Creating a sales presentation and executing it lets you really understand who you are, what you are selling, the benefits you provide to a prospective customer, and why they should buy from you.  I learned this from one of the best in the game, Mike Gerber, when we were partners at Newsmaker, and we created our sales presentation together.   He later went on to write the E-Myth and a dozen other books about business.

At Venmark International, we want our prospective clients to know who we are and what we do, why it is important to them, what we can contribute to their company, and the exact services we provide and what they cost.  During this conversation we get feedback, so that we can be sure we have communicated properly.  By the way, communication defined is “an exchange of unaltered meaning.”  That means your speech and body language need to be consistent.  If not, you won’t be believable and will lose the sale!

If there isn’t complete understanding and affirmation with respect to “who you are,” then it doesn’t make any sense to move forward to “what you do.”  That holds true throughout the entire sales process.  If you lose someone along the “sales track,” you’ve got to figure out where they got derailed and clarify it if you ever hope to make the sale.  Closed-end questions are appropriate such as “do you see how that works?”  Or “do you see how important that is?”

For example, Venmark International specializes in getting product publicity for small- and medium-sized companies.  We explain who we are and talk about the fact that publicity is news and how it is different from advertising.  Then we ask, do you see how that works?  Then we evaluate the answer.  Do they really understand or are they just saying yes because they, like most people, are uncomfortable saying no.  To drive home our point, we say, “exactly, news is editorial coverage, the reason we read magazines or visit websites in the first place.  It is more believable and valuable than paid advertising because the message is sanctified by the editor who is telling their readers about your product.  Do you agree?”  “Do you see how important that is?

As you can imagine, it is much easier to handle objections if you have “closed” and received a “yes, I agree” throughout your entire conversation.  The reason we take great pains to be sure our prospective client understands the true value of product news is because next we are going to point out the benefits that news provides  their company, and ultimately explain what we do, what it costs, and ask them to buy.   Why should someone buy from you?

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© 2012 Steven M. Stroum