8

The Eyes Have It

Attract and Close More Buyers by
Using More Compelling Visuals, Plus, the
Biggest Mistakes Everyone Makes
When Presenting

As you’ve learned throughout this book, building the Ultimate Sales Machine is not just about sales but about tuning up every aspect of your business to run with precision. In this chapter, you will learn how to use visual aids with tremendous effect. You will also learn how to attract more buyers, influence them more effectively, and close more sales once you are in front of those buyers.

We human beings remember 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, but 50 percent of what we both see and hear. 7 Obviously your communication impact nearly triples when using visual aids over not using them. Information that is visually illustrated and communicated has a dramatic and direct impact on the brain.

As a top producer, I recall being very resistant to using visual aids. “I don’t need them,” I said. “I’m a top producer.” Then I took a high-end training program that showed not only how powerful visual aids are, but that they close more sales and close for higher rates. That’s right. Take the same product and present it directly to the prospect by talking about it and then take that same product and present it using visual aids. You will find that, not only do you close a higher percentage of prospects, but they will actually pay more money for the same product. That was it. I was sold. I began using visual aids in every sales situation.

Now, as a trainer, I always use visual aids in my training programs and find that they make the programs much more effective. In a recent seminar, I was speaking in front of 1,500 CEOs using slides every few seconds to illustrate my points. I was pounding through the slides and then came to the point where I was saying how powerful visual aids were. At that moment, I blanked the screen and asked the audience, “What just happened to this communication experience?” You could feel it. Every person in that room knew that the experience had just fallen off dramatically. Right there, they decided that they, too, had to start using more visual aids to better communicate

The Eyes Have It

Eighty-five percent of the information taken into the brain enters through the eyes. The largest part of the brain is set aside just to deal with information taken in visually. In my seminars I’ll ask folks, “How many images do you think the eyes can process in a single glance?” People will yell out, “Twenty!” or “Two hundred!” Then on the next slide I’ll show an aerial shot of a city skyline with millions of images. Obviously, the eyes can take in a lot more than 20 images in a single glance. With the eyes playing a significant role in the communication process, you’d be crazy not to use visuals every chance you get.

If you ignore the power of incorporating a visual component into your sales and marketing process, you may as well deliver it in a closet. Fail to stimulate the eyes, and the brain tunes out. As stated in the previous chapter’s section on radio advertising, the brain can take in information at 400 to 500 words per minute, yet people speak at only 125 words per minute. We can take in a lot more than we are given in a normal conversation or even a lecture if we can stay present. A visually rich presentation keeps the eyes busy and, therefore, keeps the brain more active and alert to learn the information you are presenting.

Color Also Helps

There are numerous studies on the impact of using color over black and white in your communication. Color attracts the eye and helps set the mood of your presentation, and each color has a different effect on the viewer. While red is the color that draws the eye the most, it may not be the color you want to use for every thing. Red denotes passion, but it is also the color for danger, blood, or being “in the red” on your balance sheet. Blue says tried and true, but it also means cool and refreshing. You’ll note that almost all bottled water companies use blue, as it is the color of our oceans. Orange says value. Think Howard Johnson’s or Home Depot—they use orange because studies show it denotes good value. Green is the color of money, but it’s also the color of fresh greens from the garden. So color has an impact. Think about what colors you want to use. And certainly, for your corporate look and feel, you want to choose the color that best suits your main message. 8

Graphics or photos of people are particularly effective. The physical body is the most attractive shape to us because it is the most familiar. Almost any part of the body draws our attention, including the hands, shoulders, or face. Even when looking at vacation photos of beautiful landscapes, most people ’s eyes are drawn to the people in those photos before they consider the actual landscape.

In my presentations, I use a graphic on every single panel, and every single area I cover is what I call storyboarded. When I present the information about what the eye is drawn to, I put up a graphic of a well-developed man running on the beach. Next is a graphic of a woman in a swimming pool. Then I ask folks what was in the background. Usually they’ve barely noticed. But they can tell you what the woman was wearing and the color of the man’s swimming trunks. The eye is drawn to physical images, so use the human figure wherever you can in your presentations.

Visual aids such as PowerPoint, storyboards, flip charts, and diagrams can keep your audience engaged in your presentation. Even if you are selling by telephone, it’s important to incorporate something visual. Ask the prospect to draw a diagram or two as you are talking and use it to make your points. The triangle graphic we used in Chapter Four to illustrate who is in your stadium is a perfect example. If I were trying to teach you that over the telephone, I’d say: “Draw a triangle. Now draw a line through just the top 3 percent of that triangle. Next to that write down, ‘Buying now,’” and so on.

