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In 20+ years in sales I’ve observed the following powerless meeting agenda in 99% of formal sales presentations:

1. Prospect’s employees and vendor’s employees engage in introductions and swap business cards.
2. Room lights are dimmed and the vendor’s designated presenter begins the boilerplate PowerPoint presentation with the following attributes:

• A few obvious and poorly done modifications have been added to the PowerPoint to make it look “customized.”
• The first part of the presentation (about 80% of the total presentation) tells the prospect how the vendor is absolutely the most incredible company on the planet. They are bigger, better, faster, better trained, smarter…this is called sales hyperbole.
• The second part of the presentation (about 10%) discusses the features of the products or services being proposed.
• The third part of the presentation (about 5%) reveals the endless number of wonderful human resources available to the prospect.
• The final part of the presentation (about 5%) is Q&A.

3. Everyone thanks everyone and the prospect tells the vendor, “We will be in touch.”

Reality Check Time
Be honest with yourself. How often have you given, received or been part of a formal sales presentation that followed the agenda above? If you’re honest, it’s going to be just shy of every single one of them.

Why Do Sales Professionals Continue To Use An Agenda Format That Is Unproductive?

• Too busy to prepare something better
• Never really thought about its ineffectiveness
• Lazy
• It’s what I’ve/we’ve always done.
• I’m comfortable with it.
• It’s what my prospect/sales manager/sales VP/president/CEO expects me to do.
• I’ve never been shown anything different.
• It’s in my DNA; I can’t help myself.

“Change Doesn’t Always Mean Better, But Better Always Means Change”
Here are a few ideas to put some boldness and creativity back into your formal sales presentations.

• Stop using PowerPoints. At least stop using them in the traditional sense. If you need them for a crutch, then only use them for graphics and major bullets. Promise me you will never use your company’s boilerplate PowerPoints again. Prospects hate them. Spend the time to create one just for the prospect you are presenting to if you’re going to use one.
• Throughout the presentation, keep it interactive. This eliminates the need for that awkward Q&A business at the end.
• Your first part of your presentation is to discuss what you know about the prospect’s business (about 30% of the total presentation). At this point they are much more interested in what you know about them than what they need to know about you.
• The second part of your presentation (about 30%) needs to focus on your understanding of the prospect’s pains and needs.
• The third part of the presentation (about 30%) covers possible solutions and their benefits to the prospect. These solutions must include TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return on Investment). At this point some information about you and your company (about 5%) could be included, but keep it short.
• The final part of the presentation (about 5%) should cover what the next steps should be.

In “Further reading” below I’ve provided a few posts for you to review regarding presentations. I would also encourage you to look into Toastmasters International as a resource for improving your presentation skills.

You’ll get a prospect’s attention during a formal sales presentation by being different. You’ll keep your prospect’s attention by focusing on them.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. 14 Fundamental Sales Tips For Better PowerPoint Presentations
2. Slow Down and Pay Attention During Customer Appointments and Presentations
3. Better Techniques for Using PowerPoint

Tags: PowerPoint, Prospecting, prospects, speaking

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