3 Ways to Improve Your Presentations
You are siting in a sales presentation while the very polished sales reps are just finishing setting up their laptop and projector. Hopefully this new product will be the solution your company is looking for to get back in front of the competition. Someone dims the lights and we see the first slide of the presentation. So far so good — ABC Consulting Proudly presents NextGreatThing,com to XYZ Company.
Then the lead rep says “Let me tell you a little about ABC Consulting. Immediately half of the room reaches in their pocket, purse or portfolio and grabs their smartphone. It’s Facebook time!
A recent post in the Harvard Business Review contained the following line: “If the first five pages — and the first ten slides — of your collateral or sales pitch deck are about you (and they almost invariably are), you’ve got it wrong.”
It’s not about you… It’s about them! The prospective customer is offering up 10-20 hours of executive time to hear you tell them how you can solve their problem. They will not return to you or your company until the final negotiations during the due diligence phase.
1. Focus on The Customer
I just can’t emphasize this enough. Customers don’t care if you are all the Pros from Dover and you walked across the puddle instead of around it when you got off the plane. The logo on your business card may have opened the door to get this presentation. It may even help a little at the end of the sales cycle. But to get there you need to focus solely on the customer and how you are going to solve their most pressing problem.
2. Focus on ROI
I know of more than a few consulting companies that claim to turn away business if the value of their services is not at least three times their engagement fee. Your ROI could be cost savings, increased sales, meeting compliance issues.
If you don’t have a slide in your deck that has the term ROI followed my an equal sign and a number you are shooting blanks.
3. Make the Answer Be You
Your presentation should lead from how you propose to solve their problem to why you believe that you are the one who can really get this project done – on time, on budget, with room to spare.
The key phrase is ‘why you believe.” Your company might not be the only one that could deliver a solution like the one you just presented. Why should the customer select you? If you really believe that this is THE one solution to solve their problem that will shine through to your prospect.
Be passionate about solving their problem! Show you are committed! Show them that THIS is what you do, not just serve up endless presentations.
