Simply getting time in front of a potential client can involve jumping through some very high hoops – from putting your sales prospecting tools into full swing to tailoring an effective social media marketing strategy. Once you get those precious minutes to present to a prospect – you’d better make them count.
Making the most of your clients’ attention means delivering a presentation that’s highly customized to their needs. It also means creating a presentation that doesn’t put them to sleep. Thankfully, there are more tools and strategies than ever to craft interactive sales presentations that will leave your audience wanting to hear more.
Avoid Presentation Pitfalls
When looking at creating interactive sales presentations that are both engaging and useful, it’s helpful to know what you should not do. First, make sure you’re communicating what the customer needs to hear and not what you want them to hear. Gartner Research found that nearly half of sales reps do a dismal job of communicating the business value for buyers. Forbes suggests taking the time to clarify each person’s priorities before even starting the demo. In fact, this should take place before you even schedule your demo so you're prepared to highlight what matters most to the prospect.
Next, make the presentation one that your audience also wants to hear. It’s a huge blow to your confidence (to say the least!) to notice people at the table checking their cell phones (or nodding off) while you are speaking. There are ways to spice up your presentation style to avoid this… but you need to make sure the presentation itself is lively. Here are 5 Interactive Sales Presentation Tips.
Tip #1: Show them where they are… and where they could be
Rather than plodding along through a list of your product’s features, make the presentation all about the client. Give them a detailed assessment of where they’re currently at – including a description of their specific pain points and problems. Then show them where they could be once those pain points are resolved. Finally, offer a bridge between those two places – starring your product or service. (With effective sales enablement tools, you should have the resources at hand to demonstrate exactly how your company can be of service!)
Tip #2: Move beyond PowerPoint
If you’re new to putting together presentations, don’t worry! There’s a plethora of tools available to make it easy. Canva, for example, has a wide range of business-related templates, including layouts to help with presentations. Focusky also comes with thousands of templates, allowing even newbies to lay out stunning presentations with ease. These are only a couple of the many software options for all of your presentation needs.
Tip #3: Cut down on excessive text
We see so much text in our daily lives that it can all start to meld together. A truly great sales presentation won’t be based on long lists and bullet points; it will utilize visuals to bring the ideas together. A well-placed graphic can communicate a lot with little or no text. Videos work well, too. Your audience is more likely to remember information presented via images than text, so using imagery will help keep your data points top of mind.
Tip #4: Throw out a tease
Audiences love an element of suspense, and you can use this to make an interactive sales presentation more interesting. It might be in the form of a question that you don’t answer until the end of your presentation or a story that you tell – offering the conclusion as you wrap things up. Either way, teasing something that you don’t fully reveal until later is a great way to keep your audience engaged.
Tip #5: End with a call to action
Need we say more? After making a stellar impression with your prospects, don’t leave the matter of “next steps” up in the air. Tell your decision makers exactly what you need them to do to move forward. Don’t leave the room without some sort of commitment – and if they can’t commit, make sure you have a clear understanding of what barriers are preventing them from doing so in order to map out a plan to go back at them at a later date.
Frustrated with delivering product-centric presentations? We know what it takes to leave a solid impression and get through to a tough crowd — regardless of your audience's industry. Contact us today to learn more!
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