Are your salespeople at a disadvantage?
They could be if you don’t provide them with the knowledge and ability to personalize their sales pitch presentations at any place, any time. They have to be able to create custom experiences that meet the needs of virtually every prospective buyer and current customer.
After all, people have gotten used to everything being personalized today:
- Online shops offer personalized suggestions that make it seem like they know what you want, often before you do.
- Video-on-demand services are programmed to recommend the perfect movie or program for you, and most of the time they’re right.
- When you do online research, you are able to customize your own journey–stopping along the way to read, watch videos and get your questions answered in virtual chats or over the phone.
With all that freedom, flexibility and personalized service, most people don’t have the patience to sit through any experience–much less a sales pitch–that isn’t 100% right for them. Everything about it, from the sales presentation design to the messaging to the delivery, has to be customized to meet expectations.
The trend toward greater personalization has only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic as more meetings and presentations take place virtually. When people aren’t in the same room as the presenter, they’re less likely to be fully engaged in the experience–that is, unless it’s one developed just for them.
So, how can you and the people on your sales team personalize presentations so prospects and clients find them engaging? Here’s everything you need to know to customize your company’s sales pitch PowerPoint and presentation experience so your business stands out from the competition.
1. Do your homework.
First, make sure you and your sales reps take time to learn everything you can about the people they’re presenting to. Clients will respect that you cared enough to do your due diligence. Go beyond standard business research to seek them out in social media and check out their networks. See if you can learn anything from contacts you and your team have in common with them.
With that said, be careful about how you leverage what you learn, and don’t use information in a way that seems like you’re stalking people. Limit what you find out to create a customized experience without getting too personal.
2. Make it clear you understand their aspirations and challenges.
Based on your research, ask yourself: What do your prospective clients want to achieve and what’s holding them back? How can your business provide them with something that makes doing their jobs easier and their lives better? Incorporate these insights into a narrative that runs through your sales pitch presentation, making it clear that you “get it.”
3. Check egos at the door.
Don’t limit how you and your salespeople understand your clients by viewing them only through your own perspectives. Instead, honestly get to know them by getting into their heads and hearts.
If you’re not sure about what they’re thinking, take time to listen and understand. Find ways to ask insightful questions that make the sales process a collaborative and engaging one.
If in doubt, you and the people on your team should make it a point to stop talking and listen instead. After all, sometimes the most meaningful aspect of personalization doesn’t require cutting edge technology or extraordinary levels of creativity–it just takes active listening.
4. Don’t pitch products or services. Offer solutions.
It’s difficult these days to differentiate a product or service. With all the easy intel available online and through networking, today’s innovation becomes the standard way of doing business by the day after tomorrow. The only way to beat the competition is to transform your offerings into custom-tailored solutions for the issues your clients and prospects face every day.
5. Know your prospects better than they know themselves.
Don’t limit your sales efforts to what people ask about or think they need–instead, provide them with information about what they really need. The ultimate way to break through is to answer a question someone hasn’t asked yet or solve a problem they don’t know they have. Gathering solid intel and asking the right questions will help you do just that.
6. Use messages and images that help, not hinder, your sales pitch.
You never want people reading bullet points on your sales presentation PowerPoint while you’re presenting, nor do you want them staring at images in your sales deck design trying to understand what they mean. You want to keep them focused on the presenter, engaging with them in meaningful conversations.
Leverage visuals in your sales deck design that get people talking–don’t distract them or turn them off. Meaningful images improve conversations, and so can well-thought-out infographics. Again, put yourself into your client’s head and figure out what will move them.
7. Use client stories that are meaningful.
In a world where personal opinions, ratings and reviews are critical to business success, customer testimonials could make the difference between sealing the deal or having prospective clients walk away. Choose client stories people will relate to, making sure they include individuals in the same industry and/or those dealing with similar issues. If possible, leverage videos in your sales decks so your success stories are more real and relatable.
8. Speak their language.
Every industry has its own vernacular, including yours and those of your prospective clients. Take care that you’re not using words in your presentations that buyers don’t understand.
Even more importantly, include terminology they expect to hear. Finding ways to speak a common language is a critical part of delivering a personalized experience and building trust.
9. Paint a picture.
Don’t let reps just tell people how your products or services will help them. Instead, encourage reps to paint a clear picture about how they will make the everyday work lives of clients better and easier.
A demonstration can be a great way to do this. Being able to see what it’s like to leverage your solutions during their work day will help clearly prove value to prospective buyers. It moves things beyond a flat sales presentation PowerPoint into the three-dimensional world.
10. Learn about who you’re selling against.
Reps will be better able to personalize their sales conversations if they know specifically who they’re competing against. A vague reference to the “competition” won’t do much to blunt their advantage, but specifics about how your offerings are better and why theirs aren’t as effective will help make it clear why you’re the provider of choice.
11. Find out how your buyer sells.
Your prospective customers have their own way of selling, and their approach is what they consider the right way of doing things. Go the extra mile to adjust your sales methods to what they’re used to. If it seems familiar, they’ll automatically feel more comfortable with your sales pitch.
12. Structure your presentations around short chapters.
Don’t provide your sales reps with complete end-to-end PowerPoint sales presentations. Instead, give them short chapters they can easily configure depending on the needs of each client.
Develop a few slides to cover individual topics like “Background,” “Challenges,” “Insights” and “Success Stories,” then offer a few variations on each. Make sure it’s easy for reps to mix, match and configure them so they can be used to tell a custom, clear and coherent story for each potential client.
13. Leverage the latest technology.
Distribute your sales decks using a sales enablement system that makes it easy to customize your presentation components at any place, any time. Make sure you develop them so they’re effective across all media, making it possible for them to be used in all sales situations: in-person or virtual, guided or solo.
If you take advantage of the latest sales enablement technology, you will be able to measure the effectiveness of your presentations with different groups in real time. This will make it possible for you to constantly improve them so they better resonate with people in your target audiences.
14. Follow up in meaningful ways.
What good is a sales pitch personalized presentation if your reps follow up on them with a generic email or call? Provide them with post-meeting materials and scripts that give them the flexibility to be as specific as possible about what was covered in the session, follow through on promises made and deliver next steps.
It will impress prospective clients if your personalized approach continues after the sales pitch, and is a good way to demonstrate what working with your organization will be like. It communicates that they can expect personalized service tailored to their needs in every interaction.
Should you need assistance in developing your sales presentations content, design or both, our experts would love to help. Book a call here!
