Selling is about listening, not presenting

Are your salespeople out giving lots of presentations but closing very little business? Do they think,"People love me, I have a great PowerPoint, I am ready,willing and able to present my product anytime." Is that what it takes? Selling should always be more about asking and listening than about telling.

Continuous coaching from sales managers is needed in this area.Your salespeople love the products and services they sell and are very knowledgeable about them.Of course they want to go out and tell everyone.

Steady, consistent sales come when we learn about our customers, their goals, their problems and their vision for growth and then determine if there is a fit between that and our product and service.

The only way to do that is by listening.

Salespeople need to be masters at asking the right questions and listening to the answers.

Tips for determining if your solution will fit the customer.

1.

Be sure you are talking to all of the people who will be involved in the decision.

2.

Prepare your questions in advance so you can give your full attention to the person speaking, not to wondering what you will say next.

3.

Take notes.

This is important for many reasons; you won't have to interrupt the speaker, you can remember the answers and jot down how your solution would help, you can prepare for follow-up questions, you can summarize at the end and you can use your notes to prepare your presentation.

4.

Interject only briefly and if relevant with a clarification question or with a feature or benefit that fits something the speaker mentioned.

5.Most people love to talk about themselves and their company.

Allow them to do that and ask good questions to keep them on track so you get the information you need.

So if salespeople are asking and listening instead of telling and presenting how does the prospect learn about the solution? The solution should be interwoven into the conversation as appropriate.

For example you ask,"How has your company solved this problem in the past?"The answer is "We have never really found a solution." Is this an invitation for the salesperson to dive in with their product information? No.

More questions need to be asked like,"What have you tried?" and after the answer,"Why didn't that work?"The answers will help determine if your solution is a good fit.At that point a follow up might be,"It sounds like you need a solution that will be easy to use and doesn't need constant monitoring, is that right?" Depending on the answer, reveal some information about how your solution might work in that case.

Then move on to ask more questions to get the rest of the information needed.

After all these questions, at some point the prospect will want to know about your solution.

Is this the time to get out the PowerPoint and start presenting? No.

First make sure all of your questions have been answered and let them know that you will come back with a solution to fit their needs.

(Much of the time, preliminary questions can be asked over the phone, especially when may people need to be reached prior to a presentation and they are not available to meet in person or all at the same time.)

At this point the salesperson should go back to the office with the answers to all of the questions and create a customized presentation pulling from whatever good "generic" presentation your company already has.

As a sales manager, this would be a good time to provide some coaching.

Be sure the salesperson understands the prospect's problem thoroughly.One or two slides will be needed for each feature or benefit that speaks directly to the solutions they need.

There may be lots of other fantastic features and benefits, but don't let them be tempted to throw them in.

They can always have extra materials ready if needed.

Have the salesperson practice the presentation.

This may cause a bit of grumbling but this type of selling shortens the sales cycle because it keeps the sale moving forward or ends it quickly so time is not wasted.

Salespeople appreciate that.

They need to practice the balance between presenting and asking questions about what has been presented before moving on to the next idea.

At the beginning of the presentation there should be a brief review of the things learned at the last meeting, letting the prospects know that each will be covered.

Start by describing their situation and the current need that led them to contact your company.

Take their needs one at a time and match something from your solution that solves each.

If there is an area you can't address properly, let them know that your solution won't cover that but that you have thought of some alternative ways to handle that.At each point along the way check in with the customer by asking a question.

A salesperson may react by saying,"Now wait a minute, I finally get a chance to present and you are telling me to ask more questions!" That's right.When you present a solution you need to check in with the prospect to determine if that works for them and if they have any questions about it.

Often when people hear ideas fed back to them it helps them clarify even further and develop new thoughts and directions.

This may happen during your presentation and you will learn even more about your potential customer.You can address these things as they arise even though they may not be in your presentation.And good thing that you can because that may be the decision point and you won't need to go through the rest of your slides.

Does this scare you? It shouldn't.

Salespeople waste so much time chasing customers that aren't going to buy.

I like to know as quickly as possible whether there is a fit between the need and my product so I can determine where to spend my time.

People really appreciate it when you help them figure out that your product is not a good fit for their particular problem.

It builds trust and loyalty that will lead you to future business with them or with someone they will refer you to because of your honesty.

Very rarely these days are purchasing decisions made by one person.None of the above will help if the salesperson is talking to one person only or the wrong people.

Salespeople need to be coached to find multiple people at each organization who will be interested in their solution.Questions need to be asked of all of them individually or in a group setting.

Presentations need to be made when all of the decision makers can be present.

This speeds the sales cycle.Making the best presentation in the world to the wrong people rarely leads to a sale.

Coach your salespeople to find all of the decisionmakers, take time to ask questions, listen, and tailor their presentations to their audience.

Good presentations engage the audience and encourage them to participate.

The rules of PowerPoint

1.

You do the talking, not the slides.

2.

Short bulleted ideas only, your words fill in the details.

3.

The slides should be very easy to read quickly.

4.

The prospect should never have to squint to read the slides.

Use a large font size.

5.

Make sure the background doesn't distract the reader from the content.

6.

Graphs, charts and photos should illustrate main points as much as possible.

Alice R.Heiman is president of Renobased ARH Consulting.

She'd like to hear your stories about building a sales culture at your company.

Send them to stories@aliceheiman.

com