Here is a graphic I used in a core story for a company that was selling to lawyers.

image

In the 10 years between 1970 and 1980, the number of lawyers in the United States grew by almost 200,000. From 1980 to 1990, we added another 168,000 lawyers. But in the two years from 1990 to 1992, we added another 253,000 lawyers! The United States gained more lawyers in two years than in any 10 years prior. Do you know why? Some speculate that the show L.A. Law made the legal profession appear a lot more glamorous than it had in the past.

Look again at the details of the graphic. Notice how the sizes of the numbers (of lawyers) get bigger as the numbers get higher. We didn’t have to do that. We could have made the numbers the same size for each decade of growth. But by making the numbers bigger as well, the graphic has a lot more visual impact. Every detail can make a difference. In the actual slide, we use the color red for the biggest number, 973K. That number is surrounded by a red circle. Red draws the eye to the important information, but it also is the color of danger. For the lawyers to whom we were presenting this information, such a rapid swelling in their professional ranks was bad news. As the number of lawyers in the United States grew, the total billing for the market was only growing at its normal rate, and so as a group, lawyers were going to be making less money than ever before.

As you can see, visual aids enable you to tell more story in the same period of time. They can communicate more information, with more impact, and they make your presentation much more professional and polished. Visual aids immediately raise the expectations of your audience. If your material is well prepared, your prospect’s interest level and expectations go up immediately. Think of how much closer you are to closing the deal when your prospect is in that state of mind as opposed to half asleep and wondering when your presentation will be over.


image Exercise

Right now, think of a few of your sales points that you can communicate using visual aids. Maybe it’s the performance of your product or service. Is it faster or easier than your competitors’? How would you show that? Maybe it’s production or output? Can you use a bar chart or graph to show the difference between you and all your competitors? Write down five sales points you want to communicate and think through how you might show these points instead of just telling them. Can you use common shapes? If you sell by phone, can you say things like “Picture it like a triangle with the top cut off.” Or can you get your audience to actually draw something? This would be a great exercise to do with your team as a workshop.

Rules for Effective Presenting

Rule 1. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

Your presentation needs to be easy to follow and understand. Don’t clutter the page with text or too many graphics. You should have no more than one big heading and only three to four bullet points per panel.

Rule 2. K.I.F.P. (Keep It Fast Paced)

Prospects will get bored if you spend too much time on one page. You should be covering two to three panels a minute. Don’t just show one and stand there and talk for 10 minutes. Keep the presentation moving. There should be a new point coming up visually every 15 seconds or so. Or, if it is a panel with three bullets, have only one bullet come up at a time. If all three come up, your audience will read on ahead and you will lose control. Done properly, visual aids give you more control over the communication experience at every level. In Web seminars, it’s critical to have constant images flashing across the screen. You’re not in the room with them, so they can start checking email and multitasking unless you’re showing so much new data or so many images every few seconds that they have no time to multitask. One of the bonuses that you receive from purchasing this book is a $61 discount to a superbly crafted Web seminar that follows all these rules. See www.chetholmes.com/book for details.

Rule 3. Use “Wow” Facts and Statistics

You literally want your client to say, “Wow! I didn’t know that.” As you learned in Chapter Four (“Becoming a Brilliant Strategist”), factual information at the beginning of any presentation creates a sense of credibility that carries over even for the “sales” part of your presentation. But facts that are particularly jarring or revealing have a power beyond just establishing credibility. They keep people interested and give them something right off the bat to remember. Later that night at dinner, your prospects might tell their husband or wife. The next day, they’ll tell a colleague and it will spread from there. Choosing Wow facts can also set up the buying criteria for your product or service and turn every one who hears your presentation into a minisalesperson for you.

Here are two examples:

This is a Wow fact panel.

