Starting a new business always requires some excellent presentations to convincingly attract the target audience for your desired sales.
When all your efforts have paid off, and you’ve made an appointment to visit a prospect in person and make a sales presentation, make sure to follow the following steps:
Prep before the presentation
1. Know your customer’s business. Do a thorough research on the problems and trends. Find out who the company’s biggest competitors are. Some research tools include the company’s annual report, brochures, catalogs, and newsletters; trade publications; chamber of commerce directories; and the internet. Know their business and industry thoroughly.
2. Make pointers for your sales presentation. Always use a written presentation. The basic structure of any sales presentation should include: building rapport with your prospect, introducing the business topic, asking questions to better understand your prospect’s needs, summarizing your key selling points, and closing the sale. Think about the major selling points of your product or service and develop lead questions to analyze your customer’s reactions and requirements.
3. Make sure you’re talking to the right person. Always make sure that all the decision makers of that particular meeting are present in the room, so you don’t get to hear that you need approval from others as well. When you’re setting the appointment, always ask “Are you the one I should be talking to, or are there others who’ll be making the buying decision?”
In the customer’s office
1. Build relationship. Before discussing business, build rapport with your prospect. Do some homework. Get a little insight into the company and the individual so you can make the connection genuine.
2. Ask questions. Don’t start throwing your ideas at them. The most effective way to sell is to ask the prospect questions and see where they lead you.
Feel free to ask questions even about their certain way of thinking if you need to. Formulate your questions around the agenda of getting detailed answer not only regarding costs, price, procedures, and the technical aspects of the prospect’s business, but also answer should hint you regarding their motivation to purchase and decide.
3. Take notes always. Write down key points you can refer to later during your presentation. Relying on your memory might be a bit risky.
4. Be sure to write down objections. This shows your prospect you’re truly listening. In this way, you can specifically answer objections by showing how the customer will benefit from your product or service.
5. Learn to listen. A good rule of thumb is to listen 70 percent of the time and talk 30 percent of the time. Don’t interrupt. It’s tempting to step in and tell the prospect something you think is vitally important. Think before you speak, and when you do, make sure it is really important.
6. Answer objections with “I understand”. Don’t argue when a prospect says “I’m not interested.” Simply say “I understand how you feel. A lot of my present customers felt the same way. But when they found out how much time they saved by using our product, they were amazed.” Then ask for an appointment. Hearing about other people being in the similar situation as the prospects’ will be convincing.
7. Dig deeper. If a prospect tells you “We’re looking for cost savings and efficiency,” being smart salesperson don’t tell that you are exactly providing what they want immediately, instead ask more questions and probe deeper: “I understand why that’s important. Can you give me a specific example? It will enable you to better understand your prospects need and requirements and redesign your product if required to fit their needs.
8. Find the “hot button.” A customer may have a long list of needs, but there’s usually one “hot button” that will get the person to buy.
9. Eliminate objections. When a prospect raises an objection, don’t immediately jump in with a response. Instead, show empathy by saying “Let’s explore your concerns.” Ask for more details about the objection. You need to isolate the true objection so you can handle it. Below are some ways to do that:
a. Offer a choice. “Is it the delivery time or the financing you’re concerned about?”
b. Get to the heart of the matter. “When you say you want to think about it, what specifically did you
want to think about?”
c. Work toward a solution. Every sale should be a win-win deal, so you may need to compromise to close
the deal: “I’ll waive the delivery charge if you agree to the purchase.”
10. Close the sale. If you’ve followed all the previous steps, all you would need to do is ask customer to order. However, some salespeople do not ask question about the final decision, and that is surely a mistake.
As you talk with the customer, be friendly and ask casually “So how many do you want? We have it in a rainbow of colors. Do you want them all?” Make sure to ask them several times in a fun, non-threatening way; you are basically going to lead them to decide by doing this.
