Comment response: Powerpoints and sales

As someone who has biught a LOT of advertising, and been pitched sports and charity sponosrships on a grandscale I will just say this.
A sales rep or anyone that comes into my office to pitch me a proposal on PowerPoint, hard or soft copy, that has not yet asked me what my needs are and THEN modified the product to my requirements, is a sales rep that will get a lecture and then go home empty handed.
Talk to yourclient first, perform the exam, then prescribe the treatment.

And people that post on blogs need to look at their spelling and grammar before posting oops…

PowerPoint in a sales situation should be used sparingly in my opinion. Each and every time a sales rep engages with a prospect, they must go through their process, as if it were the first time. This ensures they make the most of every opportunity. When using a tool like PowerPoint it can become a crutch. It can be misused as a one-size-fits-all tool, and lead to shoe horning prospects into constraints or limitations that were unnecessary.

There must be some kind of PowerPoint vibe today, I posted my own blog comment on the subject this morning and included a video clip; it’ll make you laugh.

“How not to use PowerPoint”
http://www.aleuromedia.com/blog/

Powerpoint is an interesting topic, too. As a one-on-one sales tool, NO NO NO!!!! OK, it is useful for mass-marketing (as opposed to selling) such as product seminars and so forth, internally and externally. It can be useful for setting expectations, such as in planning, as you mentioned, for complex sales engagements or projects. But as a face to face selling tool it is inflexible, slow, and presumptive – few things make me shudder more than seeing presumptive statements in a presentation – it kills the moment and loses the customer in nothing flat. It is not up to us, as sales pro’s, to TELL the customer anything, it is up to us to get them to tell us, which automatically preculdes the use of Powerpoint.

Skip and Peter,

I wanted to thank you for your comments and make sure we are all on the same page.

“it is a usefeul to deliver powerful messages via PowerPoint when reviewing product and strategy.”

This is a microcosm of the process. Outlining goals for long sales cycles, showing features of the product that relate to a clients need, these are examples of presentation with value. Otherwise powerpoint, drawing pictures in the sand, scribbling in a notebook; it is all assumptive if you have not reveived defined criteria related to pain and need. Assumptions make…