STEP
1: Planning. Depending on the importance of the sale,
this step should be larger or smaller. Basically, you should be
prepared. You should know your product inside out,
as well as your buyer needs, this will help you
propose solutions to those needs with your products.
Know off by heart your presentation and don’t
forget to properly test your visual aids if you are going to use
these. Think of all possible questions that may be asked and make
sure you have answers to all of them. Overall, think carefully
about what you expect from your meeting and plan to achieve it.
STEP
2: Opening. Obviously, as in any situation, you should
be polite and professional, introduce yourself
if your audience doesn’t know you, but
above all, use this opening time to build credibility
and trust towards yourself and your company or
project. Provide an overview oriented towards
the needs of your audience and ask questions that show that you
are interest in them and that you’re not just there to carryout
your presentation just as you would to anyone else.
If
you have carried out the first step well, your confidence
will help you transmit the right sensations.
STEP
3: Questioning. As I have said before, no-one likes someone
who is only interested in themselves, their products, projects
or company. People like to feel that you are taking your
time to analyse and understand their needs in order to
offer solutions. So we must ask open questions that will provoke
answers that may bear this information in order
to adjust our presentation to the real needs
of our audience. Make sure it’s your audience
that does the talking in this part of the meeting, listen carefully
and when you have all the information use it in your presentation,
but never try to solve problems in this part.
To
finish summarise the key points
before starting your presentation.
STEP
4: The Presentation. You must know your product inside
out, but don’t make the mistake of just presenting the wonderful
benefits of your product. Use the information gathered
previously to put this into perspective and show
your audience how these benefits will solve their needs and priorities.
Focus on the key benefits. You may have a long list of benefits
which need to be mentioned, but don’t deter
the attention from the main issues. While presenting,
show natural enthusiasm and faith in your product,
this will transmit trust.
STEP
5: Objections. The better you carryout the four previous
stages, the less objections that will arise,
even more so, if the presentation is personalised to
the real needs of the audience. But objections will arise and
it is your job to make them flourish, understand the real underlying
problem and provide a solution so nothing hinders
the purchase.
STEP
6: The Close. In modern thinking, and if the previous
has been carried out in an exemplary way, it
will be the buyer that will close the deal. If
you think about it, first you do all your homework,
you build up trust and credibility, you discover his real needs
and priorities, you show how you can solve these and you overcome
all the main objections; in this situation the buyer either purchases
or it’s just not going to happen. However,
this doesn’t mean that the sale will be immediate.
STEP
7: After-sales Follow-up. This depends heavily on the
kind of product, but you always need to check the customer satisfaction
and in this way solve any possible misunderstandings
or problems that have occurred. Word-of-mouth-marketing is important
and it’s normally as a consequence of this last, but important,
process.
