Today’s guest post is from Liza Sperling from ClearSlide. The “how-to” series on the Funnelholic has done really well and Clearslide has a lot of buzz. It’s a great match! BTW, Liza is like a ball of energy if you ever get the chance to meet her.
It’s go time. After weeks of research, emails and phone calls, it’s time for the sales presentation. Whether you are presenting virtually or face to face, sales presentations can feel more like a land mine than an opportunity, but presentations are a more critical part of the sales process than ever. As Forrester‘s Lori Wizdo explains, buyers now spend anywhere from two thirds to 90% of the sales process on their research before reaching out to a vendor. That means sellers need to take their presentations to another level to leverage the narrow window of opportunity and engage a far more educated buyer. Follow these ten steps, and you’ll be in great shape.
1. Maximize your selling time by minimizing technical issues.
Don’t spend your time troubleshooting technical issues or dodging firewalls or worse yet, have your prospect spend their time with these issues. A link-based presentation platform will help you avoid download snafus. All attendees need is a browser and a link to join the presentation – that’s it. ClearSlide’s technology is seamless, so that you can focus on one thing: engaging your audience.
2. Upload and organize content.
You can upload more than just Powerpoint. Make sure you include videos and images. You may also want to sync your ClearSlide account with your storage site of choice, including Google Drive, Dropbox or Box.
3. Start your presentation in one click with Start Live Pitch.
See that blue button below? Click it. You are live and ready to go.
4. If you are presenting online, simply share your “viewer’s link” with your audience.
In this case the viewer’s link is clearslide.com/yourname.
Pro-tip: If you are presenting in-person, you may want to use ClearSlide Remote. You’ll have access to all of your content in the palm of your hand. ClearSlide is “device agnostic” so you can participate or present on all mobile devices. If you meet a prospect at a conference, you can call up a presentation and pitch them live.
5. Expect the unexpected, and prepare accordingly.
Smart sales people always plan for tough questions and objections. You should organize your content around these objections, so that you can easily respond immediately to requests for testimonials, case studies or product detail.
6. It’s a conversation, not a presentation.
A great presentation is a dynamic conversation and requires communication. That means letting the conversation and your customers’ needs drive the flow, not the deck marketing rolled out at the last sales kickoff. Don’t stick to the usual powerpoint slides. Include different types of content like videos, images, animation and live websites. If there’s a question about a vertical or calculating ROI, respond with a video of your customer answering that question.
7. One size does not fit all. Ditch the elevator pitch.
Most customers have done their homework before a sales presentation and don’t want to hear the boilerplate pitch. Tailor your content to the specific audience and to their reaction and questions. Remember “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories? Your presentations should develop in a similar way. Toggle to the specific piece of content you need precisely when you need it. Do a deeper dive on areas that resonate with your audience and skip the content that doesn’t resonate. Scripts are important for training and familiarizing yourself with new subject matter, but a sales presentation requires a genuine conversation and the ability to partner with your audience to “choose your own adventure”.
8. REPEAT.
Now that you are on a roll, don’t lose your momentum. Don’t stop to log your activities into your CRM. ClearSlide has you covered, and your activities will be automatically logged into your CRM. Can’t remember if you covered pricing or shared a case study? Don’t worry,the pitch recap captures the history of all content covered down to the second.
9. Strike a pose – a “power pose.”
Your mom was right. Sitting up straight matters. Amy Cuddy’s research on body language asserts that we can change other people’s perceptions – and even our own body chemistry – simply by shifting our body into positions associated with dominance and power. She suggests “power posing”: stand up, expand and uncross your arms and legs.
10. Have fun.
Too often this advice is lost on presenters who are focused on the content or technical hurdles. but if you are not having fun, your viewers are sleeping or miserable. You know your content, you have eliminated technical hurdles, so now it’s your job to enjoy the conversation. Fun is the result of being in your sweet spot. Do you remember the last time you saw a presenter have fun? I took this photo of Kathy Sierra presenting at Hubspot’s Inbound conference. Kathy was having fun. She knows her subject matter and loves sharing it while striking a power-pose. Kathy was not trying to sell anything but an idea, but she could have sold each member of the audience a pony during that 45 minute session. Now that’s fun.
Now it’s your turn. If you’ve made it this far, you are ready. You’ve got this.
Liza Sperling is the Evangelist at ClearSlide, where she drives thought leadership, industry partnerships and influencer relationships. Prior to ClearSlide, Liza focused on growing market share at three software startups, all of which were acquired. With 15+ years of experience launching, marketing and selling enterprise technology and managing strategic relationships to drive revenue, Liza has a proven track record of driving measurable success both in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street.
Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic and a co-founder of Topo. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter