Personal Selling
1
Personal Selling
Chapter
Six
Sales Presentation
Sales Presentation and
Demonstration: The Pivotal
Exchange
Session 4
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
3
4
Chapter Outline
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should understand
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The first sales call and the sales presentation
Planning the sales presentation
General guidelines for effective sales presentations
Sales presentations to groups
Sales presentation strategies
Adaptive versus canned sales presentations
Written presentations
Selling the long-term relationship
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
5
•
Alternative sales presentation strategies.
•
Guidelines for effective sales presentations
and demonstrations to organizational
prospects.
•
Preparation of written sales presentations.
•
Sales presentation strategies for different
prospect categories.
•
Use of adaptive and canned sales
presentations.
•
Sales presentations to prospect groups.
•
How to make a sales presentation memorable.
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
PersSell 4
6
Figure 6.1:
The Personal Selling Process (PSP)
The First Sales Call and the
Sales Presentation
The fourth step of the professional selling cycle
• Successful salespeople think of the sales presentation and
demonstration as the pivotal exchange between seller and
buyer in the sequence of exchanges that make up the
selling process
• The approach emphasized in this text is the consultative
problem-solving strategy
• Consider several tasks before making the sales
presentation
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
1
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
8
7
Planning the Sales Presentation pg.173
•
Planning the Sales Presentation
To prepare for the first sales presentation, salespeople can think of 5
planning stages:
1. Gathering information
2. Identifying the prospect’s problems and needs
3. Preparing and presenting the sales proposal
4. Confirming the sale and/or the relationship
5. Ensuring customer satisfaction
Chapter Review Question:
What are the basic steps in planning the
sales presentation?
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
9
PersSell 4
10
2. Identifying the
Prospect’s Problems and Needs
1. Gathering Information
•
•
•
•
Too much talk can be detrimental to the sales process. A chronic
complaint is that salespeople talk too much, fail to ask the right
questions, and do not really listen to the buyer.
Top-performing salespeople understand the need to gather all the
relevant information they can about prospects and their perceived
problems.
First, they make sure they’re talking to decision-makers (those with
authority to buy) or key influencers, so neither party’s time is wasted.
Next, they ask probing questions to encourage prospects to provide
information on perceived problems, objectives, financial issues, needs,
and personal feelings.
Lorna Valdes
• Using a consultative, problemsolving approach, the
professional salesperson tries to
uncover the prospect’s
perceived problems and needs
through skillful questioning and
careful listening.
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
PersSell 4
12
11
3. Preparing and Presenting the
Sales Proposal
•
•
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
3. Preparing and Presenting the
Sales Proposal
Before making a sales presentation, take
the time and effort to prepare yourself to
give a superb performance.
A. Professional approach to sales presentations
Thus, remember the following:
– Salespeople should custom-tailor the sales presentation and
demonstration to the prospect’s specific business situation, needs,
and individual communication style.
A. Professional approach to sales
presentations
B. FAB leads to SELLS
– The sales presentation strategy can vary depending on different
types of prospects as shown in Table 6.2.
C. Value-added selling (VAS)
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
2
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
13
14
Table 6.2 Prospect Categories and Sales
Presentation Strategies
Lorna Valdes
Table 6.2 Prospect Categories and Sales
Presentation Strategies
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
15
PersSell 4
16
3. Preparing and Presenting the
Sales Proposal pgs.174-177
3. Preparing and Presenting the
Sales Proposal pgs.174-177
B. FAB leads to SELLS
F
A
B
—Features are the obvious
characteristics of the
product.
—Advantages are the
performance traits of the
product that show how it
can be used to help the
customer better solve a
problem than present
products can.
—Benefits are what the
customer wants from the
product.
C. Value-added selling (VAS)
S —Show the product’s features.
E —Explain its advantages.
into the benefits for the
L —Lead
prospect.
L —Let the prospect talk.
S —Start a trial close.
Lorna Valdes
•
•
•
A comprehensive strategy, VAS focuses on providing customers with
extra, or value-added benefits over those offered by competitors
VAS shows customers that the extra overall perceived value is greater
than that the competitors are offering
VAS presentations go beyond the FAB approach to convincingly
present and demonstrate the overall added value (benefits) that the
customer will receive from purchasing from their company across four
Chapter Review Question:
categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
Value-added product benefits
Value-added relationship benefits
Value-added company benefits
Value-added salesperson benefits
What is the value-added
selling approach to sales
presentations? Identify and
discuss the four value
dimensions.
