Don’t Let Informality Blur The Focus Of Your Sales Message

Whenever we’re making sales presentations, it’s tempting to start by throwing everything we’ve got at the prospect — how our product saves time and money, delivers some new value we assume they know they need.  Many times we’ll try to list every possible advantage of our product, and act as though we’re talking to a “generic prospect.”

This seems to be particularly true with the trend toward more informal communications.  It’s become fashionable to “Hate PowerPoint” in favor of “Let’s just talk and see where it goes.”  But it’s important not to let informality in the style of the communications detract from our primary focus on the most pressing needs of the person in front of us.

Whatever tools you’re going to use, it’s still true that most often there’s one main thing on the mind of the prospect.  Maybe they’re already committed on the functionality and capabilities that have to be delivered by a certain date, but the budget hasn’t yet been been fixed, and here we are talking about how our thing is going to save money.  Or, no commitments have been made yet for a delivery date and we’re going on about how our product’s going to save them time.

And, whether or not you’re making a formal presentation or “just having a chat” with the prospect, it’s your job to be aware of his or her most pressing needs and constraints and address them clearly in your meeting.

Before you go into your next sales presentation, make sure you ask and answer these questions:

1. Will the people you’re meeting with be able to see right away how your product can solve the main problem they have?
2. Is the ultimate decision maker actually going to be in the room, or does someone you’re presenting to have to present it to someone else, such as a boss or resource review committee.  If so, are you giving that person everything he or she will need to sell it to the boss?
3. Is the prospect likely to agree you’re using realistic assumptions as to time, budget and deliverables?
4. Is the price you’re quoting instantly relatable to the value you’re presenting?

Depending on your relationship with the folks you’ll be meeting with, there’s probably no reason you can’t have a quick conversation beforehand so you can focus on the primary need when you get there.

Then, before your meeting is over, make sure you confirm the answers with the prospect.  If there’s homework and follow up for you to do, that’s the time to learn about it — not later when you hear they went with someone else’s proposal.