What Every Sales Presentation Should Accomplish

How do you create an atmosphere in which you can sell a large quantity of your books? You make a planned, professional, sincere, well-supported and delivered presentation of your recommendation to solve their marketing problem.

You could make several presentations in the process to secure an order. The goal of each should be to conclude with a win/win solution that includes your book as the core element.

While standing at a conference table facing an array of corporate executives, your objective may simply be to survive the ordeal. But a successful presentation should meet one or more of these objectives:

• Show that you understand your prospect's business and problems. There is an axiom in selling that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Your prospects are initially skeptical of your intentions. You are just another salesperson until you demonstrate that you want to help them solve a problem and that your recommendations are based on this desire.

• Show that you meet their buying criteria. Does your prospect want to increase sales? Revenue? Profits? Market penetration? Customer retention? Your proposal will be different for each as will your presentation. Does the Human Resources manager want to motivate, train or reward employee. Perhaps the real problem is employee retention. If so, your presentation should reflect that.

• Close the sale. While this is a worthy objective, the likelihood of it occurring depends upon how many presentations you have to give to people at each prospective company to get the order. Your presentation is not unlike a job interview. You are rarely hired on the first interview. Over the course of several interviews you meet with - and present to -- others involved in the decision. You do not get every job for which you interview, nor do you get every sale for which you make a presentation. But you have to put in the same preparation and energy into every presentation as if it is the most important one you ever made.

• Create value and mutual satisfaction. You cannot go into the presentation with the singular objective of closing the sale. The desired result is to make the anticipated campaign a success and get re-orders for long-term recurring revenue. In a non-manipulative process where two or more people meet with the intention of improving the circumstances of each.

• Present your proposal as the best way to get from where they are now to where they want to be. Potential buyers know that your ultimate objective is to close the sale and they may be a little skeptical of your numbers at first. But once you convince them that you are there to help and that you have considered alternative solutions, they are more likely to come over to your side.
• Meet your objectives. The ultimate agreement must be mutually profitable - that means for you, too. Ensure that the final contract meets the criteria you have set for yourself. And there are times when the outcome of the negotiation is not in your best interests, so know when it is time to walk away from the deal.