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I'm reading your question to mean that the sales person is conducting the interview, not the other way around. I may have read it wrong and you're asking if we should look at the sales presentation as the client interviewing us.

In either case though ,I'd have to say no, Lauren. A mindset of interviewing at the time of sales presentation will limit your ability to present your solution with confidence.

It may just be semantics but a sales presentation in my world comes very near the end of the process. There is a very strong interview component to the sales process but it happens at the beginning.

The questioning has to happen very early in the process - way before you present a solution. By the time you are actually making a presentation, you should know all you need to know.

I teach that when you make a presentation and close the sale, there should be no surprises. The early interviewing (fact-finding, data-gathering, needs analysis, etc) should afford you the opportunity to make a presentation that you know meets the client'd needs and thus there's no need for an interview at this point in the game.

Dan McDade

President, PointClear, LLC

Posted on Sept. 15, 2011

I agree with Rick. Prospects today have much higher expectations of sales reps - and those expectations don't include interviewing or being interviewed. I think a better question is should sales be selling, or consulting. Companies reach out to vendor/partners for help solving problems that they might only have to solve once while the partner has solved the problem many times for many different companies. It is not unusual for very high level sales executives to encounter objections two minutes into a sales call because people are just busy, and a bit cynical. The faster the sales executive can build credibility by asking the right questions and by citing the right examples of solutions provided to relevant, known companies, the longer the meeting will last and the better the outcome. The original question is a good one as it causes one to think about the best approach a sales call.

S. Anthony Iannarino

Managing Director, B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy

Posted on Sept. 16, 2011

None of these responses make any sense without the original post: http://thesalesblog.com/2011/08/you-think-you-are-presenting-you-are-being-in...

They need the context of my original point: Salespeople sometimes believe they need to plow through a 96-slide PowerPoint presentation to win a deal, and their prospective client really wants to engage with them in a dialogue.

Prospective clients want to discuss ideas and they want to make sure they are picking the right partner. Presentations, while necessary, shouldn't outweigh the client's need to engage in a meaningful discussion. The salesperson and the dialogue are what create value, otherwise we might as well send the slide deck through email.

You wouldn't show up for a job interview with a slide deck and talk for 90 minutes (well, most wouldn't). You are presenting and it is analogous to an interview in that your prospect is trying to decide who to hire.

Michael A Brown Replied on Sept. 16, 2011

Bingo! Dialogue beats depositions and conversations beat interrogations. We know of no prospects who have been narrated into submission. Good post, sir!