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This information was used by a client who sells supplements that improve your body’s ability to fight toxins in the environment. His entire core story was filled with remarkable data that made people say, “Wow!”

image

According to research that was done for this client, in 1929 the average male’s sperm count was 100 million per milliliter. By 1980 it was down to 20 million. Today it’s only 5 million. While 5 million still sounds like a lot of sperm (it only takes one to get a woman pregnant), this information viewed in context of our past is pretty darn scary. The loss of sperm and infertility are worldwide problems, but they are much worse in the United States than anywhere else. This is market data and it’s way more motivational than product data. Especially if you are selling nutritional supplements as this company is doing (www.primezyme.com). Again, to get “wows” you need to look at information over time. If I told you that we have 5 million sperm per milliliter, that’s not big news. But when you see that it was 100 million, 70-some years ago, that’s really powerful.

The first thing to do with any presentation is provide an overview of your industry over time. I had a client who sold to car dealerships. So the first thing we did was look at how many car dealerships there are selling how many cars. And that’s a nice little fact that should be in your core story if you’re presenting to car dealerships. But if you look at what’s happened to them since 1950, it gets you a “Wow, I didn’t know that,” from the dealer. According to this client’s research, in 1950, 47,000 car dealerships sold 7 million new cars per year. Now 17,000 dealerships sell 21,000 new cars per year (does not count used vehicles sold). Car dealerships are consolidating like crazy. Is this important? Not really. Does it get the dealer to say, “Wow, I didn’t know that.” Yes. Does it start right off establishing that you know more than the person you’re presenting to? Yes. So begin every core story or presentation with Wows.


image Exercise

Who is the audience for your presentation? Write down five overview facts you’d like to know about that would be interesting to them. Then set about finding this information over time. How many of them are there? How many were there 30 years ago? What is the failure rate of this type of company? Or if it’s a consumer matter, what are the issues surrounding those consumers that are going to be of interest to them? The same information you put on your Web site can be used in your presentations.

I had a client that wanted to sell skincare products to day spas. So I asked the researcher to tell me the failure rate of day spas. I was looking for the pain point to motivate spa owners to take interest in my client’s hot new service. The data came back—the failure rate was very small. However, because we asked the researchers to look at data over time, we discovered that the growth rate was unbelievable—from approximately 90 day spas in the U.S. in 1980 to 16,000 today. So instead of focusing on the failure rate, what conclusion could we draw from that data that might be bad news for day spas? Competition—major competition. When you do the research, it will give you all kinds of ideas you’d never think of for positioning the importance of your product or service.

Rule 4. Build in Opportunities for Stories

Well-told stories increase recall by another 26 percent over making a point without a story to illustrate it. People love stories. When I was selling advertising for a magazine, I tried to get to a big advertiser. I met with the director of marketing, who would not let me meet the owner of the company. But he loved my ideas, and I was sure I had the sale. After I left, he went to the owner with the information. The owner said no. The marketing director thanked me for trying and sent me on my way.

I deliberately didn’t follow up with him because I knew the only thing he could say was no. In fact, I waited six full months, hoping he would forget me altogether. I then went over his head to the owner of the company and got an appointment. If I had done this right away, the marketing director would’ve felt slighted. How dare I go over his head? But since I waited six months, it went exactly as planned. Basically, he had forgotten all about me, and when I got there, the CEO called in the marketing director to join us. He said to me, “Hey, I know you.” We shook hands and I got to present my material to the owner with this fellow in the room. He was supportive once, so I figured he’d be supportive again.

When I finished, the CEO said: “Okay. You convinced me. We’ll take a page of advertising and try it out.” I said, “One page is not the way to test advertising.” The owner said, “Atta boy,” impressed that I was pushing him to make a real commitment. He took three pages for his test. They sold training programs and needed to make 28 sales to break even on the ad. He pointed out: “I don’t even need to make a profit on it—I’ll make that on the back end. Once a client buys from us, they keep buying. So all I need to do is break even and we’ll advertise again.”

The first ad ran and they only got six responses. It was an awful response rate for an expensive magazine ad. I did tremendous amounts of follow-up. I went to see him and showed him letters with impressive success stories from other companies that had advertised in the magazine. I stayed in his face, my faith in my magazine unwavering. This is the opposite of what most salespeople do when things don’t work. When a deal starts to go bad, most salespeople start to back off from calling the client. They’re afraid to face the music.

