by John Mansour |
10.22.2008
When making product presentations, the credibility of the presenter may be more important than the product itself. Follow three simple rules to improve your credibility and win rate.
When making product presentations, the credibility of the presenter may be more important than the product itself.
From a buyer’s perspective, the psychology goes something like this…”if you can articulate my issues in the exact manner I do, your product must be capable of handling them.”
Think back to a sale you lost when you clearly had the superior solution, and a sale you won when you clearly didn’t. Case closed!
Follow three simple rules to improve your credibility and win rate.
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Stop “we-ing” and start “you-ing” – The quickest way to disengage your audience is to talk about yourself, as in “we’re the leading provider of…we have a zillion customers…we have the most flexible solutions.” You can we…we…we yourself right out of a sale.
Examples of
you-ing...“with fuel prices so high, you’ll want to route your vehicles
more economically…with credit markets so tight, you’ll want to be more
discriminating in the loan approval process…let me show you three
things that will...lower your fuel cost…improve your ratio of
profitable loans, etc.
- Listen as much (or
more) than you talk – By following rule #1 your buyers will be much
more talkative because you’re conversing in a language they
understand. As long as they’re talking, you should be listening.
Don’t interject with product specifics at every opportunity. Wait for
a pause, paraphrase what you’ve just heard and relate it to strengths
of your product or company. Then zip it and let them talk some more.
As long as your buyers are talking, they feel good about dealing with
you. And in most cases, a good gut feeling determines who wins the
business. Product or company attributes simply justify the decision.
- Net it out – don’t
expect your buyers to walk away with that one differentiating value
proposition if you don’t hit them right between the eyes with a very
simple message. Keep rule #1 in mind. For example, “your loan margins
will be far higher with us than an in-house solution because…”
The moral of the story is this. Make selling situations more about the buyer than the product. As long they’re focused on themselves there’s less reason to put your product under the microscope.
Want to learn how to practice this technique?
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Last Updated ( 10.22.2008 )
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