6 Sales Presentation Tips to Close Your Next Deal
According to an RSW new business survey, 97% of senior decision-makers look at the professionalism of a potential supplier’s presentation when awarding a contract. The role of a sales presentation has never been more important.
Today’s crowded and competitive market makes closing sales a challenge. Customers are bombarded by enormous amounts of information, making it tougher for brands to introduce their business and prove their value proposition. As the buying process becomes more complex, brands need more persuasive tools to convert opportunity into success, that’s where impressive sales presentations come in.
When done well, a sales presentation can help you connect with potential customers and distinguish your brand from competitors. Unfortunately, many of today’s sales presentations don’t consider all the variables required to truly engage with the target audience, like relevance and interactivity.
In order to connect with the audience, brands need to draw on effective techniques to create a compelling sales presentation. Consider these sales presentation tips to master your next pitch.
Useful Sales Presentation Tips
1. Make your sales presentation relevant
Using a generic presentation is a huge mistake. These presentations all look and sound the same, without taking into consideration the customer’s needs. That can cause customers think that you did not bother to prepare for the meeting.
Developing buyer personas can guide you when creating your presentations. The way you present your product or service must be customized according to your audience. Modify it to incorporate specific details that are relevant to that particular customer base. This means doing ample research beforehand and understanding the customer demographics.
Bonus Tip: In addition to creating relevant slides that speak to each buyer persona, small details like placing your brand or company’s logo on your slides make the deck look more polished and professional.
2. Have a clear brand strategy
You can’t simply make a sales presentation without a plan. You need to know what you want to achieve with your presentation and work your way towards that goal. Create your materials in a way that supports your goal in a captivating way.
This is where storytelling is most helpful. It allows you to create a setting for laying out your brand strategy. Work collaboratively with your team to develop your brand’s story and determine buyer personas so you can walk into your next presentation with confidence.
3. Build a connection between your product or service and the audience
When you’re discussing your product or service, remember to focus on its value rather than the product or service itself. For instance, if your company offers home improvement products, it is more effective to show people how your products will improve their home rather than speak about the features of the product. This will allow them to envision what your product can do for them and how it will benefit them in the future. Be bold and tell your customers what they will get by choosing your company over your competitors.
When your audience is able to imagine what your products will look like in their own homes, you’re building a connection with potential customers on an emotional level. Connecting on an emotional level improves trust and loyalty and has a huge influence on their purchasing decision.
4. Use a mix of content
Don’t just stick to text and images. Experiment with various types of content, as long as they are able to convey your messages well. An interactive sales presentation is more effective than a traditional one because of the engagement it creates between the presenter and the audience.
Don’t ignore the power of videos. Including a video in a presentation will result in 85% of your audience more likely to buy your product or service.
Aside from videos, you can also include infographics, screenshots, testimonials, reviews, quizzes, polls, and even memes. Be as creative as you want, as long as you are able to engage with your audience. With a presentation tool that tracks analytics, you can determine which areas are the most engaging and remove the ones that aren’t.
5. Get straight to the point
Today’s consumers are far too busy to sit down and listen to long-winded presentations. Whenever you’re making a presentation, keep it short and sweet - there are limits to how long people can listen. According to several neuroscience studies, people will only listen to you for 10 to 18 minutes. After this period, they won’t be as attentive as they were in the beginning, and others may even doze off.
If you want your audience to understand what you are talking about, know what your key points are and discuss them quickly. If you can say your points in less than 10 minutes, do not try and extend your presentation because you feel you need to take more time. Plus, customers don’t appreciate it when you ramble on about the same thing.
Bonus Tip: use an outline. You might argue that outlines are only useful for writing. However, these bullets will keep you on track when you create your presentation.
Here’s an excellent presentation structure you might want to follow:
- Introduction - Make it interesting enough to hook your audience and give them the incentive to continue listening. You can start with a joke, a quote, or some statistics.
- Sales pitch - Don’t list down the features of your product or service. Focus instead on the benefits that they will get. Start with the most important benefit since most will only remember the first few points.
- Call to action - The last part is the most important because it is crucial to closing a sale. This is where you tell people what you want them to do, whether that be booking a demo or purchasing your product.
6. Use the power of testimonials
According to a study by Demand Gen, 97% of B2B buyers feel that user-generated content, like consumer reviews, is more credible than other types of content. This is why reviews, regardless of whether positive or negative, have a great influence on the customer’s purchasing decision. Include a testimonial from a previous customer, or make a video testimonial which tends to be more effective.
Putting It All Together
The type of content you show to your audience determines the impact your sales presentation has. Standard presentations are no longer enough to keep customers interested, they now require engaging and interactive material.
For presentations that will captivate your audience and help you close the deal, use professional presentation software, such as Ingage. We help you deliver powerful presentations through dynamic and interactive content. Schedule a demo today to learn the difference Ingage can make for your presentations.