The next ad ran and got an even worse response rate—just four responses. This was abysmal. And then the next ad ran and got only two responses. Each time, I intensified my follow-up with more and more stories of how other companies got amazing response rates. Maybe I should point out in my defense that he ran an ad that featured three different authors of his training programs, and each one had progressively less hair. The dull black-and-white ad looked more like a hair replacement ad than an ad for professional training programs. I told him his ad wasn’t working and he needed one that would stand out. I presented all the information you learned in the previous chapter about how to create an ad that will stop people in their tracks and suggested, “If you really want to get attention, you need to buy a full-page spread and put an insert in the middle of it. This way the magazine will open to your ad (because the insert is a card stock material). On the insert you can put an order form for folks to order.”

He listened and took a four-color, full-page spread and insert, following my advice on content and design, in the annual trade show issue. This was much more expensive than his other three ads, so this was sink or swim for me. I had built enormous credibility by not backing off in the face of failure, and the client was following my advice one last time. With that single $18,000 insert ad and spread, he sold $650,000 worth of programs. I was vindicated and the company became a regular advertiser, never to doubt me again.

This story illustrates many points. If I just said to you, “Make sure you stay in your prospect’s face even more if things aren’t going right,” that sounds good, but telling this story dramatically makes the point. I sell training programs that teach the importance of better follow-up, so this story certainly shows the importance of that. What are you selling and what story illustrates the need for your product or service?

Rule 5. Your Presentation Should Be Curiosity Driven

Unfold the information in a way that keeps your prospects curious. Give them a fact first and follow it with an explanation. Also, continually presell the rest of the presentation throughout the presentation. Keep alluding to information yet to come. Keep them anticipating the information you are about to tell them. For example, while presenting the information about the increase in lawyers, you could say, “And this means you have some serious competition, but the news gets worse when I show you the next point.” There is a righteous presell that really makes the person want to see the next slide.

Rule 6. Think of Each Headline as Valuable Real Estate

Every header should work as hard as possible. It should intrigue the prospects and sell the panels. Don’t waste them by being repetitious or not thinking them through. A good rule is to summarize the most important point on the panel. I’ve seen a lot of people build a presentation that will use the same headline (say, “Facts about the market”) on several panels in a row. That might be fine for the first panel that starts off with facts about the market, but then on the next panel (which talks about growth rate of the industry or trend), put “Staggering growth rate” or “Slowing growth rate hurting us all.” Don’t be lazy. Work to make every headline work hard for you.

Rule 7. Be Confident but Not Obnoxious

Develop a rapport with your audience even if it’s just one person facing you. If you have a large audience, one way to do this is to stretch with them. Ask them all to stand up, put their hands over their heads, and stretch to their right. Since you are facing them, stretch to your left. That way you are stretching in the same direction as they are. This simple act creates a subconscious bond with your audience. Another way to bond is to have them talk about their problems or the things that are not working for them in their business. Misery loves company, so engaging them on problems creates an instant bond.

Rule 8. Focus on Them, Not on You

Maturity is when all of your mirrors turn into windows.

anonymous


Most people live their lives surrounded by mirrors, focusing on themselves. They see their feelings, their needs. They think about how they are coming off to other people and whether or not they will get what they want. I love the line where a famous actor says to someone: “But enough of me talking about myself. What do you think about me?” Everyone’s favorite topic of conversation is themselves. So turn those mirrors into windows and you will be a much better presenter, salesperson, trainer, executive, or leader. The most mature person in a relationship is the one listening the most. He or she is thinking about the other person’s needs and how to meet them. If you can be this person when you are presenting to your prospects and remain focused on their needs and how you can help them, you will become a top producer.

Whenever possible, I start all my training by finding out the challenges that my audience is facing. After building a little rapport in a one-on-one meeting, it’s also good to ask, “So what are some of the problems you’re seeing in your industry right now?” After you gather all their challenges, a great segue to your core story is to say something like “Those challenges you’ve mentioned come up a lot with other clients. That’s one of the reasons we had some research conducted about our industry/market/profession. Our findings were so profound that we put them into an executive briefing that’s quite revealing. Here. Let me show you some of this data.” At that point you can open your laptop to present your core story.

The Three Modes of Communication

There are three modes of communication operating simultaneously as you present: your words, the tone of your voice, and your body language. Your prospect’s subconscious is processing all of these cues at once. When I teach this live, I show how the same words said with different tonality can change, if not the meaning, then certainly the perception of your prospect. Over the telephone, your tonality is going to be far more important than the words that you use. If you are insecure, even if you’re saying the perfect words, prospects hear that insecurity and their reaction will reflect that.

