“Why do you love your dog?”
That’s a question that I’ve been posing lately in my presentations about how to deliver a winning sales presentation.
Here’s what a bank president said when I asked it Thursday morning. “I love him because every time I see him, he’s so glad to see me.”
What’s the point here? Just as people love dogs because the dogs love them, people tend to like people who like them.
This is an incredibly important idea to understand if you want to deliver sales presentations in a way that wins business.
You need to make sure that when you’re delivering your presentations, that you make it clear that you like the people you’re presenting to.
How do you do that? Let’s count five ways.
1. Smile at them when you speak to them. One of our firm’s oldest sayings is “A smile is the shortest distance between two people.”
2. Speak in an enthusiastic, friendly tone. The next time that you’re having an animated dinner conversation with a close friend, remember how it sounds and feels. Then use that exact same tone when you’re speaking to a prospect during a sales presentation.
3. When your prospect asks a question, don’t put it off. Realize that your prospect’s question is incredibly important. Treat it that way. Drop everything! Answer the question. Friends answer their friends’ questions.
4. Listen to your prospect. This means that when he tells you before the presentation that he’s interested in knowing exactly how you are going to get the project done in 12 months, you address that specific issue. Addressing that issue prominently shows respect.
5. Propose a serious solution to your prospect’s business problem. If you come in to a presentation and clearly have worked extremely hard at finding a solution to your client’s real estate challenges, that shows that you not only want the business, but that you care about your prospect.
