Now that you’ve done the hard work of marketing yourself, diligently filling your funnel full of prospective buyers, you’ll eventually find yourself face-to-face with a customer who’ll be *this* close to buying from you.
As my kids would say, this is the moment where “your palms get sweaty, your knees get weak, and your arms are heavy. And there’s vomit on your sweater already, mom’s spaghetti.”
You too, huh?
Aside from the fact that my kids somehow grew up to become rabid Eminem fans, it seems curiously poetic that I also used to play this same, exact song in my car, 20 years ago, whenever I was on my way to another sales call.
It’s funny how the universe works sometimes.
But nevertheless, if you’ve ever found yourself nervous before a sales call, you can relax. What you’re feeling is totally normal. The good news is that it does get easier with time and practice – but the bad news is that there’s no way around it. When you’re a solo-preneur like the most of us, you’re mostly likely the chief, the cook, and the bottle washer.
This means you’re the de facto head and sole employee of your sales department too. And if your business wants to generate any sort of revenue, it’s going to come down to you, and you alone.
That seems awfully unfair, doesn’t it?
If you’ve ever found yourself in that predicament, the great news is that you might only need to tweak a few things in your presentation if you’re ever finding yourself struggling to get customers to buy. In short, it comes down to these few things:
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Knowing your audience
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Keeping it simple
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Using visual aids
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Practicing your presentation
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Engaging with your audience
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Being authentic
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Closing with a Call-To-Action (CTA)
Let’s go over them one-by one.
Knowing Your Audience
Understanding your audience is critical to making a good sales presentation. This is the reason why it’s important to create a customer avatar that will help you understand their specific needs and pain points. Your product solves a very specific problem for a very specific type of customer; if your customer profile is too broad and unspecific, your sales message will simply fall on deaf ears.
If you want to get this part right, try to understand who you’re talking to and what’s important to them. Then tailor your messaging and solution to fit those parameters.
Keeping It Simple
A clear and concise presentation is always better than a complex one. Stick to the most important points and use language that is easy to understand. Stay away from the industry jargon, and stay away from complicated pricing models.
As my old sales manager used to tell me, when it doubt, employ the KISS method. (Keep It Simple, Stupid).
Using Visual Aids
Visual aids like images and videos can clarify abstract ideas and make your presentation more engaging. If you have something more tactile like prints and albums, that’s even better. While you can still find great success in sales by talking about the stuff you’re trying to sell, you’re going to find greater success if you can actually show it to them.
It’s for this reason why home builders have model homes, and dealerships have cars on the showroom floor. While you can certainly look at photos of homes and cars in the comfort of your own laptop, you’d probably be more inclined to purchase once you see everything in-person.
Your customers would be no different. Take every opportunity to show your physical products, whenever possible. At the very least, showcase your work through photos and video. Simply talking about your products and services in an abstract way, simply isn’t going to be enough.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Practice your presentation multiple times before you deliver it. This will help you feel/seem more confident and comfortable during your presentation. If you stutter and stumble, it doesn’t exactly instill confidence in your customers that you’re the right person for the job.
When I first got started in professional sales 20+ years ago, I would practice all my hooks, one-liners, and closers before every single sales appointment (yes, in my car with Eminem playing in the background). Get your presentation to a point when it simply becomes second-nature to you, and it sounds natural and conversational to your prospects. That’s how you earn their confidence, and hopefully earn their business!
Engage Your Audience
This ain’t your high school science project, or even your college dissertation; sales is NOT a one-way conversation. If you want to increase your bottom-line, you need to engage with your audience; ask questions, solicit feedback, and encourage your audience to participate in the presentation. This will help keep them engaged and interested in what you have to say.
Be Authentic
Your customers can tell when you’re being insincere or not genuine. Be yourself and let your personality shine through in your presentation. One of the most common things that I hear from our clients (who ended up booking with us, instead of our competitors) was how transactional all these other wedding vendors made the entire experience feel.
Being friendly, kind, and professional is a good start. But serving from a good place, leading with a genuine desire to want to help your clients – that’s going to help put you on the top of that pile.
Close With a Call-To-Action (CTA)
Always end your presentation with a clear Call-To-Action (CTA), whether it’s scheduling a follow-up meeting or making a purchase. This will ensure that your audience knows what to do next, and that you’re initiating their next steps.
If you leave it up to them to simply “get back to you”, you’re never going to hear from them again. At the end of the presentation, always ask them to buy. And if they say no, ask for permission to follow up within a few days. One way or another, their path with you needs to end with a “yes” or “no” answer.
At the end of the day, your only goal during the sales appointment is to ask questions, identify the problems, and solve them. And while you’re doing all that, just be yourself and always remember to come from a place of service. Be kind. Be helpful. Most importantly, be clear; clear in what you do, whom you serve, and what your products/services can do for clients. If you can hit all those marks, I can promise that you’ll find yourself booking more clients.
If you’d like to learn more about how we run our consultations for our 3 brands, you can download my FREE Sales Consultation Blueprint here: https://benlau.com/sales-consultation-blueprint-optin.
If you’re a wedding photographer who still struggles with getting inquiries, I can help. You can check out my Sales & Marketing Course & Coaching Program by clicking on this link: https://benlau.com/education. In this program, I’ll personally help you with finding your dream clients, setting your sales & marketing on autopilot, and booking like crazy!