What is the biggest mistake that sales reps make in their presentations?

The biggest mistakes that sales reps make in making presentations are the following:
1) Not spending time researching the client at three levels of learning (a) the client's industry, (b) the client's company and (3) the executive himself or herself. One consultant I work with said it best: Your homework either gets you in or does you in!
2) Not listening before proposing a solution - executives told us they want salespeople to fully understand the client's business objectives and initiatives before proposing a solution
3) Not creating a value proposition that clearly defines the value their solution will create and deliver to the client
4) Focusing too much on their own company in the presentation itself - rather than on the needs and requirements of the client

Candyce beat me to the number one error made by ALL salespeople...selling before they even have a real prospect for their product. Salespeople waste more time pitching dead deals than any other bad metric out there.

I would add to this the error of talking too much. I've witnessed salespeople of all caliber (including management) talk themselves right out of a sale. Sticking with the old 'KISS' principle and keep it simple, concise and direct will serve more salespeople well than trying too hard to wow them with verbosity.

OK. Got it. Don't present before you understand the problem. But, the question is what's the biggest mistake made in presentations.

Here it is... salespeople message for information... they don't message for a decision. Too many presentations are chock full o information, but they don't catalyze any action. Here are a 4 specific tips for better presentations:

1. Understand "old brain" decision making. Your prospects are more adaptive than rational. They make decisions more often to move away, avoid or overcome pain. They get paralyzed if you ask them to add up a bunch of analytical inferences to sum the gain. That's because the "old brain" is your decision-maker and it works based on survival. Your "new brain" is your computer and it revels in analyzing data, but not making decisions. Make sure you clearly describe the changing "context" the customer is dealing with, and why the status quo is no longer tenable before ever mentioning anything about you or what you do. You have to get them to care enough to do something different before they care about whether or not to choose you.

2. Contrast equals Value. Too many presentations don't show the contrast between the customer's current state and the one they should be in... and the one you can put them in. Contrast is what creates the perception of value. If customer's don't see enough contrast between what they are doing, nor their competitive alternatives, they won't see enough value to choose you...and certainly not enough to pay a premium. You must create contrast in your presentations.

3. Overcome the "hammock". Typical attention spans during presentations go like this... people remember 70% of what they hear at the beginning of a presentation, 20% of the middle and 100% of the end. Unfortunately, typical presentations waste the first part by showing the same six slides as everyone else (company size, locations, client logos, blah, blah blah)... by the time you get to the good stuff about the client problems and your solutions, your customers are at the 20% level ... in what we call the bottom of the hammock. Make sure you know how to grab your audiences attention with hot openings that shock your customer with something they didn't know about a problem they didn't even know they had. Then, continue to spike attention throughout with provocative information that continues to stimulate the old brain into action.

4. Stop "we" phrasing and start "you" phrasing -- too many salespeople "we, we, we" all over themselves when they present. We do this, we can do that, we can solve this. Try replacing every "we" with a "you". The customer needs to see themselves as the hero in the story. You are the mentor. They need to engage the dialogue and the use of "we" is confusing...I know you want it to sound like you are a partner, but it is confusing to the buyer's brain. They are making the decision, they have to live with the consequences, they need to engage the presentation and see themselves doing something different and better as a result of what you say.

Try these as starters.

Candyce nailed it! The biggest mistake sales people make is making a presentation to a group of people assuming they already know their needs and that they want to hear what they're saying.

Ideally, the sales person should interview the specific customer thoroughly so that the entire presentation is about the customer, not the sales person's company at all. The idea being to paint the picture of the opportunity or challenge faced by the customer and the monetary benefit to the customer of finding a solution so clearly that at the end of the presentation the only thing that needs be said is "my company do this for you."

For what it’s worth, you have already received some excellent feedback from Candyce and Crag.

In a single word I believe the problem starts with a lack of 'dialog or dialogue.' Webster defines the word as: A: a conversation between two or more persons; B: an exchange of ideas and opinions… more. Too often we push to 'tell' rather than first 'inquire'

In my experience I frequently find sales people:

1) fail to take the time up front to fully understand the prospects real needs.

2) They assume they can overcome any 'issues' by talking too much. I call this approach 'Show & Tell' and it is a fast way to lose an order.

3) Many sales people use the Internet to give presentations in lieu of face-to-face meetings. People still buy from people and you should never miss a F-T-F opportunity whenever possible. Obviously distance often changes the equation.

Training cannot be assumed just because you hire experienced reps. The responsibility falls on you to establish how dialog is conducted in your organization.

Good Luck,

Howard Highsmith, CMC

Candyce, you're hired. Agree with all the feedback on this one.

I believe the biggest mistake and disconnect when making a sales presentation is not relaying VALUE. Customers hate to be sold but love to buy. Most buy on the aspect of Value not Price. Some are solely price conscious but the majority of customers want Value for whatever services they need.

If a sales rep can relate how their product, service and even themselves personally is valuable then the sale is in the bag.

First, try to remove the word "sale" form your company lexicon. Think instead of buyer and purchases. Simple, but changes the way you and your client think of the transaction.
Next, know what stage of the buying cycle your customer is in, awareness, trust, need/want or buy. The mistake I see most often is trying to move a client from the start of the cycle to buy, without confirming their need and establishing trust. The objective is to move the client to the next level of the purchase.
Last, use the "Ultimate Question" to confirm your clients satisfaction with their purchase and gain a reference.

Many good answers above. I guess "it depends."

When prospecting for new business, it is not uncommon for a contact to say "come and present to us." That is their expectation. Do you go along with it, give them what they are expecting, or do you do something different? Do you risk losing the opportunity by replying "I don't want to present - I want to come and learn more about your business," or do you just turn up and conduct the meeting without leaning on PowerPoint?

So many variables. I always consider that the mostly standard presentation that sales people give, subconsciously sends the message that they are presenting to just another standard prospect. Prospects may not be immediately aware of this but somewhere, lurking in the back of their minds, is enough info to make them feel like "just another potential customer."

IDC indicated that only 16% of sales people are extremely well prepared. They also happen to be the top performers. Another 26% are very well prepared, and fall in to the B-tier of sales people. In each of those cases, there is far more discipline around learning as much about the prospect as possible. That not only means looking at the variety of on-line resources to learn the name of their CEO etc. but also taking a detailed look at their industry, current trends, legislative changes, competitor moves, technology landscape and so on.

Every meeting should be backed by a solid, well researched business case for why that prospect should buy from you. But the first meeting might result in you not even getting your laptop out of your bag, or talking much about your product or service. You are looking for alignment. Play a consulting role. Go where your competitors do not know how to get to. Develop an emotional bond with your prospect. Bring up the topics, challenges, and opportunities that his/her competitors are facing right now. Discuss what is happening in the industry in general and ask how these things are impacting them.

But, to re-emphasise, every question you ask, every topic you discuss, must fall in line with the business case for why the prospect should buy from you.

Instead of scribbling notes on a pad, or boring the audience to tears with 30 slides each containing too many bullet points, use a white board, stand up, write notes on that instead, summarizing the key topics as they are discussed. As the meeting wraps, go through the list. Confirm its accuracy. Ask if you missed anything. Talk about priorities. Then take the sheet(s) of paper and use the content to work up a solid proposal as well as fresh content for a presentation that you can give at the follow-up meeting.

Make the entire meeting about the prospect, the company, the industry in which they work, their competitors etc. and you will establish that emotional connection that goes a very long way towards a new deal and a loyal customer.