, a better bet is leaving something functional that your customer will actually use regularly. These reminder objects—calendars, refrigerator magnets, pens, or mouse pads labeled with your company name—are called premium leave-behinds and are a proven method of reminding customers you exist.Brad Sugars, “Building Repeat Business from Day 1,” Entrepreneur, May 22, 2007, http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/startupbasics/startupbasicscolumnistbradsugars/article178724.html (accessed May 16, 2010). Almost all salespeople bring some sort of brochure or premium leave-behind on their sales calls.

Samples and Demonstrations

There is almost no better way to make your story come to life for your customer than letting him experience it for himself. Think of television courtroom dramas: when the lawyer is making her final statement to the jury and she wants to pull out all the stops, what does she do? She doesn’t just give the jury the facts or tell them the version of the story she wants them to believe—she brings the story to life; she puts the gun in the defendant’s hand; she brings out the pictures of the stab wounds. Think about this when you plan your sales presentation. During the presentation, you can bring your story to life by offering product samples for your prospects to try or by running demonstrations that let them see for themselves what your product can do. When winemakers sell their products to large distributors, they don’t just bring in descriptions of their wines for the buyers to read; they offer tastings so buyers can experience the product. When caterers want to sell their services to someone who is planning a wedding, they bring in samples from their menus, so the customer can say, “Wow this pasta really is delicious!” Or think of Keith Waldon of Earth Preserv who didn’t just tell JCPenney, “We can make displays of our environmentally friendly products for your store windows;” instead, he set up a real shop window display so his prospects could see their place in his story.

Besides bringing your story to life, there are a number of other good reasons to use demonstrations:

• To educate your prospect. If you are selling a complex product, such as a highly involved software program, the best way to help your customer understand how it works is to show her.
• To involve your prospect. Let him find the results for himself. Just as car shoppers get to take the wheel in a test drive—and this often makes the difference between a decision to buy or not to buy—customers who use your products for themselves are more likely to make a personal connection with it. A salesperson selling insulated windows, for instance, might place a piece of glass in front of a heat lamp and ask her customer to put out his hand and feel the heat. Then the salesperson might substitute the sheet of glass for a window sample. “Now put out your hand,” she will tell the customer. “Can you feel how this window is going to keep the elements out and save you money on your energy bills?”EDTM, Inc., “4 Steps to Close More Sales,” http://www.solarstop.net/edtm/sales_demonstration.htm (accessed May 16, 2010).
• To prove the performance of your product.EDTM, Inc., “4 Steps to Close More Sales,” http://www.solarstop.net/edtm/sales_demonstration.htm (accessed May 16, 2010). Of course, you can tell your prospect “our air purifiers are quieter than the leading model, and they take up less space in your home.” But if you bring your air purifier to the presentation and set it next to the leading model, and if you ask your prospect to turn both machines on, he can see for himself that your product is smaller, and he can hear for himself that it makes less noise.

Give Them the Numbers: Cost-Benefit Analysis and ROI

When you present your solution to the customer, especially in B2B sales, closing the sale usually depends on whether the cost of your solution is offset by the value it delivers.Gerald L. Manning and Barry L. Reece, Selling Today: Creating Customer Value, 9th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004), 256. If you can quantify your solution using cost-benefit analysis and ROI (return on investment) analysis, you can help your customer determine whether a project or purchase is worth funding.

A cost-benefit analysis asks the question “Will this purchase save more money in the long run than it costs?”David H. Miles, The 30 Second Encyclopedia of Learning and Performance (New York: AMACOM, 2003), 139–40. Imagine you are selling an energy-efficient commercial dishwasher to a pizza kitchen. The dishwasher costs $3,000, but average cost savings per year are $800 in energy bills and $200 in water usage: a total of $1,000.Energy Star, “Commercial Dishwashers for Consumers,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy, http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=comm_dishwashers.pr_comm_dishwashers (accessed May 16, 2010). Your dishwashers are guaranteed to last a long time; in fact, you offer a five-year warranty on any purchase. At a savings rate of $1,000 each year, your customer will have saved $5,000 in energy and water expenses by the time his warranty expires. Based on this information, you present this cost-benefit analysis to your prospect:

$3,000 = cost (initial investment)cost savings – initial investment = benefit$5,000 – $3,000 = $2,000

In this case, the cost savings is $1,000 per year times five years for a total of $5,000, minus the initial investment of $3,000, means that there is a benefit of $2,000.

