Presentations Are for Amateurs

For decades, sales people have been expected to give presentations. Hours are spent putting together storyboards (or Power Point slides), rehearsing delivery, and editing language. The presentation is everything. The speech and its delivery are all that matters. That's what will convince them to buy from you. Their applause is the precursor to signing a contract. If you nail the presentation, you get the business, right?

Actually, your presentation is highly overrated. Why do they need to set aside the time to listen to you ramble on in a conference room? Why can't you just send them a proposal for review? Why do they have to listen to you talk about it? They can read just fine. They don't want to listen to another speech as well. Not only is your presentation failing to advance the sale. Your presentation, regardless of how greatly your offering can impact their organization, is wasting their time.

What can you do instead? Start a dialogue. Scrap the presentation and get straight to the Q&A. That's what the meeting is really about. They already know your pitch, but they have questions. Answer the questions. Ask them questions. Go back and forth. The more you converse, the more the sale is in your pocket, because the prospects will begin to see you as a member of their team. You are no longer asking for the sale; you are working out the delivery.

Presentations are for amateurs. How much time do you spend getting the right phrases down and adding the right illustrations to your Power Point? And how much time to you spend investigating your customer's business and discovering ways that you can help them succeed? I can assure you that your prospect is far more interested in the latter. They don't want to hear another speech; they want a solution. Skip the presentation and get to the conversation. That is what matters. That is what will get you the business.