How do you prepare for a winning sales presentation?
“To craft the perfect sales presentation pitch,” advises Danny Hayward, Sales Manager at Unruly, “ensure you take care of these three things:
- Ask the right questions beforehand to understand the needs of the client, especially their flaws
- Learn your product inside and out
- Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again
In summary, preparation is the key to a successful sales presentation. But how you prepare depends on the type of presentation you’re giving.
A sales presentation is different to a sales pitch, although both will feature some of the same crucial elements. A sales presentation (although still a sales pitch) is a bigger deal. It’s more complicated than a sales pitch, and usually takes place when your team is trying to close a more lucrative deal. Instead of just a phone call, a sales presentation can involve a demo and face-to-face meeting with senior decision-makers.
The preparation that goes into your sales presentation depends on what style of presentation you intend to deliver.
A demo, for example, will require you to have with you all the equipment you need to showcase your product at its finest. An example of this done well would be Brian and Corin Mullins of Holy Crap Cereal, who appeared on Canadian Dragons’ Den in 2015. They began their presentation by handing out samples of their organic cereal to the dragons. Within minutes, the couple were offered a deal. This was a wise strategy: The Mullins had confidence in the strength of their product and led their presentation with it.
You might instead be delivering a data-led presentation, in which case, you will need to be able to showcase your numbers from your sales dashboard. Dodgy data will cause your presentation to flop, but preparation can prevent this from happening.
You may decide to incorporate some other elements, such as storytelling, interaction with your prospects, or the use of handouts. Whatever goes into your presentation, you must ensure you plan, practice and perfect the pitch.
What do you do to prepare for a sales presentation? And have you got any examples of when this has worked particularly well?
Comments
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One of the things that I do is spend a lot of time writing out all of the questions that I need to make sure I ask.
I've found that my success in sales is based not on the information I give, but rather on the information I get.
It's my goal to ask questions and make sure I am really understanding their problem and what they are trying to accomplish.
When presenting, I build a quote around the problems that I have uncovered and then let the prospect decide which of the problems is the most important to solve. That's where we start, and then I present how our product or service addresses that problem.
The entire presentation is directed by the prospect based on what is most important in their world.
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