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Neutralize the Competition

Creative sellers get the sale and the gold medal. Through effective Discovery, sales entrepreneurs work with customers to present creative solutions that exceed expectations. Exceeding is the key, the essence of a convincing presentation. If you simply meet their expectations, thats just doing your job, no big deal, so what? Sales entrepreneurs ask themselves; How can I use my imagination and creativity to make a vivid impression on my customer? How can I make my presentation different and stronger? Eliminate routine, boring, predictable presentations. Chances are your customer has endured hundreds of me-too presentations, so make yours different, make it fun. The key to neutralizing your competition is innovation.

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Ten Key Ingredients

To help you differentiate yourself and neutralize the competition, I offer ten key ingredients of an effective, creative presentation. They apply whether you are presenting to an individual, a committee, or

1. Enjoy Yourself. Enjoy what you are doing. Selling is fun, not a battle of wits between customer and salesperson, so loosen up and enjoy. Believe in yourself and what you are selling, supported by the right mental attitude. Add your own style of enthusiasm and be somewhat entertaining as well as informative. After all, you are on stage. Communicate your belief in yourself and your product or service by exhibiting sincere enthusiasm. Involve your customer when and if appropriate. I tell my customers that I sell entertrainment. At my seminars youre going to learn something but you will have fun in the process. When was the last time you learned something that was boring or presented in lackluster fashion? You probably havent-boredom stifles learning. Rekindle your enthusiasm if necessary and present with gusto.

Another aspect of enjoying yourself is looking good, feeling good. I often suggest the most important presentation of the day is to yourself in the mirror. You must be confident of your appearance prior to a confident delivery. People love to visualize and the visual sense is very, very powerful. In fact, it is the visual impression that makes the greatest impact. Remember, people buy you with their eyes within 10 seconds. As a result, our verbal content can be virtually smothered by the vocal and visual components. Research suggests that the believability of a message is evaluated on three elements; 7 percent verbal, 38 percent vocal, and 55 percent visual. 121 What you do speaks so loud I cant hear what you say. Great words spoken by Ralph Emerson. The fun of it all begins with the process of looking and feeling good. Don your best outfit, fill your lungs with confidence, and within ten seconds your audience will be impressed with your presentation.

2. Prepare and prepare some more. Preparation is key to a smooth, fluid presentation. Any good seminar on presentation skills will tell you, Dont try to eliminate the butterflies, simply get them to fly in formation. Having the butterflies is a form of positive energy that will help you get started and make a smooth transition into the body of your presentation. Here is a guideline that I use: Every five minutes of presentation time requires one hour of preparation time. Thus, a 15-minute presentation requires a minimum of three hours preparation. Trust me, this formula works. As one anonymous quote suggests, Every time you open your mouth, your mind is on parade. Preparation will ensure your parade looks sharp, sounds sharp, and dazzles your audience. Make it fresh, not canned.

Another suggestion is to rehearse your presentation by delivering it aloud to a wall. Pick a quiet place, perhaps at home, stand back from a wall then go through your presentation, at least the verbal part. If you do it a couple of times to the wall, youll be amazed how easy it is when you do it live.

As a professional keynote speaker, I spend days preparing for a half-day keynote. Here is another guideline: Be cognizant of when you prepare. Dont use valuable selling hours to do your homework. I refer you back to Tim Commandment #4 in Chapter 4 (page 97).

3. Know your customers style type. Consider how you might design your presentation to appeal to different style types. A presentation to a Director should be totally different than to a Socializer or a Thinker. Each style has different expectations that cannot be ignored (Chapter 6).

Socializer. Must be fun, entertaining, and stimulating. Sell sizzle more than steak. Make your presentation colorful and upbeat, showing how your product or service will enhance your customers status and visibility.

Director. Must be short, to the point, businesslike, outlining the main points. Time will be limited so dont waste it with unnecessary conversation or detail. Present the facts and the results they can expect to see. Give them options where they can make decisions. Thinker. Must be logical, informative, and detail-oriented. Thinkers are very analytical, looking for accurate information, honesty, and reliability. Back up your presentation with supportive documentation and data and a lot of technological punch. Dont expect a decision that day. Thinkers need time to mull it over, working out any possible bugs. Arrange a

a group.