One Presentation for All
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| Every salesperson is unique in their delivery and presentation. Some like to take their time creating a mental image that shows the client how the features and benefits of your product can improve their situation. Others prefer to jump right to the facts and technical specifications providing an analysis of product usage and how it can improve the customer’s bottom line. A standard, linear PowerPoint presentation won’t always suit the individual style of each salesperson. As the salesperson tries to meet their customer’s needs, so should your PowerPoint presentation fit the needs of each salesperson. Budgets won’t allow you to create several versions of your presentation, nor do you want your sales force making revisions or adaptations on their own. With some planning and forethought you can create a flexible presentation that ensures a consistent, quality experience for each customer while providing access to all the important information. You just need to add a little interactivity. Interactivity allows a presenter to navigate a course through your product information that fits his or her own style while meeting the customer’s specific needs. Moreover, a well-designed interactive presentation never feels “canned” because it allows the presenter to shift the message spontaneously. The simplest interactivity can be accomplished by sectioning the presentation by product or channel and providing “tabs” on the page that allow you to jump to sections at will, choosing the order in which they’re presented or skipping topics that don’t pertain to the customer. You can also include an interactive map, highlighting your company’s services in different regions and providing greater detail on any specific region if desired. The more complex your product is, the more your presentation commands interactivity. If you engineer software systems, not every customer needs to drill down into the technical data and a more simplified diagram would work well. Conversely, an IT manager would be interested in the specifics of the firewall between the internet and intranet; click on the firewall and a more detailed diagram of the security process is displayed. If you sell ski vacations, you could click on a particular resort within a destination and show your travel agent client a list of amenities as well as photos and floor plans of each accommodation. The most interactive presentations let your salesperson navigate through a series of menus offering a set of choices for each aspect of your product or service. Menu-driven presentations are the most flexible solution, benefiting both sales and marketing. The information is all very clear and standard and the salesperson can easily tailor the delivery of that information to fit the customer’s needs and his or her own presentation style. Once a salesperson becomes comfortable with navigating through the presentation, the interactivity becomes a natural extension of the conversation, illustrating rather than driving the sales presentation. The most successful sales presentation addresses the unique issues of the client in a timely manner. A salesperson working with a truly interactive presentation becomes more of a counselor – considerate, polished and knowledgeable – the true expert to provide the solutions to the client’s needs. |
