Sales Strategy Execution - Delivering Strategic Presentations

Salespeople typically have trouble selling to strategic issues and instead focus their presentations on the tactical pains that your solution solves or the solution features. You are being outsold by competitors with inferior solutions by not selling at the executive level.

Once salespeople understand the process of selling up the chain of value, they need the skills to craft an effective presentation that links your solution to those needs in a format that is relevant to an executive audience and hits home to everyone on the evaluation team.

Salespeople who can effectively articulate the benefit statements based on the personalities and roles of individuals on the evaluation committee are more likely to win. This requires the presentations to be structured.

Here are some simple steps to be able to do that effectively:

Presentation Strategy

(1) What are you selling?
(2) To whom are you selling it?
(3) Against what are you competing?
(4) In what environment do you expect the message to be received?

What are you selling? Why are you making the presentation? Take another look at the objective. Are you selling a plan of action, a need for action, a product, a service, or support for an idea?

To whom are you selling it? If you know your audience, you have some idea of its position on the subject.

Against what are you competing? Know your competition.

Presentation Organization

The introduction and conclusion cannot be neglected. At the outset, the presentation should gain the interest of the audience and convey to the listeners what is to be covered.

The body of the presentation, located between the introduction and the conclusion, contains the bulk of the message. It should be presented to the listener in a meaningful form.

In the conclusion, the presenter should review the key points of the presentation and pinpoint the action to be taken, if any.

Presentation Delivery

At the outset, the presenter must establish a rapport with the audience. Early in the presentation, the presenter will be judged, favorable or unfavorably, by the audience. After the audience decides whether it likes the presenter, it will determine whether it can give credence to what the presenter has to say.
Final Thoughts

In the new world of multi-media and web enablement there are new ways opf delivering presentations. In place of a live presentation in a boardroom can it be delivered via a video conferencing, Webex, Microsoft Live Meeting?

Finally, let's run down the list of things that you, as a presenter, should remember when you face the audience:

• Speak up. Make yourself heard.
• Keep your back to the wall.
• Avoid any mention of time during the opening comments.
• Maintain "eye-to-eye" contact.
• Stand erect and control your nervous habits.
• Relax and smile.
• Use stories to make your points.
• Reaffirm your points at the end of the presentation.

Now, you should be ready to prepare and make an effective presentation. Best wishes for success in the next one.