Presentations and slideshows are the cornerstone for companies that focus on sales. And other than CRM, presentation is an important sales tool. But more often than not, PowerPoint design companies don’t really give this tool due attention or credit and sales rep are sent to the client with a bunch of half-cooked, last minute set of slides. PowerPoint, the most effective tool for presentations, does not just mean using bullet points and images. In this article, we will talk about a few basic elements that can help one make effective presentations that result in sales.
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Do the Homework:
Creating an impressive presentation is not a matter of a couple of hours. It requires preparation; you need to figure out the length of the presentation, the content you are going to include, color scheme of the slides, images to be used and last but not the least, who is going to present.
More importantly, you need to sit down with the sales team and talk about prospects, the objective you are planning to achieve, and what is the message that the sales people want to give and how it can be supported by visual slides.
The first three slides ‘The Hook’, as we call it, grabs the attention. Afterwards the slides had to be engaging enough to keep the audience attentive throughout.
Understanding Competition:
You need to understand who your competition is, what makes you different from them and why should your prospects convert to you. You can use the approach of ‘why change’ versus ‘why us’. It is a measure of success if you can make your prospects realize the problem they have in their business. Now that you have paved the path for yourself, the next step would be to persuade them to switch to your product/service.
Persuasion is in the Structure:
If you are looking for a formula for of how best to structure a persuasive sales presentation, then you are out of luck because there is no single way to that. It all depends on your business, and where you are in your sales cycle.
One great tip is to point out the benefits throughout the presentation as opposed to using them in concluding slides so that your audience is hooked from the start and looks forward to what’s coming next.
Interesting Introduction:
No one knows how or where it started but most presentations we see are front-heavy, meaning that there’s a lengthy company history, introduction of vision & mission, achievements, clients etc. It’s high time to lose this style as it is a sure shot way of losing the attention of your audience right at the beginning!
The right way is to focus on your audience by presenting their issues and challenges as a way of showing you understand them and then presenting solutions to the same.
The Ending is Equally Important:
Close with a powerful call to action that tempts your prospects to go to the next stage. Give a concise summary at the end. This way prospect has clear idea of what lemons you are offering to make the lemonade
