Sales presentations can become the most under planned, habitual, robotic aspects of a seller’s job. Sellers do the same ole’ things in presentations over and over again, with no real thought as to why they are doing them that way.

A sales presentation is one of the most exciting and perfect opportunities to shine and to differentiate yourself from all those other sellers! It’s an opportunity to win. It can be an opportunity to securely anchor your relationship with a buyer and put up an impenetrable barrier against the competition, or it can be an opportunity to swoop in and take a deal away from an embedded competitor. This does not happen by accident! It does not happen by slapping together a few PowerPoint slides and reading them to your audience. It doesn’t happen by sharing the same positioning document and overview of your company over and over again.

It happens, thoughtfully. It happens with purpose. It happens with planning. Effective presentation development starts with a plan.

Every aspect of each presentation should be approached with thoughtful actions….meaning you need to understand why you do the things you do every step of the way. Test yourself by asking, why am I doing this? What value does it bring? What purpose does it serve? If you can’t come up with a good answer, chances are you shouldn’t do it. We all get caught up doing things without processing what the real value (if any) there is to the client or how it helps us accomplish our goals.

Approach every aspect of your next presentation by testing the things you are doing with this assessment:

• Will this capture my buyer’s attention and stimulate their interest?
• Will this differentiate me and set me apart from the competition?
• Will this allow me to demonstrate my capability knowledge and build credibility?
• Will this help compel the buyer make a buying decision?

Break out of that old rut and start owning your sales presentations. Give purpose-driven presentations that help the buyer see how you can help them solve their unique problems. Know exactly why you are giving the sales presentation the way you are…and in doing so, you will differentiate yourself by the way you sell!

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of communicating effectively in sales presentations. Prospects aren’t just buying product. They’re also buying YOU. Or, if your presentation skills aren’t as good as your rivals’, they’re NOT buying you. Today sellers are giving buyers more reasons NOT to buy from them than TO buy from them.

In many cases you only get ONE opportunity to give a winning presentation.

A sales presentation is an audition. Buyers tell us they want three things from sellers; “Don’t waste my time, understand my situation, and solve my problem.” You succeed when you provide a solution-driven presentation that accomplishes those three things. Problem is, there are dozens of ways you can fail to communicate in a way that captures their attention and clearly communicates how your solutions can empower them to solve their most critical business problems.

Our SolutionSpeak presenter, Helen Talmadge, focuses on seven classic presentation mistakes that even seasoned veterans often make. And she’ll reveal communication strategies that enhance your sales messages so they resonate more powerfully than your competitors’.

“The seven deadly sins salespeople make in presentations:

1. Inability to answer these three questions before you present: To whom am I presenting? Not just name and title, but what role they play in this opportunity. Where am I in the sales process? On the first call or is this the last presentation to close the deal and what do I want to accomplish? Have a clearly defined goal of what you want to occur as a result of this presentation.
2. Failure to capture your audience in a targeted, relevant way. (Title slides and introductions don’t count as capturing them) Tell a story, show a video clip, use a visual aid or make a bold statement. This is your opportunity to get their attention and differentiate yourself from the competition.
3. Not connecting with your audience by answering their unspoken questions. Buyers have so many things running through their mind before your presentation it’s hard for them to focus or buy in to what you are saying if you don’t use some audience connection tools, like letting them know what’s in it for them, right away.
4. Using too much content and too many facts, figures and research that you think are powerful and persuasive can actually HURT your presentation. Buyers have a saturation point with too much information. When they are overwhelmed it’s hard to say “yes” because they aren’t sure what they are saying “yes’ to. Less really is more.
5. Missing the payoff at the end of the presentation. End your presentation on a high note that will give the buyer chills. Do not end it by asking, “Are there any questions.“ Put the bookend on your presentation by paying off the capture.
6. Lack of clearly defined action. Buyers can’t move to the next step in the sales process with you if they aren’t asked to. Have a plan of action after the presentation and ask them to take the next steps with you.
7. Not adding value and credibility to your presentation by reading all the slides. You provide no value if all you do is read slides and ask a few questions. You don’t need to show up at all, just email the deck to them. Buyers want to do business with sellers who can be a valuable resource from them, show them how valuable you are by using flip charts and clear descriptive language instead of 49 PowerPoint slides full of text.

To learn more about improving your sales presentations and the SolutionSpeak training program offered by Sales Performance Internation, watch the following webinars:

The Seven Deadly Sins of Sales Presentations

Three Questions to Ask Before Giving A Sales Presentation