In other words, the dishwasher has a three-to-two cost-benefit ratio over five years ($3,000 in cost to $2,000 in benefit). You can tell him, “This purchase will save you money in the long run. After you make back what you spent on the dishwasher in cost savings, you will continue to save $1,000 each year.” Similarly, you can show your customer a return on investment (ROI) analysis. ROI shows the customer the return (profit or cost savings) compared to the investment he will make. In the case of the dishwasher, the ROI would be calculated by dividing the benefit (in this case $2,000) by the cost of the product or initial investment (in this case $3,000), then multiplying the result by 100, which would yield a 66 percent ROI after five years.

$2000 (savings over five years) ÷ $3,000 (initial investment) × 100 = 66% ROI

You can maximize ROI by cutting costs, increasing profits, or accelerating the rate at which profits are made.“Cost of Ownership, ROI, and Cost/Benefit Analysis: What’s the Difference?” Solution Matrix, http://www.solutionmatrix.com/tco-roi-cba-difference.html (accessed May 16, 2010). Some businesses have a minimum ROI that must be met before a purchase can be approved. While you might be able to learn this information in your preapproach, it is more likely that you will have to discuss minimum ROI with your customer during the sales presentation. You might present your solution and find out more about your customer’s specific needs (including budget constraints and minimum ROI) during the first sales presentation and then write up a proposal in response to your findings, which you deliver during a second presentation.

Opening

According to Rackham, the opening of the sales call is not the most important part, but it does pave the way for the important steps that come after.Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 139. At the beginning of every call, you want to set the preliminaries and make any necessary introductions. (In larger B2B sales, you usually won’t spend very long on introductions because 95 percent of the time you will be meeting with an existing customer or a prospect you have already met.)Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 40. If you are following up on an earlier sales call, it’s important to recap the conclusions of your last discussion: “The last time we spoke, we talked about pricing and setting a timeline, and you agreed that you would like to move the sale forward if we could put together a proposal that matched your budget and would meet your deadlines.” Then, most important, you want to begin the conversation by getting your customer’s agreement to let you ask him some questions.Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 144. This builds rapport and establishes a buyer centered purpose for your call.“SPIN Selling,” review of SPIN Selling, ChangingMinds.org, http://changingminds.org/books/book_reviews/spin.htm (accessed May 16, 2010).

Investigation

Investigation—asking questions to uncover your buyer’s needs—is at the heart of SPIN selling. This is the stage during which you ask the types of questions that give SPIN its name: situation, problem, implication, and need-payoff. Here’s how each of these types of questions works during the sales presentation.

Demonstrating Capability

When you present your solution, you can tell your customer about FAB, as discussed in Chapter 6 “Why and How People Buy: The Power of Understanding the Customer”.

• The product features, or what the product has: “This car has all-wheel drive, and the back seats fold down to expand the trunk.”
• Its advantages: “The all-wheel drive capability makes for better handling in ice and snow, and the ability to fold down the seats means you get a larger storage capacity than you would with other cars of its kind.”
• What the feature does and its benefits: “The all-wheel drive will give you peace of mind when your daughter drives the car in the winter, and the added storage capacity will be especially helpful for any odds and ends you need to transport during your upcoming move.” This includes what the features mean, or the ways in which your solution addresses your prospect’s acknowledged needs.Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 148.

All three methods demonstrate capability, but which method do you think moves you closer to a sale? If you guessed benefits, you’re right. SPIN selling is all about customization; when you are demonstrating capability, you want to show your prospect how your solution applies to the needs he has expressed. Listing a product’s advantages demonstrates how that product could be useful to anyone (a generic customer), but you don’t want to treat your buyer like a generic customer. OK, so the car you are selling has an excellent sound system that delivers a superior music-listening experience. But what if your prospect only ever listens to talk radio? If you go on at length about the advantages of the sound system, he won’t be impressed.

Rackham and his team concluded that salespeople who demonstrate capability by presenting benefits (rather than advantages) don’t have to deal with as many objections from their prospects. However, you can only demonstrate benefits successfully if you have asked the right questions to uncover your prospect’s specific needs. This is why the investigation stage is so important. Here are examples of some benefits you might share with your prospect:

Dr. Hogue, our software gives you the ability to organize large quantities of information (like those complicated medical records you mentioned) visually. If you use this software, it will be easy to identify relationships between patient’s medical histories so that you and your staff can save time whenever you have to perform a complicated diagnosis.

Ms. Lewis, you mentioned that you have a long commute to work each day, so I think the podcast versions of our training seminars will be a good solution for you. You can download them onto your iPod and listen to them on your way to work so that you can maximize your time and leave your evenings and weekends open to spend with your family.

