Description
What is a Sales Presentation?
A Sales presentation is a sales tool, usually a talk, involving the use of demonstrative material like
PowerPoint slides, props, sketches, etc., intended to get the prospect to commit to purchase a
product/service. Well done sales presentations improve conversion rates at the bottom of the sales
funnel – as good as sourcing a huge number of “qualified leads” or finding thousands of prospects.
Why are Sales Presentations Important?
Well-structured sales presentations help you with organising your message, simplifying your message
and moving your audience. A good structure will help you cover all relevant information, prioritising and
organising it in a way that it has the intended impact on the audience. Your presentation should make
your product or service appear less complex than it is and a good structure allows you to make a strong
emotional case – because buying decisions are rarely based on just logic.
Sales Presentations Objectives:
Making the sale isn’t the only aim of sales presentations. There are various other objectives, including to
be invited to respond to a tender, to be shortlisted to the next round of a bidding process, to be
accepted to help write the tender, to be invited back for a meeting with the decision maker, for the
prospect to meet with your technical consultant, to get a go ahead to run a study, to convince the
prospect to start a trial and to persuade the prospect to commit to a technical evaluation.
Preparing for Sales Presentations:
Organise and prepare for your presentation –and arrange your presentation and materials ahead of
time. Knowing what you are selling, knowing your competition, knowing your consumer and knowing
the market are all important for the preparation.
Sales Presentations – Key Content
Introduction is the first part of the content and there are two key components to the introduction – first
is a discussion about your prospect’s needs. The second is an overview of the structure and flow you
have planned for the presentation and conversation. Then move on to describe the objectives and scope
of work you will be delivering. Elaborate on the details of your approach. Describe the benefits your
product/service will offer to the prospect.
Designing the Slides:
Keep in mind that every slide in your sales presentation has a purpose. You must design your slide
according to your objective. One is designing the slide to explain. To help describe something, to help
clients understand you use diagrams and drawings to help clients quickly visualise what you are trying to
explain, facilitating and accelerating understanding.
Another purpose is to prove your point. To make clients believe you use charts and avoid tables and
figures. To help clients retain key messages use slides with text. If making multiple points on the slides,
show them one line at a time.
The final purpose is to influence. To make clients arrive at a decision or to change their mind a good idea
is to use photos to access the emotional side of the brain, where decisions initiate.
Designing the Slides – Essentials:
40% people respond better to visual information as against plain text. Ensure that your cover slide
should reflect your industry company stand. Google, Flickr, Unsplash, and Fubiz are good sources for
images to immediately boost your pitch. Tell the prospects what you do – summarise your value
proposition, telling them why they should buy from you. To refine your value proposition, use the
following formula: [Company name] helps [target audience] with [services] so you can [benefits].
