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by Kelly Riggs
The odds are really good that your sales presentation is very average.
Maybe worse than average. No, I don’t mean your presentation isn’t flashy enough, or that you didn’t work hard on it. What I mean is that your prospects are very likely not engaged, and that can’t be good.
The reality is that most sales presentations are boring, lifeless, and in many cases, completely unpersuasive. And, worse, if you use PowerPoint to…er…enhance your presentation, the odds of it being forgettable increase exponentially.
Didn’t you think that there was a reason why so many people are now turning to other methods to help carry out their presentation? It’s because they want to change with the times, and since online streaming has become so popular, business people want to enlist the help of somewhere like Smart Works to help them do something similar. The whole point of a business presentation is to inspire the next generation and to revolutionize the business world, and creating a PowerPoint might not have the desired effect that you want.
Why? Because PowerPoint is typically used as 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 an engaging, 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’re losing business left and right. Have you ever listened to a 50-slide presentation from a drone that reads the slides to you? Kill me now.
The truth is the uninspiring sales presentation comes in a variety of sizes.
First, there is the canned “we-give-this-presentation-the-same-way-to-everyone” kind of bad. It’s not personalized; it doesn’t address the prospect’s specifics. Instead, it’s a dog-and-pony show that starts off with the standard 30-minute review on how awesome you are, and progresses to a pre-packaged summary of all the great things about your solution.
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 saving money or getting better. What they would really like is a good, old-fashioned conversation about the challenges they face. Instead, they get to yawn their way through an awards show.
Second, there is my personal favorite form of awful presentation: “I just wing it.” Well, of course 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 features 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 – assuming it addresses a problem they currently have. But 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.
The truth is salespeople need to get real. If your sales presentation is terrible – heck, even if it’s a little better than average – it is costing you money. Chances are good you don’t practice. Chances are good you don’t have anyone evaluate your presentation.
But chances are also good that if you worked at it, you could really get out ahead of your competition.
You could get started by considering these tips:
And did I mention that if you use PowerPoint, you should get some professional help?
By the way, if you’re looking for some powerful help on your sales presentations, make sure you grab a copy of Jack Malcolm’s fantastic book, “Strategic Sales Presentations, and a copy of my book, “Quit Whining and Start SELLING!“
Kelly Riggs is a business performance coach and founder of the Business LockerRoom. A former national Salesperson of the Year and serial entrepreneur, Kelly is a recognized thought leader in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning. He serves clients ranging from small, privately held companies to Fortune 500 firms. Kelly has written two books: “1-on-1 Management™: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t” and “Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.”
