How to Ace Your Sales Presentation in 10 Steps

How to ace your sales presentation in 10 steps - Tips by PresentationGO

Some presentations are more important than others. The one you are going to give next week could be a game changer. You need to convince clients that your product or service is the one they need. You know that these undecided customers will make their decision during this presentation, and that is why you can’t leave nothing to chance and leave no room for mistakes or hesitations. In a nutshell, you need to ace your sales presentation.

What Makes a Sales Presentation Different From Other Presentations?

A sales presentation is an essential part of the sales process, during which a person or company has to prove and highlight the value of a product or service and show it fits the needs and desires of potential clients in order to convince them to acquire your product or service. To achieve this, you not only need to prove with hard facts that what you sell is the best option for them, but you also need to establish a strong connection, inspire trust and reliability to your future clients.

What Makes a Great Sales Presentation?

When we think about a great presentation, we imagine a good speech and beautiful slides. Of course, these elements are fundamental but far from sufficient. You need to ask yourself plenty of questions such as: Who are really my potential clients? How do I relate to them, their needs, and desires? How do I establish a friendly and personalized rapport that inspires confidence?

You also need to pay attention to things you could consider as mere details but that can make a huge difference. For instance: how long should my presentation be? How should I dress? Which room should I use to make my presentation? Or which background should I show if my presentation is virtual? At which moment of the presentation should I mention the price? What should appear on my slides and what should be said just through my speech? What will I convey through my body language? What will my call to action be? What story will I narrate?

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

(From: unverified source)

As you can see, presenting and public speaking are not gifts given to some, it is a craft that needs preparation and practice. Failing to plan is planning to fail, as the saying goes. Even the greatest presenters who look so confident take care of every detail and keep rehearsing until their presentation is as close to perfect as possible. Now let’s take a look at 10 ways to transform your sales pitch into a closed deal.

Before The Presentation, You Should:

1. Know Your Audience

Ace your sales presentation - Know your audience
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Learn as much as you can about your future clients, as customers for sure but also as people. Search the Internet or ask your business partners about what you can discover. This will allow you to establish strong personal and meaningful bonds between who you are, who they are and the product or service you want to sell.

2. Create A Compelling Story

Ace your sales presentation - Create a compelling story
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Based on all the information you were able to get about your potential clients and their needs, you can start writing your story. Forget facts, stats and slogans for a moment and focus on narrating a captivating story that they can identify with. Tell their story with your own words. Of course, they know their story but they expect an outsider to give them a unique perspective and new insight to solve their problems.

3. Talk Problems Before Solutions

Ace your sales presentation - Talk problems before solutions
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Before offering your audience your wonderful solutions, you need to make them see that you fully understand their situation. They have to think: “This is exactly how we feel, and this is exactly where we’re at now” before saying to themselves: “This is the product or service we need.” Indeed, you have to create empathy before your solution comes up as something obvious. Without scaring them, try to create a feeling of urgency: their situation will get worse if they don’t adopt your solution and enjoy its benefits.

4. Design Killer Slides

Ace your sales presentation - Design killer slides
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When your sales speech is ready, it is time to design your slides. Limit text to a strict minimum, as words have more impact when spoken. Use your slides for strong images and data visualization. Your slides must complement and illustrate your message. Always keep them simple and clear. Your audience needs to understand the importance and value of what is on the screen in the blink of an eye. Don’t lose time designing your own slides when thousands of templates and charts are available for free online!

5. Prepare Like A Pro

Ace your sales presentation - Prepare like a pro
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Your speech and slides are now rock-solid. You just need to practice. Once, twice, 3 times or as many as necessary for you to feel confident. Prepare on your own, record yourself and ask colleagues to be your mock audience. They can ask you tough questions that might come up on D-Day. They can also help you see what is not working and do the necessary modifications.

Then, During The Presentation, You Should:

1. Mind The Time

Ace your sales presentation - Mind the time
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You should take the attention span of your audience into account. Avoid by all means repetition or unnecessary information. Experts calculate that 9 minutes is the right length to ensure that future customers have retained all the important information.

2. Pay Close Attention to Body Language and Tone of Voice

Ace your sales presentation - Pay close attention to body language and tone of voice
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According to Albert Mehrabian, communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only. It seems extraordinary that your arms and eyes will convey more than your actual words! One thing is sure: you need to convey confidence and enthusiasm through your hand gestures and movements. You also need to connect with everyone in the audience through your look. Finally, your voice must be strong, steady, and clear.

3. Foster Dialogue

Ace your sales presentation - Foster dialogue
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To avoid traditional presentations that turn into monologues, try to give your future clients just enough information to trigger further questions. Then, your presentation becomes a much livelier dialogue.

4. Talk Price And Competition At The Right Time

Ace your sales presentation - Talk price and competition at the right time
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Even if the price is a great asset of your product or service, wait until you mention it. First, you need to focus on efficiency and value. When everyone is convinced, you can bring up the pricing part. Besides, don’t hesitate to mention your competitors. If you have the best product or service, prove it, just compare features with your competitors and convince your potential clients more easily. You can do it right from the start and show your added value.

5. Close With a Strong Call-to-action

Ace your sales presentation - Close with a strong call-to-action
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Now that your potential clients understand perfectly how your product or service will benefit them, just invite them to take action! Make sure there are no questions left unanswered. Then, smile, thank everybody and get ready to sign the deal!