By Ashish Arora
A sales presentation is a crucial moment for your organization. If all goes well, you are likely to close the deal with multiple prospects. If it doesn't go as well as you hope, this valuable time window can be closed and never opened again.
No pressure!
No question, a solid sales presentation will illustrate the value of your product or service and motivate your audience. A weak presentation, on the other hand, leaves your audience confused, bored and thinking about lunch.
To make your next sale, here are seven powerful presentation techniques to help you convert.
The moderators who try to sell their audience will not be very successful. The moderators who try to help their audience solve a problem will be extremely successful.
In order to help your audience, you need to take some time to get to know them first. This means going beyond basic demographics to really understand the pain they are experiencing. What keeps you awake at night? What information do you need to move forward in your life or business?
Once you know the challenges your audience is facing, you can position your products or services as the ideal solution.
You know your audience and are sure that your organization offers the perfect solution to your problem. Great. Now you have to convey this idea in a way that is completely understandable and relevant.
When it comes to speaking to a specific audience, a unified cookie cutter approach doesn't work. Spend some time following your audience on social media to see what language they use and how they interact. You are far more likely to connect with your audience if your presentation is 100% tailored to that audience.
The goal of your presentation is not to tell the audience everything you can imagine – your goal is to interest them so that they can speak to you later.
People have short attention spans, so keep your presentation on the shorter side. Before the big day, go through your presentation, try it out, and consider what needs to be included and what can be removed. As the old saying goes: "Let them want more."
Obviously, the goal of any business is to sell more. However, the truth is that generally more than one touch point is required to close a new customer. Define what your specific goal must be for your presentation. Do you want your audience:
Once you've determined the specific goal of your presentation, you can build your speech on it and make sure you only add relevant information that will get your audience to take the right action.
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Emotions really sell. The logic is reserved after an emotional decision has already been made. Emotions help you connect with your audience and internalize the benefits of your solution.
For example, luxury car companies play with their emotions. They know that most people want their colleagues to see them as rich and successful. You buy a luxury car because of the perceived prestige that it gives you. Only then do you even consider the performance or safety assessment.
Storytelling is a way to use the power of emotions and engage your audience. Using images and videos in your presentation is another way to engage your audience emotionally.
You do not want to do the following during your presentation: Go on and on as if you were having a one-way conversation. This will almost certainly make people turn you off. In addition, you will never find out if you can get people to get on the same page as you. If you stand on the stage and have a monologue, you don't look like an expert in your industry and it certainly won't inspire you to do business with you.
One of the most effective sales presentation techniques is to get feedback during your presentation. This can be as simple as stopping every now and then and asking questions like, "Did what I just said make sense?" or "Are you beginning to understand how this could help your business?"
When you ask these engagement questions, you create moments of real connection and keep people interested in what you offer.
This leads me to my last point …
As I just mentioned, a presentation should not be viewed as a monologue. Selling helps, and helping often requires interaction with the person you want to help.
A break is a great thing because it means people are listening to you and have questions. If they have questions, other people in the audience are likely to have the same question. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to connect, pan and offer information that will help people see your product or service as the perfect solution.
Every direct response marketer knows that he must end each ad with a strong call to action. Any effective sales presentation must end with a strong final sentence.
Back to technique 4 – with a specific goal. What did you want from your audience after your presentation? Planning a demo? Sign up for a free trial?
Don't let your audience guess what to do after your presentation. Come right out and say it: "If you want to plan your free demo, please talk to me in the back."
People make selling out much more difficult than it is. If you focus on helping people figure out their challenges and invite them to engage in a real dialogue with you, you can of course make a lot more sales.
If you follow these sales presentation techniques, you will make it a habit to create a presentation that will inspire your audience to take the next steps with you.
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Posted by: Ashish Arora
Ashish Arora is a co-founder of SketchBubble.com, a leading provider of result-oriented, professionally created presentation templates. When he is not working, he likes to travel around the world.
Company: SketchBubble.com
Website: www.sketchbubble.com
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