The goal of every sales presentation is to move the audience toward your objective. In the sales proposal, you want to move your audience from where they are at the beginning of your presentation to Point B. At Point B, the prospect understands their situation, believes in your capabilities, and finally accepts the call to […]
The final step in the Discovery phase, and the fourth type of Discovery Question, is the Desired Results Question. Desired Results Questions help buyers identify the returns and benefits of the desired state. It is the opposite of the Impact Question in that it asks, “What are the positives?” The answer to a Desired Results […]
Effective sales proposals are great presentations, but they’re also so much more than that. They involve psychology, storytelling, and inspiring your audience to respond to your call to action. Essentially, it’s all about striking at the root of emotion! As sales professionals, we want to transfer emotions from ourselves to the buyer. In order to […]
The biggest mistake that sales professionals make is responding to a concept, need or problem with an immediate solution. As sales professionals, we need to grow buyers’ needs, amplify their urgency, and move “solving the problem” into the number-one slot on their To Do List. In other words, we need to illuminate that the prospect […]
The first mistake most sellers make in delivering their sales proposal is not starting strong. In fact, many apologize for taking their prospect’s time, or they set very low expectations. Instead, we want to start with something that is intentionally going to provoke the prospect’s interest. When beginning the pitch, the first words out of […]
If there is one cliché that rings true every time, it’s that first impressions are critical. In the business relationship, first impressions begin long before the first actual meeting. In order to clarify that we will deliver a perceived value to our prospect, we need to cultivate rapport and establish trust. We do so by […]
In the selling process, the right question can be like mind control in that we can steer the listener into thinking about what we want them to think about. This window of opportunity does not last very long, though, unless the questions are interesting and revealing to the buyer. In other words, we can’t play […]
The top five most common errors when presenting a sales proposal have to do with developing the clarity of the narrative or story. And here are the five biggest mistakes in developing that story: no clear purpose, no audience benefit, no clear progression of events, too much detail, and/or too long-winded. Many sales presentations only […]
If the first stage of persuasion is establishing trust and credibility, the second is creating buyer urgency. In this stage, the seller and buyer together learn about the business situation of the buyer’s company, and we do so through relevant, empathetic communication.
For all the positives technology and social media bring to our lives, there is a downside: many people become rusty and less persuasive when they’re finally forced to interact face-to-face. Here’s how professional conversationalists, like talk-show hosts and world-class salespeople, can teach us all something about getting great information from key people.