James Cash 3m 781 #presentation
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Presentation skills can make or break a deal. If you’re in front of an important group of people, not only do you have to sell your product or service, you have to sell yourself. Follow these seven presentation secrets, and make the sale every time. The great thing about this list, it works not only for sales but for virtually every type of situation where you have to persuade people to invest in your product, position, or belief. Make it count.
Make the audience know that you care about their concerns.
Make sure you know the concerns of the audience you’re meeting with. Knowing their concerns helps you relate to their corporate needs and social responsibility portions of their business. The audience is a member of society and it is a business’s ethical responsibility to address the concerns of the customer. Therefore, if there are any extra issues that will boost the relationship (i.e. environment friendly products, recyclable packaging, etc.) these are valid concerns that may enhance your credibility.
Mean what you say and wait for feedback.
Know your purpose. Decide what it is that you want to accomplish. How much of a product that you want to sell. Communicate any details that will enhance the value of the product that is being marketed to the consumer. Regardless of whether the goal is to persuade or inform, the issue at hand must be presented clearly by you in a direct manner towards the customer. If you have to, make yourself believe what you are saying. Mind you, that doesn’t mean lie. But, you have to believe in your product or service to come across as genuine. Once you’ve given your position wait for the customer’s feedback. If it doesn’t come right away, ask them questions to get them to open up to you.
Listen respectfully.
Surprisingly, listening does help. Sometimes the customer does make noise. Those noises can be considered priming traits that may affect the sale. Be sure to take note of what is being put out on the table. This is a form of appropriate feedback.
Don’t make personal attacks.
Moreover, there are also times when customer feedback may cause a trigger. Ignore negative reactions as much as possible. Be mature about the situation and appear as the guide to hosting a sale towards the prospective customer. You’ll come off as passive/aggressive if you get offended by certain questions. Understand certain customers are trying to feel you out, to see how you handle their criticisms and concerns. Successful communication is the goal.
Give illustrations.
Here’s an easy way to make a big impression – use illustrations to detail your service, and even better, have a polished presentation ready to go. This may require some special equipment, but all you really need is a laptop and to find good projectors for sale. Use the presentation to give examples of the usefulness of the product. This portion of the presentation requires the salesperson to be fully knowledgeable of their product. Take note of what the product is good for and be prepared for your customer to pepper you with questions about any perceived negatives.
Establish an optimistic tone; sound cheery and smile (zeal).
A great tone, along with a fantastic visual, makes your appeal that much greater. The idea is to bring together the theater experience by having live sound along with a view that is encouraging for the audience members as a whole. This attribute helps tremendously with projector presentations.
Give them passion and inspiration (direct presentation—get the message out fast).
Whether the prospective customer is anxious to be informed; neutral-minded; or uninterested in the product, the important factors of perhaps adding humor, colorful visuals; providing statistics, facts and expert opinions; or a brief presentation may be necessary in order to move forward concerning a business relationship.
Mention key players (the prospective consumer)
Another key element to a progressively successful presentation is knowing the customer. The customer is considered the audience member of this public speaking endeavor. Attempt to anticipate the customer’s views, this will augment how you organize your presentation.
Making sales isn’t always easy, but with the right frame of mind and the right presentation, you can get much closer to sealing a deal. Follow these secrets of successful salesmen, and you may one day be able to sell ice to an eskimo too!
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James Cash is a part time writer who loves everything in the field of business and marketing.
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