PersSell 4
18
17
Table 6.3 Value-Added Benefit Comparison
Chart pgs.174-177
4. Confirming the Sale and/or the Relationship
Professional salespersons:
• See their prospects and customers as business partners cultivating a
relationship based on trust, mutual interests, and cooperation, instead
of aggressively on “closing the sale.”
• Spend considerable time trying to undercover and fully understand the
needs and concerns of their partners through attentive listening and by
serving as trusted advisers, consultants, and even friends.
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
•
Do not want to sell products or services with which the customer will
not be satisfied.
•
Realize that only by providing continuous customer satisfaction will
they obtain the repeat business that leads to long-term customer loyalty
and higher commissions for themselves and greater profits for their
companies.
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
3
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
20
19
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
5. Building Relationships and Achieving
Customer Satisfaction
•
•
Some underperforming salespeople neglect post-purchase customer
service. Immediately after the sale, their interest, contact, and
relationship with the customer fall off rapidly.
Such shortsightedness or indifference is a “relationship killer,” and
these salespeople may later have to work doubly hard to reestablish
rapport and rebuild the relationship with that customer.
•
High performing salespeople are committed to providing prospects and
customers with totally satisfying service throughout the long-run
relationship—before, during, and after the sale.
•
They understand that fully satisfying current customers generates
repeat sales, referrals to other prospects, and increased sales as
customer needs grow.
Lorna Valdes
In sales presentations and demonstrations, salespeople can facilitate prospect
involvement and the learning process by using 4 learning principles.
• Prospects who participate in
the sales presentation and
demonstration retain more
information and develop more
favorable attitudes
•
pg 181
Participation
Participation
Learning
Principles
Insight
Insight
• Product demonstrations should
weave facts and figures from the
sales presentation into the
prospect’s own experience
Transfer
Transfer
• Prospects remember new
information better if they can
connect It to their personal
knowledge, past experiences, or
frames of reference
Association
Association
• Prospects who see the
product being used in
situations similar to their
own can better visualize
its benefits
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
21
PersSell 4
22
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
•
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
In sales presentations and demonstrations, salespeople can facilitate
prospect involvement and the learning process by using 4 learning
principles
1.
2.
Participation
– Prospects who participate in the sales presentation and
demonstration retain more information and develop more
favorable attitudes
3.
Transfer
– Prospects who see the product being used in situations similar
to their own can better visualize its benefits
4.
Insight
– Product demonstrations should weave facts and figures from
the sales presentation into the prospect’s own experience
Association
– Prospects remember new information better if they can
connect it to their personal knowledge, past experiences, or
frames of reference
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
23
PersSell 4
24
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
•
Prospects want to understand a product with all their senses, so
where appropriate in the demonstration help prospects see, hear,
feel, smell, and taste a product.
•
Eight planning steps to prepare for the demonstration are:
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
4.
5.
1.
Demonstrate benefits that are customtailored to the prospect's needs
2.
Decide what to say about the benefits
from the prospect's perspective
3.
Select sales aids that involve the most
human senses and will make the most
positive impact
6.
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty
Images
7. Prepare a written demonstration outlining three columns:
• Benefit to demonstrate
• What to say
• What to do
8. Rehearse the demonstration many times until you have the right timing of
actions and words
PersSell 4
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Pre-check all sales aids to make sure
everything is working smoothly
Decide when and where to make the
demonstration (usually a controlled
environment is best)
Involve the prospect in the demonstration.
Remember the motto:
"If they try it, they'll buy it”
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
4
Personal Selling
25
26
General Guidelines for
Effective Sales Presentations
Table 6.4 Dressing for Sales Presentation Success
Dressing for Success
An important part of any
sales presentation is the
salesperson's personal
appearance
•
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Additional suggestions for dressing for success are found in Table 6.4
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
27
PersSell 4
28
Effective Behavior and
Listening Principles pg. 184
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Effective Behavior and
Listening Principles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Look like a successful salesperson
Develop rapport early
Adjust to the customer's communication style
Present the strongest customer benefits and selling points
first
Establish credibility
Make the presentation fun
Arouse as many of the customer's five senses as possible
Combine factual and emotional appeals
Lorna Valdes
Look for and use responsive behaviors
Help prospects draw the right conclusions
Avoid making puns
Never tell ethnic or offensive jokes
Never disparage another company or individual
Assume a relatively firm negotiating position initially
Help prospects draw the right conclusions
Use humor with discretion and only when appropriate
Readily admit minor product weaknesses
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
29
PersSell 4
30
General Guidelines for Effective Sales
Presentations: Listening Principles pg. 184
Table 6.5 Behavioral Guidelines for Effective Sales
Presentations and Demonstrations
•
Salespeople must act
professionally and listen
reactively to their prospects
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
•
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
5
The old maxim “The reason you have two ears and one mouth is
that you should listen twice as much as you talk” is especially
true for a salesperson
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
31
32
Table 6.6 Keys to Good Listening
Lorna Valdes
Table 6.6 Keys to Good Listening
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
33
PersSell 4
34
Sales Presentations to Groups
•
A. Group Presentation Format
pg. 187
Sales presentations to organizational prospects and customers must
include a business strategy (business plan) explaining how the product
can profitably be resold or used to make other products
•
When making presentations to groups, salespeople may wish to use a
presentation planning checklist
•
Organizational customers must be convinced of the soundness of the
overall business strategy before they will buy the product
•
Salespeople succeed
using many different
kinds of group
presentations. One
popular group
presentation format
follows this sequence:
pg.191
1.Problem
1.Problem
6.Action
6.Action
2.Product
2.Product
5.Summary
3.Benefits
4.Evidence
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
35
PersSell 4
36
Table 6.7 Sales Presentation Alignment and
Guidelines for Prospect Groups
B. Alignment of the Sales Presentation
•
Before your talk, align the sales presentation by knowing:
