51. What questions do you ask to design your presentation?
Before making a presentation ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do you have a price advantage or a price problem?
If you do not have an advantageous price, don't say a thing about price. Make sure that your benefits are strong enough to get people interested so that when you follow up directly they will be sufficiently interested to pay a higher price.
2. Who is the person who will buy your product or service?
There's no substitute for actually talking with prospects and customers to see what motivates them to buy your products or those of your competitors. Every situation is different, and you can make the most of your selling and marketing efforts if you make your presentation to the person that can be most influential in the sale.
3. What are the economic benefits of using your product?
If you can say that your product or service will save the customer money, time, or effort, you have a great competitive advantage. If you can document this with figures you'll have a very persuasive story to tell. Don't be afraid to go into the details. If your customer is even the least bit cost conscious, they will listen to every word of your presentation.
4. What is the product made of or what does the service consist of?
Carefully study the product or service you are going to sell. If it is a product, get all the details on how it is made, what it is made of, etc. If it is a service, describe exactly what the service consists of. Write out the description as if you were explaining it to a young child who knew absolutely nothing about it.
5. What does the product or service do best?
All products have several features and benefits that will appeal to prospects. Before you say a word, determine which of the benefits will be most important to the largest segment of your market. Keep in mind that a feature is a fact about the product or service and a benefit is what the feature will do for the customer. People buy benefits, not features.
6. How important are your competitive differences?
Your product or service may be better than that of a competitor on a point that doesn't make any real difference to the person who must make the choice. Don't be fooled into using this advantage as a benefit. Even if you do have a great competitive advantage over other products, never knock the competitors. But do make sure that your reader knows the difference and appreciates what it will mean if your product is bought.
Comments:
This all boils down to “know what your customer is looking for”. I had one customer who hardly looked at price. He was only interested in the finance rate and monthly payments. Another had enough cash to buy our whole company so finance meant little to him. Still another had been burned by a competitor’s service department so he wanted a company that would stand behind him and support the product.
I have gotten many sales by knowing what to stress in the negotiations and I have also lost sales when my competitor knew more than me.
Crocker Smith
The questions that I ask myself before making a presentation are “Who do I have to talk to?”- The decision maker. Sometimes you can talk all day to the wrong person and only waste both of your time. “How can my service benefit this particular client?” Then I can customize my presentation to client by client basis. “What are any competitive differences or concerns?” Be able to address this topic without talking bad about the competition. “What about my price versus competitions price?” I need to be able to justify my service, my quality. I use this as my outline for my presentation.
Brooke Knight
Pretend you were pitching it to yourself. What or how you would like someone to make a sales pitch to you and what would influence you to buy from them. Then take that and use it on your next client.
David Bradley
This all goes back to talking and then listening to your client. They know best what they want and you and I know best as to what we are selling. We have to constantly compete against similar companies that sale the same product/service. This is when we acknowledge the great industry we are in and how many other companies are good at what they do. We then need to let the client know why we can do it a little better without slamming the others. We have to listen and we have to believe in the service we are selling, if we don’t buy it why would anyone else?
Brandon Sanchez
The primary point is preparation. Sales people will go to a potential buyer to make a presentation and some with little to no knowledge of what they’re selling or why they’re selling it. Know the customer’s wants and needs and try and direct the benefits of your product to their needs. Know what you’re selling. In order to sale productively you must know the ends and outs of the product and believe in what you’re selling.
Matthew Thacker
Before any type of a presentation I give close people permission for an honest opinion or suggestions that will help me improve my presentation. I believe that we do not have to act on every suggestion but we do need to carefully try to consider every suggestion out there that would help us prepare the right presentation for the right audience. I don’t consider myself the best presenter, but at least I have a road map and I am working on making progress toward my goal.
Yessie Narvaez
I always want to know the companies expectations. How much personal contact do you want me to have with the employee’s? Do you mind frequent on-site visits? (I have actually had the employee of client ask me questions because they saw me so much they thought I worked there.) I let them know that if I am going to serve them, I want to do it right. Many times I have had a potential client mention a problem with a competitor as a reason for not doing business with me. And I agree with your “don’t knock the competition” philosophy. I think it is low and unprofessional. I simply state that I am not associated with that company and if given the chance I can prove the difference. The presentation should be your knock their socks off with what you can offer extravaganza. I especially love it when at the end of a presentation a client says something like I better watch out or all of my staff may want to work for you. No matter what you ask a client you won’t get every client on the first or even second try, but don’t give up and when you get your chance show them what they have been missing.
Kathie Luttrell
I guess it goes without saying that you should know as much as you possibly can about a product or service that you are selling, but one should also give some thought to the situation, or people in which this product or service will be used or used by…..really try and see what makes them tick, or what is important to them. One needs to ask questions before hand to know the answers before you go in.
Jonathan Kendig
"Make sure your customer knows what it will mean if your product is bought. Find out by asking well thought out questions."