Is your sales team constantly bogged down in designing presentations that seem to yield minimal results? If so, take comfort in the fact that your company isn’t alone. But then don’t live there. Do something about it. Either start learning how to use sales presentations effectively or let us come in and work alongside your team to design presentations that sell.
A lot of sales teams make the mistake of adopting the ‘Field of Dreams’ mindset. In other words, they believe that all they need to do to make the sale is come up with a half decent presentation. Design a presentation and they will come – that’s the thinking.
The Field of Dreams mindset is just that: a field of dreams. If your sales team actually knows how to sell, there are four ways they can get over the presentation hump to start designing presentations that get real results.
1. Tell a Story
When it comes to new products or services, there is a strong temptation to sell by talking details. Sales teams want to explain everything in hopes that doing so will convince buyers to go all in. We have a better idea: tell a story.
You have heard it before, but what does it mean? Telling a story is all about presenting that new product or service in a way that makes it personal to buyers. Forget about every little detail on the spec sheet. Tell them how that product can make their lives better. And while you’re doing that, make sure the story you tell connects directly to your brand.
2. Repeat Your Everyday Messages
Every brand has some consistent messages that customers are accustomed to seeing and hearing. We call these your everyday messages. Find a way to include them in your sales presentations, too. You don’t have to be obsessive about it. Just sprinkle in the messages here and there.
Your everyday messages add an element of consistency to all your sales presentations. Consistency helps a lot with branding. It helps solidify the message when customers are looking at a new product or service for the first time.
3. Embrace Multimedia Options
For some reason, a lot of sales teams avoid multimedia when designing presentations. Do not misunderstand. Text and static graphics are still important elements. But don’t be afraid to mix in videos, podcasts, webinars, and other multimedia tools.
You need to remember that audiences are changing. In the digital world, your customers are more likely than ever before to be big fans of videos and podcasts. They constitute a multimedia generation. Speak to them where they are.
4. Integrate Presentations with Your Events
Finally, do not be afraid to integrate presentations with every other aspect of your sales events. Don’t treat a presentation as a separate entity unto itself. If it’s part of a larger sales event, think of it like one of the many ingredients in a cake. They all create a flavor bonanza in your mouth when combined together and baked in the oven. But leave one ingredient out and you change everything.
So, how do you integrate? Think theming. That’s the easiest way to look at it. Maybe your upcoming event has a specific theme. Make sure the sales presentation is built around that theme. Everything from color schemes to graphics and multimedia choices should line up with the event theme.
Hopefully, this post has given you some ideas for using sales presentations more effectively. If you need help designing presentations that actually sell, we invite you to contact us. We are ready to work with you.