Our custom engagement rings will allow you to choose an antique setting in the style you said your fiancée prefers and to pair this setting with a smaller stone that will fit your current budget.

Obtaining Commitment

In smaller sales, obtaining commitment is fairly straightforward: either your prospect decides to buy, or he tells you that he isn’t interested. In complex sales, on the other hand, fewer than 10 percent of calls have one of these two outcomes. It might take several years before your prospect agrees to purchase your solution, so a sales call that ends without a sale is in no way a failure. In between your first sales call and your prospect’s decision to buy, you will have a number of calls in which you either decide to move the process forward, terminate the process, or continue the process without an advance. Any time your prospect ends a call by agreeing on an action that moves you closer to the final sale, you have experienced a successful outcome.Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 42–43.

In the SPIN model there are three steps to obtaining commitment:

1. Check whether you have addressed key concerns.
2. Summarize the benefits you presented.
3. Propose a commitment that will move the sale forward.Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 44.

Consider this example:

The commitment you propose at the end of the call will depend on your precall objectives. According to Rackham and his team, the most effective precall objectives are those that include actions on the part of the customer, such as “get the prospect to agree to call two of your past customers” or “get the prospect’s list of vendor selection criteria.”Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 45.

Nitty Gritty: The Hows and Whys of a Proposal

While every proposal should be customized, there are a few common elements that good proposals share:

• an introduction
• a definition of the project or need
• a discussion of the solution and its benefits
• the costs associated with the projectEdward Lowe Foundation, “How to Write a Sales Proposal,” eSmallOffice, 2008, http://www.esmalloffice.com/SBR_template.cfm?DocNumber=PL12_4000.htm (accessed May 16, 2010).
• a time frame for completion of the project or project milestones
• a call to action that asks the prospect for a response
• evidence that you are qualified to perform the job.

In addition, a proposal should accomplish three things:

1. Educate the prospect about the specifics of his need and the pertinence of your solution. The proposal should showcase the value you are bringing to the individual prospect or organization; help your prospect to see why he can’t reach his objectives without the specific solution you offer.
2. Convince the prospect that you have the competence to deliver what she needs.Edward Lowe Foundation, “How to Write a Sales Proposal,” eSmallOffice, 2008, http://www.esmalloffice.com/SBR_template.cfm?DocNumber=PL12_4000.htm (accessed May 16, 2010). Show her how your expertise applies to her situation, by providing relevant information and presenting the proposal in a professional format. This is especially relevant in situations where the proposal will be reviewed by a committee that is unfamiliar with you or your company.Kimberly Kayler, “Send Me a Proposal! Proposals Are Often a Downfall of the Sales Cycle,” AllBusiness, August 1, 2005, http://www.AllBusiness.com/manufacturing/nonmetallic-mineral-product-manufacturing/521322-1.html (accessed May 16, 2010).
3. Provide justification for the prospect’s investment in clear terms.Edward Lowe Foundation, “How to Write a Sales Proposal,” eSmallOffice, 2008, http://www.esmalloffice.com/SBR_template.cfm?DocNumber=PL12_4000.htm (accessed May 16, 2010). The information in the proposal should be practical and should explain the problem and solution in terms that could be understood by someone outside of the industry.Kimberly Kayler, “Send Me a Proposal! Proposals Are Often a Downfall of the Sales Cycle,” Concrete Construction, August 1, 2005, AllBusiness, http://www.AllBusiness.com/manufacturing/nonmetallic-mineral-product-manufacturing/521322-1.html (accessed May 16, 2010). In addition, the proposal should include a cost-benefit and ROI analysis (discussed earlier in this chapter). This will give the prospect the financial information as it relates to cost and the expected return on investment.

In some B2B situations, your customer might submit a formal request for proposal (RFP), which sets out very specific guidelines for the format of the proposal and the information it should include. (See Chapter 6 “Why and How People Buy: The Power of Understanding the Customer”.) Organizations usually use RFPs when they are requesting proposals from a number of potential suppliers at once. By providing a proposal structure, RFPs simplify the process of assessing risks and benefits associated with the purchase and can help your prospect make a decision in complex buying situations.Glenn Wheaton, “Request for Proposal,” Epiq Technologies, November 20, 2008, http://www.epiqtech.com/request-for-proposal-rfp.htm (accessed May 16, 2010). If you receive an RFP, make sure that you stick closely to the requested formatting and respond to all the questions in the document. Plenty of qualified salespeople with strong solutions have lost prospects because they failed to respond to everything in an RFP document.Kimberly Kayler, “Send Me a Proposal! Proposals Are Often a Downfall of the Sales Cycle,” Concrete Construction, August 1, 2005, AllBusiness, http://www.AllBusiness.com/manufacturing/nonmetallic-mineral-product-manufacturing/521322-1.html (accessed May 16, 2010).

