Sales Presentations Training

Losing Sight of The Goal is #11 of Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Their Presentations. The goal of a sales presentation is to get an appointment and get more money under management. An important part of your sales strategy is to give the prospects so many benefits of your expertise that the only reasonable next step is to engage you for all their needs. 

Remember the old “T” bar example of features vs benefits? It’s still very applicable today when preparing for a sales presentation. Make sure that you are giving your audience benefits and not features of your services.

I will confess to being a major offender of this when I was actively giving financial sales presentations. It’s easy to feel so naked in front of a huge audience and the tendency is to tell them everything you know. My real fear was that they might question my knowledge and wisdom. Don’t fall into this trap-trust yourself and leave them “hungry” for more of your knowledge and expertise. Keep on goal and let your sales presentation work to accomplish your goal of an appointment!

Steve Mertz
Remember “The Goal”

Tags: Sales Presentation Training, Goals , Presentation Training, Denver Sales Training.

Not Painting Great Visuals With Words. If I say the work Hawaii your mind immediately paints a beautiful picture of white sand, blue ocean, swaying palm trees, beautiful flowers and magnificent sunsets, right? Your mind does not spell out H-A-W-A-I-I. Use this to your advantage and make sure your words paint vivid images of prosperity that will have your audience tripping over each other to get your services.

Steve Mertz
Use Million Dollar Words!

Tags: Sales Presentation Training, Great Visuals, Presentation Training, Denver Sales Training.

Not Enough Humor in Presentation. Money is serious business but audiences learn better and retain more when they are laughing. You can make some pretty profound points by using humor. Rather than pick on the audience I always use self effacing humor to be on the safe side! If you are humor challenged email me and I will send you some recommendations of world class humorists who can punch up your presentation and even make your compliance officer smile!

Steve Mertz
Laughing Out Loud!

Tags: Sales Presentation Training, Humor In Presentations, Sales Training, Denver Sales Training.

A TV interview can be a great opportunity to promote your company and product or a miserable flop. A great way to prepare for this public speaking venture is to tape up a black piece of paper in your home and office. Put it in several different places and when you are near it look right at that paper and practice the critical points you hope to make! Make that black paper your best friend. 

On my first TV interview the interviewer was in a completely different room than me. When it came time for the interview the remote camera positioned itself in front of me and it was Show Time! Fortunately, I had practiced with that black paper and the interview went well. Don’t forget to look right into that camera not to the side or up or down!

Another TV interview tip: If you are being interviewed as an “expert” on a particular subject you might include some questions or guidelines that the interviewer might cover. Generally, as long as they are not too self promoting-they are appreciated by the interviewer to get to the heart of the matter!

Last tip: If they tell you your interview will be one minute and thirty eight seconds-they mean it, so be concise and don’t ramble! They also may cut your time or increase it so have “modules” to your speech that you can either add or subtract to your presentation!

Steve Mertz
Lights, Cameras..Action!

Killing Them With PowerPoint. You knew this had to be in the top 10 offenders list didn’t you? Don’t start with a Powerpoint presentation and put your material in between the slides! Slides are meant to clarify or emphasize critical points-not be the main attraction. Your words are more important to your audiences. Believe me when I tell you that no one really cares what the Dow Jones Average has done since 1926. Your audience wants to know how you are going to ensure their prosperity today!One of our main goals in any public speaking event is to keep those eyes opened! So, please remember that after you have fed your prospects and dim the lights for that snappy slide show-darkness is not your friend! Your audiences are just like you-when they are being persuaded they like to see the other persons eyes as much as possible. It is a crucial way that audiences gauge our passion and credibility!

PS Garr Reynolds has a great post today on PowerPoint called Al Gore: another presenter extraordinaire?

Steve Mertz
The Eyes Have It!

Tags: Sales Presentation Training, PowerPoint, Presentation Training, Colorado Sales Coach.

The 192 edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is being hosted this week at Blog d’ Elisson. 

The Carnvial of the Vanities is the oldest Carnival in the blog world and features some of the best writers and ideas. This Carnival covers topics from Current Events to Business Advice-something for everyone!

I have an entry in this weeks Carnival called: Part 4 of 15: Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Financial Presentations. This has been my most popular post ever and gives you a simple technique to enhance your public speaking skills as well as your sales presentation skills.

Enjoy this weeks Carnvial of The Vanities!

Steve Mertz
Carnival Participant

No Pauses in Sales Presentation. Have you ever noticed how world class speakers and comedians will ask a question in their presentation…And then pause? Wait five seconds and let the audience answer the question in their minds. They can be forming a powerful bond with you during this pause so don’t be a rookie and move on too fast! 

This is also a very powerful technique when you are making a thought provoking statement-just pause and let it just lay out there for a few seconds. It brings the audience “in” to your presentation and if there mind was wandering it brings the audiences attention back to your message. Try the pause-it’s very powerful!

Steve Mertz
Are These Sales Tips Helping You….

Tags: Sales Presentation Training, Power of Pause, Presentation Training, Colorado Sales Coach.

It was a beautiful day in Denver and I had sales coaching clients in the afternoon-right in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado. So, in the morning I checked out a couple of swanky new condo developments. The prices ranged from $300,000 to $3Million-in Denver that still buys you a boatload! Here are a few observations I made in my “Mystery Shopping” today. 

Kudos to those sales people who extended their hand for a firm handshake, looked me in the eye and welcomed me!

Kudos to those who were good conversationalist’s and discovered what had brought me in the door.

Kudos to those who didn’t sell me the features of their development but discovered my needs and showed me the benefits!

Kudos to those who did some good fact finding and some clever qualifying!

Kudos to those who asked me either to sign in or sign out as I was leaving-for those who didn’t get any contact info on me-how exactly are you planning on following up?

Kudos to CEO’s who do a little mystery shopping themselves-it’s a great way to find qualified and fabulous sales people.

Steve Mertz
Denver, Colorado Mystery Shopper