Involve Your Prospect in Your Sales Presentation
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by Dan Seidman 
In this horror story, junior telecom rep Joe learns the hard way that it takes more than encyclopedic product knowledge to land the sale. Here's Joe's story:
I was about to go on the first sales call of my life, and I was terrified! As a customer service rep for a company that sold telephone systems, I'd taken a call from a prospect who wanted a sales rep to come out right away. Unfortunately, no sales reps were in the office. But I knew the product, so I quickly volunteered. I would show my employer how great I was and why they should promote me to an outside sales position.
It wasn't until I was in the car that my excitement began turning to fear: I realised I had no idea what I was going to say or do.
As I entered the prospect's office, I could barely hear anything over the pounding of my heart. We went to a conference room, where we sat down and he just stared at me. Since I didn't know how to start but I did know the product, I started talking about the product's features. No pleasantries, no questions, no qualifying; I just spoke about feature after feature.
As I was smothering the prospect with "sales vomit," I began to realise that I didn't know what I was going to do or say once I ran out of features to describe. I began to panic but just kept talking. He just stared at me, saying nothing and asking no questions.
I finally ran out of things to describe and abruptly stopped talking. He just sat there and looked at me. About 30 seconds went by (which seemed like two hours). He finally spoke: "I'll take it."
I was floored! My response: "Really?"
Then I realised that I didn't know how to fill out any of the detailed paperwork that was required. So I told him that I would have to go back to the office and arrange to bring someone back out with me. He said that was fine.
Naturally, once I called him to set up the next appointment, he had changed his mind. While I had left an interesting impression with him, he wasn't about to leave any money with me!
Postmortem
Joe's experience taught him that product knowledge is just a part of the selling process. It is also critical that your presentation is well rounded.
The prospect should be involved in the presentation experience. If Joe had asked the prospect a few questions, he may have had the necessary information to fill out the paperwork. Involve as many of the prospect's senses as possible; let him talk and ask questions, handle or experience the product and see testimonials of happy users. Craft your presentation as an interactive experience, not a stage show with a solo performer. When you help a buyer enjoy the buying experience, you'll have a better chance of landing -- and keeping -- the sale.
