The Sales Cycle: Point # 4 The Presentation
27th March 2007
The potential customer wants to know what you can do for them and to see if you understand their needs, wants, and desires. Now, let’s look at The Presentation. This is where you present yourself and the product, being fully-prepared with the whole knowledge of what you learned before about their needs, wants, and desires. Also, you need to have the sales and marketing materials available, as you do your sales presentation. Here are two areas you need to review before you do your presentation:
Be Mentally Ready
1. Remember to dress for success. If you look good, you are ready.
2. Believe in yourself and show a lot of confidence.
3. Remember, you are the expert, not them.
4. Believe in what you are selling and sell what you believe.
5. Be prepared for anything that could happen. In other words, be
flexible.
6. Have fun and build new relationships and friendships at the same
time.
Have the marketing materials you need at the Presentation
1. Provide brochures of the different kinds of equipment that your
company has available.
2. Present a free trail for 30 days, if that fits the potential
customer’s needs.
3. List all of your products and services you have available for them.
4. Provide a sales folder with pricing, if it is appropriate.
Finally, I have come to realize that the most excellent presentations I have seen with the highest closing rates have these aspects that are built into them:
1. The sales person presents their product with some drama and flair!
2. They have visual aids for the customers to review.
3. The sales person has a good grasp of breaking down the pricing for
the customer, if needed at the client location.
4. Verbal communication is a listening exchange, with 70% being the
customer and 30% being the salesperson. As sales people, we need
to practice listening to the customer.
Dr. Terry Paulson, PhD of Turning Point Programs (training programs) always says, ”Communication, The Listening Exchange.” In other words, to do a great presentation, it is better to listen than to speak.
At this point, you can close the sale unless there are a few objections. If there are any objections, are they directed toward you, your company, product, or service?
In the next few articles, we will deal with and review different types of objections. This is a very important area of sales, because without objections, the salesperson would be out of a job. One of the salesperson’s main responsibilities is to handle these objections. If there were no objections, the company would just have one or two people taking orders over the phone, from their desks at the company office.
Occupation: Sales Management
I was born in the Ghetto. Of course, it was not by choice. Let me tell you some of my story of how I went from the Ghetto to my MBA.
I was born on the eastside of San Jose, California, USA. I hated people for most of my young life. I had a mother who was never home. My father left my mother when I was 6 months old, and I had no contact with him. Because of my sad circumstances, I joined a gang called the Blue Jackets. Later on, I became the president of the gang, staying in it until I was eighteen years old. I was involved in five gang wars by the time I was fourteen years old. In one of the gang fights, I lost my best friend, Hector Lopez. I will never forget his name because he took a knife that was supposed to go into my body. In another fight, I was hit on the head with a bottle that knocked me out cold. There was a lot of pain for me in those days. I was taken to Juvenile Hall for the first time at nine years of age, and I was in and out at least twenty times before I hit eighteen.
At that time in my life, I started to realize that there was something wrong with my life. During this time, I met a girl by the name of Beverly, who was from the other side of the tracks. She helped me to realize that I needed a change in my life, so I decided to go into the U.S. Army. My enlistment really helped me grow up and see things in a different light. During this time, Beverly and I got married and we had a son and daughter. To this day, we have been happily married. When I was in the Army, I did get my GED. I have always been a hard and ambitious worker, so when I left the Army, I immediately got my first job delivering milk to homes. Yes, I was a milkman! As a milkman, I had the time to go back to school and then college.
I worked my way up the ladder with a few companies, going from a sales person to the GM/CEO of First Choice Services, a consumer products company. In May 27 of 1996, I got my BBA and in May of 2000, I received my MBA.
As a business consultant, I have had the privilege of working with some companies internationally, as I really enjoy working with people from other cultures. I have learned so much from friends that we have in Japan, Australia, the U.K., The Philippines, Korea, and Costa Rica, just to mention a few.
Presently, I am a Business Consultant for One Cup International Consulting Group. My background in sales, sales management, and operations provide strong organizational credentials.
I have over 20 years experience as an employee and consultant with such companies as: Langendorf Bread, Coffee Systems, Inc., Bobart Consulting, Inc., San Jose Chamber of Commerce, Turning Point Programs, Majordomo Services, Inc., First Choice Services (a division of Daiohs, Inc.), Associated Services, F. Gavina and Sons, Inc., Take a Break Service, Lindsey Coffee Company, and at the present time, One Cup International Consulting Group.
My goal as a business consultant has always been to help companies build their sales, management, and marketing teams and/or reorganize their business, so they can make a profit or improve their bottom line. As a team player, I work with management and operations to get the best results.
Finally, let me say that I am looking for a new career that will both reward me inwardly in my personal growth, and financially. I am a very active person. As a business consultant, I find that I have too much time on my hands. I want to be more actively involved, helping grow a sales staff or a business, by using my many skills. As you can see from my opening statements, I have endured much in my life, but out of lemons, I’ve decided to make lemonade.
I am available for sales and management seminars. Also, I would be glad to do seminars for any organization, to reach young people, in order to help them get out of the ghetto and poverty. I require a small honorarium, plus traveling expenses.