Whether or not you are responding to a formal RFP, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Do make sure most of the document discusses your prospect and his objectives and how you and your company will meet them.
• Do keep the writing clear and concise. This will make it easy for your prospect to assess the proposal, and it demonstrates a respect for his time on your part. Select the most relevant information and present it in an efficient way.
• Do make sure you understand how the proposal will be reviewed, who will be reviewing the proposal, what the primary selection criteria will be, and when you can expect a response.
• Do use a straightforward approach to pricing that your customer can easily assess.
• Do pay attention to the visual presentation of the proposal. As Kimberly Kayler, president of Constructive Communication, puts it, “Prospective clients facing the task of wading through stacks of proposals filled with thousands of words usually welcome efforts designed to make their lives easier.”Kimberly Kayler, “Send Me a Proposal! Proposals Are Often a Downfall of the Sales Cycle,” Concrete Construction, August 1, 2005, AllBusiness, http://www.AllBusiness.com/manufacturing/nonmetallic-mineral-product-manufacturing/521322-1.html (accessed May 16, 2010). Graphics can add meaning and make the information more accessible.
• Do make it easy for the prospect to accept your services by attaching an agreement he can sign that outlines the terms of the contract.
• Don’t forget to check grammar and spelling. This is an important part of credibility and professionalism.
• Don’t overuse “we” or “us.” Your language should reflect a customer centered focus.

Figure 10.8 “Template for Preparing a Strong Proposal” presents a sample of an outline to follow when preparing your proposal.Adapted from Cheryl Smith, “Writing Killer Proposals,” Edward Lowe Foundation, “How to Write a Sales Proposal,” eSmallOffice, 2008, http://www.esmalloffice.com/SBR_template.cfm?DocNumber=PL12_4000.htm (accessed May 16, 2010).

Timing: When to Deliver Your Proposal

Have you ever noticed that when you go into a high-end clothing boutique or a store that sells expensive jewelry and watches, the price tags are hidden? The thing you immediately see is the product itself, beautifully displayed. The goal is a psychological one: to get the buyer to make an emotional connection with the product before he considers the cost. As a buyer, if the cost were one of the first things you saw, you might never make that emotional connection with the product in the first place.

This is something to keep in mind in sales. Never present a proposal—or otherwise mention pricing—early on in the sales presentation, not until your prospect has fallen in love with your product. You want your prospect to pick out the color of the car before she asks about payment; if she picks out the color, she has already imagined herself owning the car, and you have probably made your sale.

Of course, in a situation like car sales, you generally present the proposal in the same day as you present the product. You discuss your prospect’s needs, show him the car, let him test drive it, and then tell him, “Let me go talk to my manager to see if we can work out the numbers.” The process is a relatively simple one. However, in complex B2B sales, your sales presentation will probably end with a request for a proposal, in which case you will agree to a future meeting when you can present your proposal to the customer. B2B proposals are generally more involved, and so they require careful planning and a greater investment of time. If your prospect says, “Just send us the proposal,” ask for a face-to-face meeting; you can always send them the proposal ahead of time, but following up with a meeting in-person will help you address objections, answer your prospect’s questions, and demonstrate your enthusiasm for the project.

Delivering Value in Your Proposal

Until you understand the areas in which your customer places the greatest value, it is impossible to come up with a proposal. For instance, say your organization offers advertising services, and you find out from your prospect that her company especially values competitive pricing on individual projects. You decide the best way to deliver value is to drop your pricing below the competitor’s lowest price and to make up for the lower cost in your retainer fee—the fixed fee that your customer will pay in advance to secure your services. This way you can deliver value in the area that is most important to your customer while still generating the profits you need to run your business. In the end, you want a situation where everyone wins—but it takes some work to uncover the key to making this happen.

Sometimes your customer’s area of greatest value is determined by business needs, and other times the issues are emotional. For instance, if you are selling a car to a customer that wants a good value on his trade-in, recognize that he might have an emotional connection to his old car (in his mind it has a high value), so offering a low trade-in price, even if it is combined with competitive financing options, might be enough to drive your customer away. In fact, your customer might actually be willing to pay more for his new car if you can give him a good price for his trade-in.