Muhammad Ali famously spruiked himself – “I am the greatest”. Which is fine if you’re a world-famous boxer trying to intimidate your opponent. But it’s hardly
something to emulate in a sales conversation with a prospect.
Yet, in subtle ways it’s all too common.
Ask yourself how your presentations start. Do they start with stuff about you, your company, how long you’ve been around, the successes you’ve had?
Or do they start with the problems and outcomes your prospective client is facing?
Which do you think is likely to have them leaning forward with interest?
Let’s face it, ultimately we’re all interested in ourselves. Our own self interest or what’s in it for me. Our own worries, fears, hopes and aspirations.
So rather than talk about yourself, talk about them.
Paint a picture together of where they’re at now and what the future could look like.
Make the future as vivid as possible. Have them feel how it would be to achieve it.
That gets emotional engagement. And as we all know, our buying decisions are at least 80% emotional and then backed up with left brain, logical reasons.
Further to this don’t talk about your process. At this stage they’re not interested. Yes, the time will come, but do it too soon and you’ll get polite nods and smiles, but when it comes to the crunch, you’ll hear things like, “We need to think about it.”
And finally, please, I beg of you, ditch the PowerPoint!
If you must draw something – use a whiteboard or if one on one, a piece of paper. The act of drawing draws people in and creates a completely different level of engagement.
Remember, your role is to bring your buyer on a journey with you. And you can only do that if they’re fully participating and involved in the story.
Do this and I know your results will soar.
Given this, if you’d like my help in structuring your sales system and conversations, reach out. As December and January is often a quiet time, it’s a great time to focus on your business and sales strategy heading into 2023.
Contact me regarding our Focus and Strategy sessions where we’ll work over the course of 30 days to:
- Define your major goals for 2023 including sales plans.
- The major challenges and risks and how to mitigate them.
- Determine the big rocks that need to be achieved.
- Define the resources you’ll require.
- Put together an implementation system with appropriate milestones
We have limited slots, so contact me at RevealedResources.com to get started.
