Who is your sales presentation about?

Houston

I would say you have this reversed Bluenote. I would say that too many salespeople focus their presentation on themselves or their companies (seller centered) instead of focusing on how a recommended solutions satisfies a prospective buyer's wants/needs. (buyer centered).

bluenote

Q. Why are we in business?

A. To go to the bank everyday.

This is not the 1950's. There is no benefit to us as salespeople to build rapport or to try to bond with a prospect. Nobody cares what the weather is, who won the golf tournament or what the score of last night's baseball game was. This is nonsense.

People are far more sophisticated today and they want to trust and do business with you.

How do you earn this trust?

By being the absolute professional and qualifying up front. This should be done within the first 90 seconds of your conversation.

Does the prospect have the need - the greed - the character to make the purchase or commitment - and most importantly, the money to pay for your product or service.

How do we get away with this method?

By having more people than we can possibly talk to in a single day. EVERYDAY!

This is how the money is made folks. I read all kinds of sales books and attend all kinds of seminars... I agree with about 80% of it at most.

The bottom line is, there's a basic philosophy to sales and the above is the formula for what it takes.

........

It's always about the money folks..... IT'S ABOUT YOU!

bluenote

So what's your plan Houston?

Of course you have to have a product or service that meets your highly targeted prospect's needs... Why would you be in front of them or on the phone with them to begin with?

The top 1% of salespeople do not waste their time dancing around with prospects.

Houston

Having a sales presentation that is Buyer centered doesn't have anything to do with bonding or rapport if that is what you're saying and there is much more to building trust than merely qualifying up front. Also, focusing on the money, you, is a common pitfall of selling.

bluenote

Of course it's not about focusing on the money. That's not my point. You and every other real sales person knows that and money doesn't even cross their mind during their presentation.

I'd like to think you payed attention to the other points and philosophies of my post to understand where I'm coming form.

Houston

I didn't see this post earlier so I'll reply now. My plan for a presentation is to demonstrate my capabilities in a way that is Buyer centered which is not the same as a presentation focused on me or the company I work for.

Houston

You suggested that without question the sales presentation should be about the salesperson. You also suggested "having more people than we can possibly talk to in a single day. EVERYDAY!" I'm on board with having an abundance of high probability prospects but I don't see the connection with that and the presentation being about the salesperson.

bluenote

Awesome! We're on the same page now.

Now that you have an abundance of high prob prospects in front of you, wouldn't it make perfect sense to weed out the % of prospects who are not prepared to business with you today?

Of course there are certain industries that this doesn't apply to but Geez man, why else are we in sales?

Houston

I'm on board with that but I do my weeding before the presentation.

bluenote

Of course we do our weeding before our presentation. That's the point.

The idea of having an abundance of highly targeted prospects who are interested in your product or service is the 1st step.

The next step is to qualify immediately. If they aren't prepared to do business with you today, get rid of them. They are a waste of your life.