While I’m no expert presenter, I do have a ton of experience on both sides of the pre-cursor to the sales presentation, a little one act play that I will call the in-person introduction meeting. Important distinction: This is not the big show-up-and-throw-up, mega demo with your rock star (in his own mind) founder that the customer has come to expect as your first meeting. Real salespeople don’t volunteer to perform these vendor cattle calls, which I think are as useful to the sales cycle as the magician in your booth at the trade show. What I’m talking about is a carefully scripted meeting where you (the sales guy that doesn’t suck) lay the foundation for your deal by 1) confirming a need/budget and 2) nailing down your champion. (A “coach” is someone who wears Russell Athletic poly pant shorts and tries to get your kid to stop picking his nose on the mound. A “champion” is your eyes, ears and mouthpiece in the target company, the one that is going to ultimately get you your deal.) If you are diligent about setting up this critical step, let me relate a few pieces of advice for how to proceed.
First off, I’m assuming a baseline knowledge level here- so if I have to tell you to prepare with stuff like learn what the company does, know what your company does, know at least the title of everyone that will be present, listen to the customer, don’t let your tech guy argue with anyone, be on time, don’t reek of alcohol, cologne or cigarette smoke, shut your damn cell phone off -then you’re too stupid, next patient please…
Empathy is key. Really try to get what is going on behind the eyes of each person in the room. Try to understand what each person has to gain by being there and watch their reactions to your big points. See how they interact with each other. For god’s sake shut up when anyone in the room is talking and treat everyone equally. Everyone hates that guy who only sucks up to the VP and besides, you never know who really wears the pants.
Lose your context. I don’t mean “use the force, Luke,” just get over whatever is going on with you for the moment. It doesn’t matter if you shotgunned 12 beers at your buddy’s lake house on Saturday, stayed up all night with your kid’s mad case of whooping cough, or walked away from a ten car pile-up on the freeway before the meeting. You the person is just a distraction in the 20 minutes you have to get your point across, so save it for drinks after the formal meeting is over.
Conversation-not presentation. Use very little, or better yet, no PowerPoint. Just like TV is passive learning (notice your kid’s jaw go slack after 15 minutes of watching any program- even the learning channel), slides keep your customer from really taking in what you are saying. And it is a plexi-glass shield that inhibits your ability to understand what your customer is thinking- so learn how to have a conversation and leave the white board kung fu to the guy taking second.
Repetition is your friend. This is the most counterintuitive point for a thinking person, but just ask George Bush, it works. Pick a few points that you have to get across and say them slightly differently over and over. You win when the customer repeats them back to you using his own language. Now whenever your company or product comes up in meetings that you can’t attend (otherwise known as the point of sale), you have your own Manchurian Candidate spitting out your selling points.
Be positive. About everything. Even if you think everyone is with you while you bash Windows, the Alternative Minimum Tax, or Cartman’s favorite- hippies, you don’t want your first impression to be associated with anything negative. Don’t smack talk your competition at this meeting- or ever, for that matter. There are so much more evolved ways to belittle them (maybe next week I’ll tell them).
That’s it. Please don’t take this as an invitation to call me and set up a similar meeting. Jigsaw is a community of 400,000 sales people- I have seen more pitches than the 2007 Boston Red Sox.
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