{"id":16079,"date":"2010-03-15T04:41:07","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T04:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=16079"},"modified":"2010-03-15T04:48:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T04:48:54","slug":"the-sales-presentation-the-bottom-line-is-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/the-sales-presentation-the-bottom-line-is-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SALES PRESENTATION &#8230; THE BOTTOM LINE IS SELLING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #00ccff\">The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm', 'Marken Communications']);\" ><span style=\"color: #00ccff\">Marken Communications<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #00ccff\"> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking commentary. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/span> <\/span><span style=\"color: #00ccff\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff\">&#8211;Mark Poppin<\/span> <span style=\"color: #00ccff\">ABT Editor-in-Chief<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clip_image001-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"clip_image001\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clip_image001_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=185%2C244\" border=\"0\" alt=\"clip_image001\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Selling is hard work, even in the virtual world of the Internet.\u00a0 It requires strong motivation, personal pride, perseverance, flexibility, energy, discipline, and focus.\u00a0 Above all, it requires communicating and being able to read\/understand the prospects&#8217; attitudes and needs\u2026real or perceived.<\/p>\n<p>A successful selling situation&#8211;especially when selling to a decision team in a company&#8211;is based on the salesperson&#8217;s ability to communicate.\u00a0 However, few salespeople are successful at selling &#8220;off-the-cuff.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Your best salespeople prepare, rehearse, analyze, prepare and rehearse.\u00a0 The more &#8220;tools&#8221; that you provide them, the better job they can do in selling systems, products, programs and services.<\/p>\n<p>While you will rarely use a complete company\/product presentation in a specific sales situation, it is wise to have one.\u00a0 This presentation discusses all of the features and benefits, as well as the salient selling points.<\/p>\n<p>And, it should ask for the order.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds simple, but these facts are often left at the office when there&#8217;s selling to be done.\u00a0 One of the major problems is that most professional sales training still stresses one-on-one selling.\u00a0 But in today&#8217;s selling environment, for systems as well as solutions sales, a team presentation to a group of decision-makers is required.<\/p>\n<p>This is not to say that one-on-one selling does not take place today.\u00a0 But for organizations to be successful in specific market segments, they have to sell to more than just the buyer who calls or sends an email and places small orders.\u00a0 There&#8217;s more at stake in high-volume organizational sales, and more people participate in the decision making process.<\/p>\n<p>The only way to ensure that your presentation is successful is to prepare.\u00a0 Define and address your prospect&#8217;s wants and needs.\u00a0 Organize your presentation, use effective visual aids, and have a prepared presentation team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Before the Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even before you consider the form and substance of your presentation, decide precisely what you want your audience to do when you are through.\u00a0 What action do you want them to take?\u00a0 By knowing this, you can be more convincing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Write down your objectives in a clear, concise<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">manner.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Keep the objectives in front of you as you<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">prepare the information and materials to be used in<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">the presentation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Determine exactly who the decision maker is in the group<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Analyze his or her needs, goals, objectives and interests.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Tailor your presentation to the decision maker.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Preparing Your People<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re making a presentation, it is not necessary to overwhelm them with people.\u00a0 Keep the presentation team to a minimum.\u00a0 If specialists are needed, have them prepared to come in and answer specific questions.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t bring them in &#8220;just in case.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Keep your statements brief and to the point.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Don&#8217;t go off on a tangent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When you&#8217;re not in the spotlight, don&#8217;t interrupt.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone in your organization has the same presentation capabilities.\u00a0 Perhaps he or she was hired for other talents or abilities.\u00a0 If a person isn&#8217;t the best for the presentation, then don&#8217;t use them.\u00a0 After all, you&#8217;re out to win a sale, not a popularity contest within your own organization.<\/p>\n<p>Know your audience. Find out as much as you can about the individuals&#8217; likes, dislikes and attitudes.\u00a0 Monitor your presentation and its acceptance with your audience.\u00a0 If you are putting them to sleep, change your game plan and strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Keep the presentation upbeat and moving briskly.<\/p>\n<p>In preparing your presentation, you are often up against a deadline, get the wheels moving as quickly as possible.\u00a0 Develop a presentation schedule and list the materials you&#8217;ll need to ensure that all of the items come together&#8211;before the deadline.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Presentation Hints<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re making a presentation before any sized group, it&#8217;s only natural to be a little nervous.\u00a0 Be assured, your confidence will increase as the presentation goes along.<\/p>\n<p>Follow the basic rules of good public speaking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Stand erect, speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">in all areas of the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Introduce yourself and the members of your<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">presentation team at the outset.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Shift positions during your presentation, but don&#8217;t rock<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">or pace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Use visual words and physical descriptions as well as<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">your visuals during the presentation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Speak directly to your audience, shifting your eyes<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">every five or ten seconds.\u00a0 Continually make eye<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">contact.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Use your hands and arms only slightly, and then only for<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">emphasis.\u00a0 Concentrate most of your energy into your<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">facial and vocal expressions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Concentrate on your audience&#8217;s body language and make<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">certain you keep them interested.\u00a0 If people seem<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">restless or you see you are losing their<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">attention, change your pace or skip to a more<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">interesting portion of the presentation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">*\u00a0 Don&#8217;t worry about mistakes.\u00a0 They will happen no matter<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">how many times you have made the presentation.\u00a0 Just<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">don&#8217;t amplify the mistakes to your audience.\u00a0 Often they<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">will go unnoticed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rehearse<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The best way to give a successful presentation is to have a full rehearsal with all of your participants.\u00a0 When you schedule your rehearsal, make certain that you have enough time prior to the presentation to correct any problems or shortcomings that arise during the rehearsal.<\/p>\n<p>This is your chance to spot and correct flaws. Treat the presentation as the show itself.\u00a0 Without this important step, problems and shortcomings will often go unnoticed and the minor flaws may keep you from winning.<\/p>\n<p>During the rehearsal, check your timing.\u00a0 Lean toward presenting your information at a quick pace.\u00a0 People will seldom have the nerve to ask you to speed up because you&#8217;re dull, but they will ask you to slow down because they find you and your information interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Make certain that all of your slides, charts, video segments, and other audio-visual materials agree with the verbal information that is being presented.<\/p>\n<p>Be as visual as possible.\u00a0 Use only key words and allow the visuals to provide your audience with an outline of the message.<\/p>\n<p>People learn 11 percent through what they hear and 83 percent through what they see.\u00a0 They retain 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, and 50 percent of what they see and hear.<\/p>\n<p>The final checkout is simply an extension of your rehearsal.\u00a0 Do this an hour or so before your actual presentation.\u00a0 Make certain the room is set up and the equipment is working properly.<\/p>\n<p>When you make a presentation, your audience wants to see what is being discussed.\u00a0 Good, creative presentations can help accomplish this.\u00a0 And at the same time, they can help curb your rising management, marketing and sales costs when you take into consideration the time, people and equipment involved.<\/p>\n<p>All of these are important to firms in today\u2019s global market, especially when multiple buying influences involved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clip_image002-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"clip_image002\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clip_image002_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C158\" border=\"0\" alt=\"clip_image002\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of Marken Communications Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking commentary. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}