Category Archives for Sales Presentation

Can A Prospect Read Your Mind?

We can control the words we use, but what if I told you the people we’re talking to can hear what we’re thinking? –  If you conduct much of your business by Phone it’s important to understand sales is all about the tone of our voice.

In face to face selling 55% of communication is visual, 38% is tone and only 7% is the words we choose. In other words 93% of our communication is non-verbal. That means in order to be as effective and as successful as you can be you need to learn more than just your script or talking points for your product.

As I always say you must first be sold on your product or service yourself. You have to believe at the core of who you are. That is the beginning of sales success. Your belief is something your prospect can feel and hear in your voice. It’s like they can read your mind.

One of the skills that will help you is learning to control your voice inflection: Since 35% of our communication is tone proper voice inflection is absolutely an essential skill for anyone in sales. The way you say something is just as, if not more, important than what you say.

Over the phone, it’s a whole different story. There is no visual element so literally 93% of our communication and how it’s received is determined by our tone of voice. The words we choose while vitally important, are not nearly as important, as the tone in which we say them. This is why your attitude is sooooo important!

The way you feel, greatly influences, how what you say, sounds.

If you want to sound better; Smile when you talk. You will hear for yourself how it changes the way what you’re saying, sounds. One good technique is to put a mirror up so you can see yourself while you’re talking. That way you are more likely to make sure you’re smiling. It really does make a difference.

The other thing to do is to practice how you want to say certain things. The syllable or word that you emphasize can change the whole meaning of your sentence. On page 59 of Zig Ziglar’s “Secrets of Closing the Sale” Zig uses a simple eight word sentence to illustrate the point. The sentence he uses is “I did not say he stole the money.” Now if I re-read the sentence putting the emphasis on different parts we will get different meanings. For example “I did not say he stole the money.” compared to “I did not say he stole the money.” means two completely different things.

I hope you see the importance of voice inflection and how your attitude can impact your sales? When you’re excited your prospect translates that in their mind as enthusiasm and belief in your product and if you can help them feel the way you do about your goods or services they are much more likely to buy.

One thing I will point out though is that you need to constrain your excitement. If you’re over the top with your enthusiasm it will come across as pressure and salesy.

If you sell over the phone and you find yourself in a slump one simple exercise you can use to pick up your enthusiasm is to give your next 3 to 5 presentations speaking as fast as you can. Don’t worry about the outcome focus on speaking as fast as you can. This will come across as enthusiasm and since you will be focused on how fast you’re speaking you won’t be putting undue pressure on the prospect to buy.  More often than not you will make a sale and the slump will be broken.

Now, I don’t recommend you do this all the time. Save this for when you’re in a slump or your having a hard time getting started.

If you sell face to face you can still use this but you need to pay attention to how your prospect is reacting and work toward mirroring their conversational speed. It’s ok to talk a little faster than they do but don’t overdo it. Things are different face to face.

I hope you find these tips useful. If you do please share them with your friends. Also comment and ask questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

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What Makes A Great Sales Presentation?

How many times have you been called and the person on the other end of the phone can’t even say your name right and they don’t even so much as ask a qualifying question? Worse yet they just plow into their presentation as if you have to listen. To make matters worse it’s obvious their reading and not all that well either.

Is that your idea of a good presentation?

How about the last time you walked onto a car lot? Did you get swarmed like fresh meat? Then did the salesperson you were with proceed to do their best to get you to test drive something, anything, and then they want you to just see what the numbers work out to be. It’s almost as if they are trained to ignore anything you say as long as they can get you to the table so you can be closed.

Or maybe you’ve had the pleasure of going on one of those timeshare presentations. You know the ones where they bribe you to spend 90 minutes to listen to a presentation that’s supposed to make you fall in love with their offer especially when they grind you at the end and they make you an offer that’s only good today. And the session went past 90 minutes an hour ago.

Does anyone really think these are good presentations?

I sure don’t think so. With a blog called “Healthy Selling” you shouldn’t be surprised to hear me tell you that not everyone is someone you should be selling.

The key to a good presentation is making it to someone that can genuinely benefit from what you have to offer.

The next and most important part of a good presentation is taking the time to find out what your prospect wants and needs really are. Then and only then are you ready to give a presentation based on your proposed solution.

We’ve all heard about the radio station W.I.I.F.M., better known as, “What’s In It For Me”. Well that’s what a good presentation is all about… What’s in it for them.

Many salespeople only get part of this right and what I mean by that is they don’t go deep enough with the qualifying. For instance since I can help someone double their sales I might ask them what it would mean to their business if they were to double their sales. Then when they answer me I will ask them to tell me why the answer they just gave is important. The answer to the last question is the one that unlocks their hot button for me.

Think about what I just said. It is the key to their hot button. This is the way to find out what truly motivates your prospect or clients. Most sales people negotiate on price because they get just enough sales to think that’s the right way to do it. The truth is, if you qualify your prospect properly. Uncover real needs that they agree they’re committed to solving. And your prospect can invest what it takes to solve those problems all you have to do is help them see the cost of staying in their current situation versus the benefit of what you have to offer.

If you don’t quantify their current situation and instead jump into a presentation because you think you know what they need you will be making a poor presentation.

On the other hand if you find out what your prospect is motivated by and you can help them then a presentation built around solving their problems or helping them get what they want is a good presentation. No, make that a great presentation!