You’ve heard me say many, many times that a sales presentation has nothing to do about you, and everything to do about them. While not applicable in every situation, I have found success “reversing” the traditional roles of the salesperson/client relationship.
Instead of asking your client what their business challenges are, sometimes you need to TELL them what their problem is and then offer a solution. It can be a bold maneuver, but properly executed it’s extraordinarily powerful.
Taking a page from the art of persuasion, the study of psychology, and the skill of needs-based selling, one of the most effective ways to capture someone’s attention is to tell them what’s wrong and how to fix it.
It’s a great way to showcase that you’ve done your research, that you understand your client’s objectives, that you have thorough knowledge of the product/market/competition, and that you’re confident in your ability to deliver results.
Your goal is to engage your audience, create dialogue, and get them sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting to see what you have to say next. The key to telling a client what their problem is is to avoid being judgmental. I start many sentences with “My observation is” or “From what I can tell” or “Correct me if I’m wrong, but…”
Expect to get plenty of push back, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s much better to get your clients involved in a discussion that to have them ignore you completely. And, with so many of your competing media sales counterparts fighting for those precious advertising dollars, this is yet another way of differentiating yourself from the others by telling your clients something they may not want to hear…but need to.
Have a terrific week,
Dan
If there are specific topics you’d like to see discussed in a future issue of The Sales Cycle, please contact me at (612) 278-0223 or dan@mna.org