Overnight, our society has transitioned to remote everything. From kids’ school, family get togethers to even virtual karate lessons. Now that we are comfortably numb to this change, we are never going to go back to the old way of doing things.
One type of remote meeting seems to be much harder than ever – the remote sales presentation. A lot of sales reps scrambled to continue to do what they do, in the virtual forum. Make ‘phone calls’, have ‘meetings’ and continue to ‘present’ but how is this working?
Is every meeting blurring into the next these days? Are you bored and distracted when someone is presenting?
Are you still struggling to keep your customer engaged during your remote sales presentations?
Best Tips from Fred Diamond
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Fred Diamond, the co-founder of the Institute for Excellence in Sales (IES). I wanted to tap into his knowledge and discover the key ingredients for a great remote sales presentation.The three most important things to consider:
- Did you differentiate yourself?
- How clear was your value articulation?
- Were you customer centric?
Differentiate yourself in your next online presentationWhen you sell face to face, you know the drill. You dress the part, show up on time, and are professional and organized. Building trust and presence is Sales 101. Then why do we all stumble so much in our remote meetings? We turn off the camera, make our deck be full screen and talk and talk until our customers are falling asleep.You need to realize that your presence is more important than your content. Your customer can read your deck faster than you can say it, just repeating the information that is printed is not effective. They need to see you and connect with you. Your presence has to be elevated in a remote meeting.
Do you articulate value during online meetings?
Just talking endlessly doesn’t mean that you made your point. Remember, we learn more with our eyes versus any other sense. You need to show your value visually.Bring up the customer testimonial video and show that this is real. Show the pictures from the installation that happened last week. Bring up your spec sheet and compare against the competition and highlight how your product is more effective. Don’t let the customer second guess your talk track by being visual and proving to them that your products and services are better.
Be customer centric
This means that you not only present information but allow the customer to talk and ask questions. Be non-linear and bring up any type of content as the conversation evolves. Don’t be married to the deck and use the PowerPoint deck as a visual aid – as it was originally intended. Don’t let PowerPoint be a crutch to your presentation.Being customer centric also means giving your customer the visual feedback that you’re listening. Pull up a note and start typing their concerns. Underline, highlight and mark up the document to reflect their comments.