1. Who is the prospect audience?
2. What benefits are the prospects
seeking?
3. How do the prospects prefer to
communicate?
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
6
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
37
38
Figures of Speech, Analogies, Metaphors, Similies
Guidelines for
Sales Presentations to Groups pg.195
1.
Begin with an audience-focused statement of purpose
2.
Translate the product into prospect benefits
3.
Energize the sales presentation and make it memorable by using
S A D T I E:
S — Statistics
A — Analogies, similes, and metaphors
D
T
I
E
— Demonstrations
— Testimonials
— Incidents
— Exhibits
• An analogy is a comparison between seemingly dissimilar
objects/concepts which points out their similarity.
Life is like a box of chocolates….
• Using analogies provides the receiver (consumer) with
insight of the logic in your example. Analogies create
visual awareness of what you are talking about.
• Similies, as white as snow, express a direct relationship
• Metaphors, the road map to peace, is more direct
comparison than analogy.
• A simile is an expressed analogy; a metaphor is an implied
one.
Chapter Review Question:
In context of making
presentations to groups, what
does the acronym SAD TIE stand
for?
Define and give an example of
each of the following aids for
sales presentations: (a)
analogies, (b) similes, and (c)
metaphors.
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
39
PersSell 4
40
Sales Presentation Strategies cont’d
Guidelines for
Sales Presentations to Groups
pg. 197
4. Encourage interaction and
participation
1.
Stimulus-response
6.
Team selling
5. Show your commitment to
customer service
5.
Depth selling
6. Ask for specific action
3.
Need satisfaction
4.
Consultative
problem solving
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
7. Critique the sales
presentation
Lorna Valdes
2.
Formula
Sales
Presentation
Strategies
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
PersSell 4
42
41
Sales Presentation Strategies cont’d
Sales Presentation Strategies cont’d
•
In preparing sales presentations to achieve specific objectives, you can
use several alternative strategies, including:
4. Consultative problem solving
– This is the most frequently recommended and most successful sales presentation
strategy for today's professional salespeople by
a) Focusing on the prospect's problems, not the seller's products
b) Emphasizing the partnership of buyer and seller and stresses "win-win"
outcomes in negotiations
1. Stimulus-response
•
Salesperson asks a series of
positive leading questions
5. Depth selling
Chapter Review Question:
– Employs a combination of several sales
What is the consultative
presentation methods
problem-solving sales
6. Team selling
presentation strategy? Give
– Presentation made to a group of decision makers an example of a selling
situation where this strategy
from different functional areas
2. Formula
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
Chapter Review Question:
List and briefly describe the
basic sales presentation
strategies. Which one is
generally considered best for
professional salespeople?
Why?
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
•
Salesperson leads the prospect through
the mental states of buying (attention,
interest, desire, and action)
3. Need satisfaction
•
would be especially
appropriate?
Salesperson tries to find dominant buying
needs
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
7
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
43
44
Table 6.8 Sales Presentation Strategies
Lorna Valdes
Table 6.8 Sales Presentation Strategies
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
PersSell 4
46
45
Adaptive Versus Canned
Sales Presentations pg. 203
Adaptive Versus Canned
Sales Presentations
• Stresses the adaptation of each sales
presentation and demonstration to fit
each individual prospect
Adaptive
selling
• Adaptive selling
– stresses the adaptation of each sales presentation and
demonstration to fit each individual prospect
Sales
Presentations
• Canned selling
Canned
selling
– is any highly structured or patterned selling approach
• Both adaptive and canned sales presentations can be
effective when matched with the appropriate prospect in a
designated sales situation
• Any highly structured or patterned
selling approach
•
Both adaptive and canned sales presentations can be effective when
matched with the appropriate prospect in a designated sales situation
Lorna Valdes
Chapter Review Question:
Explain the difference between adaptive
and canned sales presentations.
