The Presentation Trap

In a recent article in VARbusiness, author Jeff Thull describes how salespersons can get caught in the Presentation Trap, "Ditch the Pitch - How to avoid the presentation trap and win complex sales"

Salespersons who stumble into the Presentation Trap spend an extraordinary amount of time/resources on preparing a presentation with a lot of bells and whistles...and lose sight of the important issues at hand. The irony is that prospects retain very little after many sales presentations, and all of the presentation-building effort is for naught.

Thull's solution to the Presentation Trap is simple...don't present. Ask good questions to uncover problems and expand the prospect's awareness. Once the prospect understand the complete nature of the problem, the salesperson can make recommendations...and a presentation is superfluous.

Thull's other interesting observations:

• A presentation that is too early for complex decisions is a waste of time.
• A typical sales presentation rarely devotes more than 10-20% of its focus on the prospect and his/her current situation. Rather, the great majority is devoted to describing the seller, the solutions that the seller is proposing, and the "rosy future if the customers buy them."
• Your competitors are following the same strategy. Consequently, presentations are heavily skewed toward the seller and the solutions.

Thull's recommendations:

1. Spend less time talking about you, your company, and your solution.
2. Spend more time talking about your prospect's business, problems, and objectives.
3. Identify how well the prospect understands his/her own problems.
4. Make the connection between your solutions...and the prospect's business situation.
5. Guide prospects through this investigative process, and you will establish a level of credibility and find yourself jointly developing optimal solutions.

It's a good article, and worth a read. That's all for now. Ciao!

Comments

[ugg store]

Next week, the house of Paco Rabanne will get a new transfusion of the fantastical world of Manish Arora . The Indian designer is taking over as creative director at the brand that made metal and rivets fashionable in the 1960s.

[Jeremy Scott Shoes]

I don't know how to receive my responce. Waiting for your reply, tks!~~