Own your sales presentation

How to deliver a believable and convincing presentation

Before you deliver any sales presentation, you need to own it first.  And by own it, I mean make it yours.  When we deliver a sales presentation to a customer, we want them to believe it and be convinced to take action after we are done.  Usually, that action is to buy from us.  To believe, customers must see that you believe in both the presentation and the data.  Otherwise, your customers(audience) will not trust your presentation.  If they don’t trust your presentation, then they won’t believe it.  This frequently happens when we present someone else’s presentation.  Often, we receive a PowerPoint presentation from our marketing department or one of our vendors.

Riding along with an agronomy salesperson for a day of farm calls, we were spreading the good word about a new biological product that they were selling.  On these sales calls, the salesperson had a PowerPoint slide presentation downloaded to her tablet.  The presentation was good, and the information/data in it was important to these crop producers.  However, we kept running into struggles during the salesperson’s presentation.  Data questions would pop up.  Questions on the research methods kept coming up as the salesperson delivered the presentation.  Each time, she would stumble through the answers.  On several sales calls, there were moments when the presentation spiraled into a mix of customer objections and doubt.

By late afternoon, frustration set in as we took a break to discuss how to go forward.  Her company wanted everyone to be out promoting this new biological launch.  Yet, she struggled to get through the presentation.  It was obvious her customers were not seeing the value that she was trying to demonstrate.

Most of the presentation came from the manufacturer of the biological product.  It had not really been customized to the company she worked for.  We began discussing the parts of the presentation that were critical to explain the value of the product, and those slides which she was most confident when presenting.  The rest of the presentation was removed.  We reviewed the feedback and challenges we received that morning when presenting it.  The extra data slides, anything that slowed down the presentation, and irrelevant information were all removed.

The next sales call and subsequent sales days went much better for her as she felt much more confident in what she was presenting.

Some of this could be due to her just being newer in the business or explaining a new product.  However, it shows the importance of owning the presentation.  She modified it to get the relevant points across and connect the most important concepts that her customers were looking for.

While some sales managers, product managers, and certainly research folks would disagree with this concept, at some point, your customer wants to hear what you (as their trusted advisor) think.  They can read a brochure or watch a video on your website.  They now want you to take all that information and help them buy the most appropriate product for their situation.

Note of caution:  Modifying any presentation provided to you can be a very restricted area.  For example, when referencing legal or financial matters.  Those presentations typically have to be left alone as they are.  My advice is to review the presentation with the marketing person or whoever sent it to you.  Ask these tough questions of them before modifying anything.  If you are allowed to adapt the presentation, then ask them to review your modified version before getting in front of customers.  Again, you are not changing the material facts of the data or product itself.  You are simply adapting them to how your audience will best receive them.

3 Ways to “Own your Presentation”

1. Realize that when you say something from a presentation, customers expect you to believe it and that you can back it up with proof.  Before you ever leave your office with a presentation, you should run through it for anything that is in the gray area.  Look for anything that is based on assumptions.  Hint:  most companies will mention the assumptions in a footnote.  Don’t let anyone give you a presentation without running through it with them.  If they fail to justify it in your mind, then wait until they do before presenting it to customers.

2. Questions on critical data points:  Look at the critical data points needed to make this product valuable: yields, efficiency, cost savings, etc.

• How was that calculated?  Do my producers see those same numbers? 
• Where and what type of farm did these results come from? 
• Do my customers have these problems?
• Do my customers have the ability to measure or see these results?

3. Rehearse the presentation

• First by yourself.  Use the slide show as you do this rehearsal.  Do you feel confident in how the slides tie together?  Does the presentation focus on solving a customer problem? 

• Next, rehearse it with someone internal.  Even better if you can rehearse with someone from your technical team and the manufacturer of the product.  You would be surprised how many times the written word sounds completely different when you try to speak it, as in a presentation.  Pay particular attention in rehearsals to the transitions from one slide to the next or one concept to the next.  These can be the tricky spots that don’t flow or that lose your audience.

• Dress rehearsal with one of your “bomb-proof” customers.  Among your list of current customers, you will normally have several customers that you are extremely close to.  There is a high level of trust and mutual benefit in the relationship.  You support each other well beyond the normal customer relationship.  I call these types of customers “bomb-proof”.  You can talk more openly and share more with them than any of your other customers.  These relationships are vital when launching a new product or trying to get solid feedback from a real customer.  I had about five of these customers that I would run any new product or presentation to before the rest of my customers. 

One final recommendation for your presentation.  You can always ask your customer before you begin your presentation, “I have a lot of data in this presentation, and I’m glad to go over it.  Is that something that is of interest, or do you prefer the highlights?”  Depending on their DISC style, they might be extremely relieved not to go through every nitty-gritty detail.