Sales Presentations: Shut Down The Funhouse And Ditch Planet Average

The sales presentation: It’s the catalyst to sales success. Transforming leads into prospects, molding prospects into clients or customers, the presentation is a converting machine … or at least it should be. If you’re not putting every ounce of effort into your sales presentations, every drop of innovation you’re able to get your hands on, then you need to rethink your sales approach.

Sales presentations aren’t what they used to be.

They’re not the face of your company.
So ditch the dolled-up slides.

They’re not your reps’ song and dance.
This isn’t a spectacle for starry-eyed buyers.

It’s a tough crowd out there.
Today’s buyers demand the real deal. They demand an experience.

This blog post highlights two ineffective approaches to sales presentations that we like to call the funhouse farce and demonstrations from Planet Average.

The funhouse is closed.

Too many companies are stuck in the glory days, when sales reps stole the show by baiting, bribing and barking at buyers. Still hiding behind smoke, mirrors and sideshows, they do anything to distract from value-vacant solution selling and mundane monologues. In their minds, it’s still their amusement park: “Bedazzled buyers, step right up!”

Reality check: Today’s buyer is too smart for tricks, too savvy to fall for the jazzed-up pitch. With information in spades and your competition on the other line, today’s B2B buyer demands a lot more from your sales team than he used to.

He’s tough to please.
Tough, but not impossible.

Planet Average is evacuating fast.

The average presentation – a PowerPoint of templated slides, perhaps with a chart or graph thrown in – is already considered archaic by today’s savvy buyers. The buyer demands, expects and deserves more from your sales presentations.

If your reps’ presentations are boring, you’re done; a disengaged buyer checks out with a vengeance. If you really want to make an impression – earning the affinity, trust and esteem of your buyers – you’ve got to exit the average orbit. No more solution selling or passive pitches from uninspired sales reps. Get serious about your company’s wow factor and transform blasé sales presentations into textured, multisensory buyer experiences.

Presentation management software: your ticket out of the funhouse and off Planet Average.

THE TOOLS

The right presentation management software has the tools you need to set up and drill down on that exceptional experience for your buyers:

• Interactive charts and graphs that don’t just tell, but show
• Articles, reports, case studies and other eyelid-lifting, conviction-shifting content that buyers can’t get with a simple online search
• Videos and voice-annotated messages to tap into all of your buyers’ brain regions and comprehension pathways
• Personalized notes (written or voice) to clinch that customization factor and leverage your reps’ unique conversational skills

THE ACCESS

Make your presentation easily accessible to your sales team and your clients/prospects.

• Use a sales portal to organize, store and share sales materials and marketing content, as well as deliver sales presentations in a singular, secure meeting place between rep and buyer.
• Provide unlimited, transparent access to your team and your clients/prospects – anytime and from anywhere, including mobile devices.
• Empower your sales reps with the ability to build new presentations on the fly, making them more nimble and enterprising in their sales enablement efforts.
• Set up a presentation library, granting your team access to an entire collection of slides for quick drag-and-drop presentation construction.

Still selling the funhouse? Or stuck on Planet Average? Swap the smoke and mirrors for sales and marketing technology that propels your presentations into hyper-personalized, ultra-potent orbit. It’s time to give your buyers that exceptional, sales-enabling experience.