Have you ever noticed that for some reason, when people are trying to persuade or induce someone to do or buy something, they often lose the one perspective that they need the most – that of the person they are trying to persuade? Often the best training for improving our skills or effectiveness are the experiences we ourselves have when working with another person in that same role. This is especially true for sales professionals. How often have you worked with a salesperson & found yourself totally annoyed by their approach? Have you ever told a salesperson that you are in a hurry and know exactly what you want, only to have them take you through the entire “pitch” anyway? Ever had to sit through a mind-numbing, 50-slide presentation? The worst part is the lack of awareness some salespeople have about the effect they are having on you! We’ve all been the customer, so it should be easy to avoid the most common mistakes – but it doesn’t always work that way. Recently we reached out to several successful business leaders and decision makers to tell us the most common negative experiences they have with salespeople and how they often kill their own deals.
#1 SO WHAT?
The most common answer we received was that far too many salespeople do far too much talking, and not enough asking & listening. “It’s almost like they go into robo-sales mode and someone pushed their ‘Provide Info’ button. Even if I’ve asked for the meeting & been clear about what I’m interested in talking with them about, they keep dumping all of this info about unrelated capabilities, history and experience. It’s even worse if they’re manager is with them at the meeting – you can tell that they are following a checklist of things they have been told to cover no matter what,” related one Chief Marketing Officer.
It may be tempting to let customers know how smart & experienced you are, but the best way to communicate capabilities and expertise is in the context of providing relevant answers to your customer’s questions. In order to make sure you are providing information that matters to your customer, we suggest using the So What? test. For each piece of information or data you will share at the meeting – imagine the customer looking you straight in the eye asking you, “so what?” If you can’t tie the answer directly back to how it benefits that specific customer & the current solution you are discussing, hold it for another meeting … otherwise there might not be another one.
#2 READ THE AUDIENCE, NOT THE SLIDES
This has happened to everyone at some point: the stakes are high, and you really want to win a sale. So you prepare a “presentation” for the meeting that includes every element you think you need to cover in order to get the business. However according to our respondents, even experienced, knowledgeable salespeople turn into presenters instead of 
well-informed and prepared advisers sharing relevant answers. Don’t fall into the trap of talking at the customer, instead of with them. One C-level decision maker shared, “I am looking for someone to come in and host a meeting and ask relevant questions, provide me with relevant solutions, and know their information inside and out so that we can discuss it in the format and order that makes sense to me, not how it works for them.”
Best practices for a customer meeting with a slide presentation component include these 2 rules of thumb:
- Use slides sparingly and carefully!
- Either put it on the slide or say it – don’t do both. We’ve all been in meetings where the presenter stands in front of the audience and reads exactly what is on the slides. Think of slides as “helpers” that provide the audience with extra information to make the point you are speaking about, or as “exclamation points” that provide visual examples of complex or important information that make it easier for the audience to understand or be involved with the material.
#3 MIX IT UP
Every leader we spoke with mentioned that they appreciate a meeting where the host provides different ways to engage the audience. The best salespeople use different tools to get the audience involved in the meeting. For example, rather than a slide with a picture of the item you are talking about – bring the actual object with you so that they can touch and feel it. When dealing with a group, consider doing a short exercise that gets them interacting and discussing an important point so you can draw out important information. Short video clips of relevant experts, testimonials, inspirational or funny clips meant to encourage discussion can be very effective. Bring along a whiteboard so that you can draw in order to better explain a point, or keep track of important ideas and questions that surface in the meeting. Better yet? Get the customer more involved and engaged by asking someone in the meeting to help with white-boarding.
It boils down to this: don’t lose the perspective you need most – that of how it feels to be a customer. Be RELEVANT, EFFECTIVE & ENGAGING. When preparing for the meeting ask yourself from the customer’s perspective:
- So What? If the customer asked me, how could I tie this directly back to something that is RELEVANT to them or their needs?
- What words can I take out of the slides and cover more EFFECTIVELY by simply talking WITH the meeting members, or at least shorten the bullets to a couple of words that emphasize the most important points?
- What parts can I do a more effective job of handling by ENGAGING the customer? Rather than using a slide or by discussion – where can I pass out samples, white-board, ask questions, show a video clip or include a short group exercise etc?
- Once you have made the changes above & completed the meeting material, ask yourself the same questions again.
To get more presentation tips from the top speakers & presenters in the world:
Click here to watch a 2 minute video of internationally renowned speaker & Former Apple Macintosh chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki on the 10/20/30 Rule of Power Point