The most powerful thing you can do over the telephone is to speak with what I call a voice of authority. Sound important or like the issues you are about to discuss are important. That screams to the subconscious of your prospect. When I have a top studio head or the CEO of a $100 billion company on the telephone, my voice communicates that I am important and that what I have to say is important as well. Practice sounding like an investigating detective with a lot of authority in your voice. It’s a very powerful tonality and grabs the attention of your prospects right away.

In person, tonality’s impact is strong as well, but now your body language and facial expressions, no matter how subtle, tell your prospect a lot about what you really believe.

Everything you do from saying “um” to tucking your hair behind your ear to cracking your knuckles is communicating something to your prospect. And it may even contradict what you are actually saying. You need to be conscious of how you move and speak. Make your body, your face, and your voice work in your favor. Be confident on the inside, and your communication will show it.

For example, you can use your own body movements as well as theirs to take control of the meeting. As I just mentioned, in a large group, it’s a great idea to ask people to stretch. Not only are you bonding with the audience, but you are also taking control of the meeting by telling your audience what to do. When you walk on stage and immediately tell your audience to stand up, they feel they are probably going to have a good experience because you seem so in control. This is especially useful if you are nervous in front of groups—it will give you a better sense of control.

An audience likes a speaker who appears to be in command. In a small group or one-on-one sales meeting, you also want to take control. Unless you are a yoga instructor, it would be awkward to ask one or a few people to stretch. But it’s still a good idea to ask them to move. Since you never want anything between you and your prospect in any sales situation, ask them to move out from behind their desk. I’ve asked hundreds of CEOs to do this, and only one of them has ever said no.

I’ve been in situations presenting my film ideas to top movie studio executives. In one such meeting, I had a seasoned producer come with me to meet with an executive whom I asked to come around his desk so that he could better see the material I wanted to show him. The producer nearly fell over in astonishment. But, sure enough, this top studio executive came around the desk and sat next to me. That gave me far greater control, not to mention a much better opportunity to build rapport. So if you’re presenting one-on-one, simply say: “You know what? I think I can show you this better if we sit side by side.”

Eight Common Mistakes Presenters Make

Mistake 1: Thanking Prospects for Their Time or Apologizing for Taking It

I know other trainers say to thank prospects for their time, but I do not agree with that philosophy. This shows that you consider their time more valuable than yours. It also suggests to them that listening to you is far less important than other things they could be doing. It belittles everything you have to say. Never apologize or thank them for their time. If you do a good job, then they will thank you. I was traveling with a salesman who was selling to lawyers. He would start off the meeting saying: “The first thing I want to do is apologize for taking your time. I know you charge for your time, so this is valuable time for you.” It was straight uphill from there. The attorneys would take the position that their time was very valuable and every thing after that was rushed. Big mistake.

Mistake 2: Presenting with Your Hands in Your Pockets

This makes you look like a slacker. Always keep your hands above your waist and out in front of your body.

Mistake 3: Presenting from a Sitting Position

People will pay more for the same product when it is presented to them from a standing position than when it is presented from a sitting position. So stand up when presenting. It’s a position of greater authority. Even in one-on-one meetings, it will change the dynamic. “Do you mind if I stand while I present this? I think better on my feet.” I’ve never had anyone say, “No, don’t stand.”

Mistake 4: Being Led Around by Your Nose

If the prospect asks a question in the middle of your presentation, a common mistake is to interrupt what you are saying and answer it right then and there. I’ve seen this 100 times. If the prospect takes control of the meeting, you will not make the sale. Don’t let him lead. In any sales situation, you need to take the lead. Even if you are selling retail, you’re never going to close someone if you’re following him around the store. Instead, ask him what he’s looking for and lead him to that item in your store. Get him to follow you and you’re on your way to a close. You must lead to close even if leading means asking a lot of questions. You’re still the one controlling the meeting.

Mistake 5: Letting the Materials Upstage You or Guide You

Many salespeople cling to the presentation as if that would make the sale. The presentation is never going to make the sale. You are. Visual aids are just that, aids. You are the presenter.

One thing I do when interviewing salespeople is to have them present something to me. I’ll give them 10 panels of a presentation (core story) and allow them a few minutes alone to practice them. And then I’ll come back in and ask them to present. If they read the bullets mindlessly, they’re in for big trouble out in the field. A great presenter can make those bullets roar to life with excitement.

