Sales Presentations - When it’s Your Time to Speak

If you’ve been doing a good job listening to your prospective client during the needs assessment stage of the sales process, when it is your time to speak, you will have no problem. Remember, a major part of acquiring a strong relationship with a client comes when you are able to reflect their needs in the proposal you are presenting.

So first set the stage; tell the client what you are going to tell them. This can be done with ease by using a table of contents for your proposal. Second, the body of the proposal will have you telling them the information that is key to them doing business with you and the benefits they gain in the process. Lastly, you tell the client what you told them. In other words, you repeat in a summary what you set up in the table of contents and then explained throughout the body of the presentation.

During the first part of the body of the presentation, tell them what you know about them. The challenges they face and the opportunities these challenges create. While you are doing this, ask the client for “buy-in” on your comments. Get them to verbally agree with you, that you are correct in assessing their goals. Do this with each and every point you point you make. If you miss-understood, now is the time to learn about the correct facts because you may have to make some verbal changes to your proposal as you go deeper into what you prepared.

Preparation is key before presenting. You must anticipate the response from the client going in three or four directions. So you need to be able to respond to any feedback or question they present. If you have done your homework you will make it through this part of the presentation with flying colors.

Make sure you have eye contact with your prospect, and if there are multiple people in the room, have eye contact with each of them. You want all of them to feel part of the decision. A strong suggestion is to not hand out a written presentation at the start of the meeting. You want the client to follow along at your pace, not theirs. Specifically, if you have multiple people you are presenting to-you want them all on the same page with you.

After spending about two thirds of the time listening to your client in the needs assessment meeting, when you present you are the one providing the solutions and should be the one speaking, possibly 50-60%. Practice, practice and practice again. You can’t be prepared enough-this is your time to shine!

What are your challenges when it comes to oral sales presentations for your business? I look forward to hearing your comments.

Until next time…