A salesman told me last week in en route to a presentation “he had been through this process a million times” and he could get away with “winging” the call. I often think about doctors and pilots when I coach sales people on preparing for calls. I asked him what if a doctor performed surgery without first diagnosing the problem? How about flying the friendly skies when a pilot has no flight plan? These scenarios simply don’t happen.
They shouldn’t be occurring for your sales team either, but my educated guess is that “winging it” is more of the rule than the exception for sales presentations. If you’ll dedicate your sales training to a couple of simple rules you can have a great 2011 in sales revenue.
1. Don’t get out of the car without a plan. Cold calling is great, but you should always know where you are headed and why. Always carry client testimonial letters and be able to add value to everyone you meet and greet.
2. Practice your pitch and presentation. Do you have a 30 second commercial? The easiest way to develop a script it to ask this question: “If I were to recommend you to someone what would I tell them about you?” If you can say ‘so what’ to the reply, get a new pitch.
3. Record your presentations. Coach Pete always watches game film, why don’t you? Oh…you’re better than BSU?
4. Make your presentation show time. Do you have a prop or something to make it engaging or is it just like everyone else’s brochure and proposal?
5. Take a coach or mentor to your next presentation. Someone who will be honest and give you great constructive feedback
Million dollar tip: always ask for a next appointment during your proposal and complete the sales call by asking “what did you like best about my presentation today?”
Remember, in sales, if you are winging it, the technique is known as sales malpractice. Be a professional and follow our rules and never wing it again