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
47
48
Electronic Directories & Databases
for Gathering & Analyzing Information
Written Presentations
•
•
•
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
An interesting article on 10 Tips for
Winning Sales Presentations, see:
– http://www.businessknowhow.com/
marketing/winslspres.htm
•
For learning about different types of
training programs available to
salespeople for developing their sales
presentation skills, go to:
– http://www.peakperformancellc.co
m/
pg.205
Whether used at the time of the verbal sales presentation or mailed as
a follow-up after the sales call, a written presentation can be very
effective in winning sales
Several suggestions for writing effective sales presentation include:
1. Tailor each written sales
presentation to the specific
customer
2. Make the opening paragraph of
the presentation sparkle
3. Sequence benefits in the most
effective order
4. Be positive and upbeat
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
8
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
49
50
Table 6.9 Tips for a
Written Sales Presentation
Written Presentations cont’d
5. Use a natural, conversational style in writing
6. Use a lively and logical format
7. Never disparage competitors
8. Ask for action
9. Personalize the proposal with a handwritten
note
10. Double-check and proofread everything
Chapter Review Question:
Give some basic guidelines for written
sales presentations.
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
51
PersSell 4
52
Ethical Situation: What Would You Do?
Selling the Long-term Relationship
Discussion Question:
• As many industries seek to improve quality and reduce
costs, the trend toward closer supplier relationships,
longer-term contracts, and fewer suppliers is increasing
• Salespeople must go beyond mere “selling” to “serving”
their customers much like consultants or business partners
• What these trends tell selling organizations is that selling
the long-term relationship is not just another strategy, it is
fast becoming the only viable strategy
Lorna Valdes
After making your sales presentation, you give the prospect—
who has newly been appointed to head buyer at his
company—an opening price which you know is much higher
than the price at which you normally expect to sell the
product. You expect him to try to negotiate price but,
surprisingly, the prospect says: “Okay, he would like to place
an order for 500 at $100 each.” Other companies in your
sales territory have paid only about $75 for the product when
bought in such large quantities from your company.
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
53
PersSell 4
54
Key Terms
•
Key Terms
FAB
•
Core Selling Team
•
Selling Center
– A memory-aid acronym that stands for a product’s Features, Advantages,
and Benefits that will appeal most to a salesperson’s customer.
•
– Members of the selling firm assigned to particular prospects or customers to
develop and maintain ongoing buyer-seller relationships with them.
SELLS
– Members of the selling organization assigned to a certain prospect to close a
particular sales transaction. After the sale is consummated, the selling center is
likely to disband.
– A memory-aid acronym: Show your product’s key features, Explain its
major advantages; Lead into specific benefits for the prospect; Let the
prospect do most of the talking; and Start a trial close, and use more
throughout the presentation
•
Value Added
•
SAD TIE
•
Adaptive Selling
•
Canned (or Programmed) Selling
•
Written Presentation
– Modifying each sales presentation and demonstration to accommodate each
individual prospect.
– Providing customers extra or added-value benefits than offered by
competitors.
– Any highly structured or patterned selling approach.
– In sales presentations to organizational prospects, the salesperson’s explanation of
how the prospect can profitably use the product. Also called a sales proposal or
business plan.
– A memory-aid acronym that stands for Statistics, Analogies,
Demonstrations, Testimonials, Incidents, and Exhibits, one or all of which
the salesperson may use to spice up a sales presentation.
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
9
PersSell 4
Personal Selling
55
56
Topics for Thought and
Class Discussion
Chapter Review Questions
1.
1. Why are the sales presentation and demonstration so
important in the Personal Selling Process?
2.
2. Why are clothing and accessories important
considerations in making an effective sales presentation?
3.
4.
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
57
Reading & Assignment for Next Session
• Review Chapter 6
Lorna Valdes
Lorna Valdes
PersSell 4
10
Why do you think the consultative problem-solving sales
presentation is the most successful strategy for professional
salespeople? What are the benefits of this strategy to the prospect or
customer?
Name at least five special prospect categories, and describe an
appropriate strategy for a sales presentation to each.
Which do you think is more effective for most business-to-business
selling, an oral or a written sales presentation? Why?
Do you think sales presentations and demonstrations are more
important for tangible products or for intangible services? Why?
PersSell 4