Mistake 6: Keeping It Totally Serious

Humor increases interest and retention. Every core story or presentation should have some humor built into the panels. A joke from a popular cartoon like The Far Side is great for this—you can buy the 365-day calendar and just page through it, looking for a joke that will be funny at a certain point in your delivery. When I teach this program live, for example, I introduce “Sammy Schleb, the world’s worst presenter,” and show how he ruins his opportunities by presenting poorly.

Mistake 7: Failing to Practice the Presentation Each and Every Time Before You Give It

The more you know the material, the more persuasive, powerful, and effective you can be. If you are glued to the presentation and have to read it, you’re in trouble. The biggest mistake most presenters make is reading the presentation without practicing aloud, pretending they have a live audience. It’s in the out-loud practicing that you’ll develop great segues, presells for info yet to come, and perhaps even a little humor.

One of my clients hired a salesman and gave him a video training program teaching him how to present and a fantastic full-color presentation to practice. He rehearsed until he felt he was ready, and then presented to me and the CEO of the company. We listened to a painfully dull, word-by-word reading of the bullets. I retrained him immediately. We covered all the points in this module:

Then the sales rep went out and presented to 20 clients. He didn’t get even one sale. Confounded, the CEO and I thought we’d better take a look at how he was doing the presentation. To our horror he was still reading the bullets mindlessly. He did not link the points together or relate them directly to the prospect’s business. There was nothing dynamic about his delivery, no stories to illustrate his points, no humor.

I worked with him some more and then we reviewed his process two weeks later. He had developed cue cards to help him be more dynamic. No help. He was still sluggish and wooden. The moral to the story? Some people just can’t present. Others are natural communicators and born to present. That said, practice can make a huge difference. And whatever you do, test this trait before you hire someone.

Here’s another true story: In an almost identical situation, where the rep just did not know his material, the client actually took the presentation away from him. The client said, “I can read these bullets faster on my own.” That’s what you call dying in front of an audience.

Mistake 8: Having No Idea What Comes Next in the Presentation

You need to presell every panel if you can. Make your audience’s mouths water with anticipation. “The next panel is the number one most important point I am going to show you.” By knowing your material so you know what comes next, you can preframe, presell, and promise great material in the sections yet to come. This way you keep the excitement and anticipation going all through the presentation. By knowing the material cold, you can have what I call “the patter between the panels.” Draw some conclusions for your prospect/audience. Have great segues. All through the earlier chapters in this book, I reference material yet to come. That’s called a presell, and you may have noticed how it made you want to continue.


image Exercise

Outline a quick 30-panel presentation that you could deliver to a prospect. Write a great title that makes people want to see the presentation. On panel 2, put “Areas covered.” The purpose of this panel is only to sell the heck out of the material yet to come. It’s not to upstage you by giving things away. So here’s a boring example of areas covered:

AREAS COVERED

There is no sizzle here. You’re also telling them that there’s going to be a sales pitch at the end. So let’s try this:

 

AREAS COVERED

The next part of your presentation should cover industry data—Wows that establish interest right away.

Then you can go into issues or problems that your clients are going to have. I know other trainers say: “Don’t call them problems. Call them challenges.” Yes, that’s fine when you’re referring to your “challenges” internally. But when you’re presenting to clients, you can tell them that they have problems. It sounds worse and puts them in the mind-set to be open to solutions.

If you’ve done a great job, it will be extremely clear that your products or services will solve some of those problems. In the case of the client selling art to hospitals, obviously, his art isn’t going to solve all the problems they present, but presenting a lot of problems motivates people to action. Often, some of that action will come your way—making executives want to take some action at the end of the bad news you showed them.

Finally, you should never just blatantly pitch your product. You should only use your product or service as an example. You can even have a section that says, “What to look for if you need to buy artwork.” And there you can lay out the “buying criteria” that will help them make a wise decision in their purchasing. If you do a great job and they agree with the criteria, you are now well on your way to their wanting your product over any other. This is a science of intelligent thinking that can reward you with much higher closing rates and a vastly improved method of getting in to see prospects.

 

Conclusion

You will get in to see far more prospects if you offer education than you will if you just try to sell your product. Often, a great education can make people realize they need your product. When you offer just to sell them the product, they might not feel they need it, so you’re not going to get in the door.

One last thing: Even though we have talked about all the things your “presentation” should do, never call it that to a prospect. A “presentation” sounds like a sales pitch. We call ours an “orientation.” An even better term for some people is “an executive briefing.”