Saturday, January 03, 2009 5 Tips for Giving Presentations That Consistently Sell Technology Posted by Tessa Stowe 6:45pm SalesConversation.com
Have you ever given a sales presentation of your technology solution and your prospect said thanks but no thanks? They didn't seem all that interested or even if they were interested, they didn't want to buy from you?
Think of all the time, money and resources (TMR) you have wasted on these sales presentations that go nowhere.
Here are five tips that will help you avoid this ever happening to you again. These tips will also help you give sales presentations that consistently sell your technology solutions.
Tip #1: Only give a sales presentation of your technology solution after you understand your prospect's specific problem and motivation.
Before you can give a presentation and say you can solve your prospect's problem, you need to understand their specific problem. Yes? Seems obvious and logical I know but 'prescribing before diagnosing' is one of the top 10 common sales mistakes. Therefore before you present your technology solution, ask lots of questions and dive deep into the answers so you can understand their problem. Find out what the problem is costing them. Also find out what specific benefits they would get if they solved their problem.
Tip # 2: Only give a sales presentation of your technology solution after you have asked the "magic question".
The "magic question" will make the need for many presentations and proposals disappear. That's why it's magic. With this question you simply ask "Just suppose, that I give you a presentation on our technology products and services, and you see they're a perfect fit for you, what would happen next?" The answer to this question will often indicate you need to do a lot more work before a presentation or proposal is the next best step.
Tip # 3: Give highly relevant sales presentations.
The more relevant your presentation is to your prospect, the greater will be their interest. Conversely the less relevant it is to them, the less will be their interest. There is a direct correlation.
If you give a standard - one size fits all presentation - on the faint hope that something you say will be relevant and hit a hot button, chances are your prospect won't be listening - or they'll be asleep by the time you do get to that hot button. If you are giving a standard presentation of your technology solution, you are leaving it up to your prospect to work out what is relevant and most prospects simply can't be bothered. If you give a standard presentation, the relevance will be low and their interest will be low.
To give highly relevant presentations, only present those aspects of your technology products and services that are relevant to their specific problem. Ditch the rest. Your prospect doesn't care about the rest.
You also want your presentation to be highly relevant in language. Speak to your prospect in the language of their role - not in your language. I call this "Speaking to their ears."
Tip # 4: Give sales presentations that motivate prospects to buy.
With tip #1, I said to only give a presentation of your technology solution once you understand your prospect's motivation for solving their problem. During your presentation, you then simply reflect back all the motivation your prospect has told you during the questioning process. You reflect back what they've told you about what the problem is costing them. You reflect back what they told you would be the benefits if they solved the problem. Your prospect will agree with everything you're saying as they are the ones that gave you the information. Assuming it makes sense (financial or otherwise) - and you should not be giving a presentation unless it does - your prospect will be very motivated to buy your technology solution.
Tip #5: Only give sales presentations of your technology solution to people who are going to buy.
This tip may seem obvious but selling to prospects that aren't going to buy is another one of the top 10 common sales mistakes. It's a complete waste of your TMR giving presentations to prospects that aren't going to buy your technology solution so make sure you put your prospect through your filtering, or qualification process, before you give your presentation. You do have a filtering or qualification process, don't you?
To implement what I've covered above, I suggest you do two things.
First look back at some recent presentations (or proposals) you have given that went nowhere. Now look at these tips and see what you could have done differently to have avoided this situation. Your past "failures" are very valuable learning experiences - and you've paid for them with your TMR - so learn from them.
Secondly I suggest you look at some current prospects you are talking to and see which tips you need to apply before you give a presentation of your technology solution.
Apply these five tips and watch how your sales presentations will consistently sell your technology solution.
Thursday, January 01, 2009 Together We'll Make Our Business Dreams Come True In 2009! Posted by Robert M. Cohen 11:25am President and Business Editor Integrated mar.com (eChannelLine Daily News; Conne
Happy New Year.
Walt Disney Corporation proclaimed 2008 to be the year of a million dreams.
For the IT Channel, I am predicting that 2009 will be the year when our most important dreams come true.
For this to happen, I need your help. I need the hardware manufacturers, software developers, distributors, resellers SMBs and service providers to the industry to check their guns at the doorway to 2009 and agree to work together. We need to collaborate, support each other and take advantage of the technology we have at our disposal.
After the dot-bust manufacturers and developers started focusing on creating single vendor solutions. With 2009 starting with a global downturn, the key to the channel’s overall success is moving from selling products to delivering, servicing and supporting IT-centric, multi-vendor business solutions for SMBs.
Seeing more manufacturers and developers collaborating and intensifying their focus on building multi-vendor solutions.
Knowing that distributors are making it easier for resellers to package the various products into solutions and then ensure that the necessary financing is available.
Hearing from hundreds of resellers who understand that they have to sell business solutions to their SMB customers and they have to be considered Trusted Business Advisors to them.
Our ability to partner with about 100 service providers to the industry who are working with us to launch the Trusted Business Advisor program. TBA is a unique program that provides:
Resellers with business education (educational modules and articles on business subjects, new technologies and the TBA code of ethics)
Resellers with business certification (individual reseller Trusted Business Advisor certification and reseller organization Trusted Business Partner Trustmark)
The industry with a central channel community and collaboration tools
Channel advocacy focusing on the IT industry and SMBs
Vendors with easier ways to recruitment resellers
Resellers with a fully automated FREE suite of marketing and sales enablement tools and vehicles that include: full feature web catalog, eNewsletter, ePromotions, online community
Resellers with qualified leads
Vendors with an easy and reliable way to send their promotional messages to SMBs through resellers … with all the leads flowing back through the resellers.
Why should you be enthusiastic about 2009
As a Vendor, you can sign-up NOW for a FREE one month sponsorship of the Trusted Business Advisor program. No commitment required. Simply let me know that you want to take a test run, provide me with a banner ad and 10 products you want us to promote. Then sit back and watch your sales grow. Easy. Powerful. GUARANTEED to double your business opportunities at half the cost.
As a VAR, the program is FREE. Simply let me know that you want to sign up. Fill in the registration information that I will have sent to you and then invite your customers and prospects to join your community. Simple. Powerful. GUARANTEED to double your business opportunities.
I invite you to call me to discuss this program or better yet, sign up NOW for your FREE test ride of the Trusted Business Advisor program.
This is the best way to kick start 2009. By working together we will make our business dreams come true in 2009!
