
01 Jan How Sales & Marketing Presentations Should Differ
What’s the difference between a sales presentation and a marketing presentation?
How much of your presentation is “standard issue stuff”? Whether you sell a product or service, whether it’s simple or sophisticated, how much (what percentage) of your presentation is the way you usually present it? Void of personalization? Void of customization? Void of interaction? And all about you?
- What kind of presentation do you think your prospect wants?
- They want to know what the value is to THEM.
- They want to know how this fits into THEIR business or life.
- They want to know how THEY benefit.
- They want to know how THEY win.
- They want to know how it affects THEM.
- They want to know how THEY profit.
- They want to know how easy it will be put to use in THEIR environment.
And rarely do any of those elements exist in most standard (canned) presentations we critique as part of our free Vibe health check. For the most part, they rely on the shotgun ‘spray and pray’ model. Why give a “we-we” presentation (all about you and how great you are), when the customer only wants a presentation in terms of them?
IDEA:
Take all the boring stuff you were going to say to the customer, and send it to them in an email saying, “Here’s my presentation for the part you could not find on Google or on our website, so that when we’re together I don’t bore you. Rather, “I’ll be prepared to give you ideas that will stimulate your mind and spirit and lead to your future business profitability”. Now you’re forced to go in with ideas, information and a presentation about THEM that they can use for their own productivity, enjoyment, use, and profit. And you now are guaranteed a better than 50% chance of reducing the sales cycle time and winning the business.
CAUTION:
Unless your presentation is customized and personalized for the customer AND in favour of the customer, there will be a disconnect. Their dominant thought will be, “this is neither interesting nor relevant – this guy doesn’t understand me and/or my business.” Here are some keys to understanding whose favour your presentation is geared toward:
WE-WE – Statements about you that boast rather than prove.
WE-WE – Self-serving questions; “What do you know about us?”
WE-WE – Non-specific testimonials that praise you, but give no reason why.
THEM – Questions about THEM that reveal their history, their situation, and their motives – their past experience, their wisdom and their opinion. True engagement.
THEM – Testimonials that overcome specific objections – price and quality.
THEM – Any third party media that supports you or your product – articles or videos.
THEM – Great (current) social media presence (your reputation that helps put the buyer at ease rather than on guard), including direct interaction with customers.
THEM – Ideas you created that they can use. Proof you did your “homework.”
Put simply, knowledge is shared and multiplied.
KEY POINT OF UNDERSTANDING:
Features are about you and benefits are in the middle. They can be stated either way. But value is about them. And value, customer perceived value, needs to be the focus of a “them-based” presentation. Think about;
- Amount of time spent on pre-call research. How well do you know the person and the company you are presenting to?
- The ‘BIG IDEA’ and anchoring platforms you are walking in the door with will benefit them whether they engage with you or not.
- The variations that you made in your presentation that adapt to their company, their present situation, their needs, their productivity, and their success.
- Your knowledge of the customer’s buying motives (value proposition) is as good as or greater than any ‘fast talking’ or ‘fancy footwork’ sales models.
In summary, Them-based are the most difficult sales presentations of all. Marketing departments rarely have any concept of them, and most salespeople aren’t willing to do the work to prepare them. The result, a slow uncomfortable decline in sales orders, lost market share and plummeting profits. Although, great news for the 5% of salespeople who are willing. They are easy to identify. They are always the proven performers and the highest contributors to the growth and profitability of any company.