Sharpening your Team’s Presentation Skills to Make a Major Sale by Bill Rosenthal.
More often than not these days, to make a major sale you have to make a group sales presentation — and compete against the other group presentations being made. Here are some tips for making your presentation the winner.
Getting Started
You’ve created a unique solution for the prospect. Make it clear that it’s unique and not another dog and pony show by putting the prospect’s fingerprints all over the presentation: Use the language it uses for its functions and processes, the terms used in its industry, and its logo and other company graphics. Prospective customers are always concerned about how long it will take a supplier to get up to speed and whether there will be a culture fit. By speaking its language comfortably in the presentation you’ll help allay its concerns about both of these issues.
Building Your Team
Learn the makeup of the team that will be hearing the presentation. You should have as many people there as the prospect has. Match their functions as well: If their CEO, IT director or financial executive is there, your should be too. Their specialized knowledge may be needed. Plan to have your proposed account executive lead the presentation. Most team presentations are led by senior member of the team — but for a sales presentation it should be the person who will be the account executive. This will give that person an opportunity to demonstrate leadership. Organizing the Presentation Start the presentation by introducing the team members and briefly describing what they’ll cover. Then show you understand the prospect’s goals by describing how you learned them. Segue on to how and why the training solution you’re offering will meet those goals. Then describe the particular advantages your company offers. Never describe your company’s credentials before you talk about the prospect.
