The $5 Million Dollar Sales Pitch
Oct 12
What if your next sales opportunity was your last one?
What would happen if you knew you would lose your job if you didn’t capture your next sales opportunity?
Would that knowledge affect your approach, your sales presentation, or the way you prepared?
Unless you are independently wealthy, I suspect this insight would definitely have an impact on you.
If you have read my blog for any length of time you likely know that I am a fan of many reality shows. One show I enjoy watching is The X Factor.
Former American Idol judge, Simon Cowell, launched this show last year and he offers the winner a $5 million prize.
What I find fascinating is how unprepared some contestants are.
Song choice is critical and although the mentors in The X Factor select the songs for their respective contestants, each contestant has the ability to change the arrangement to make it their own. Sometime, they go too far or don’t think of how their version of the song will be judged by other people.
Some contestants party into the wee hours of the morning every time they make it through to the next round. And others, especially in the early part of the show, think they can wing-it because they are “that good” (they usually aren’t!).
What does this have to do with selling, you ask?
Far too often, sales people don’t put enough effort into a sales call, meeting or presentation. I’ve been guilty of it (man, I hate admitting that!).
But here’s the deal…
Every sale is important.
Every presentation is critical.
Every sales meeting, sale call, or appointment is vital to your long-term success.
You might not have a five million dollar deal in the works. But, that shouldn’t influence your approach.
The top sales people NEVER take a sales opportunity for granted.
They plan. They prepare. They do the necessary research. They present the best possible solution. They work every sale like it’s the most important one in their pipeline.
Every single sales meeting, call, appointment or presentation is important.
- You can’t wing it.
- You can’t fly by the seat of your pants.
- You can’t assume that you will close the deal simply because you are the customer’s preferred vendor.
- You need to make sure that you do everything in your power to differentiate yourself from your competitor and to prevent someone else from capturing that deal.
I say this because I have lost deals that I thought I had in the bag. I was overconfident going into the sales presentation. I overlooked vital details that could have changed the outcome. And I still kick myself!
Before every sales call, meeting or presentation ask yourself one question…
Is this the sales presentation I would deliver if my job was on the line?
If your immediate response isn’t yes, you need to seriously think about what you can improve and make that change BEFORE your sales call.
In The Greatest Salesman in the World, there is a line about treating everyone an if you knew it was there last day on earth. We work to infuse this into our culture at http://salesloft.com. Would you say this fits in with the thesis of your post?
Kyle,
There is some similarlity.
I interpret Og Mandino’s advice to mean that we need to ensure that everything we do in a sales call, meeting or presentation is completely focused on what is important to the prospect instead of considering our agenda. Being properly prepared is one part of this equation.
Cheers!
Kelley
Great read, Kelley. I would venture to say that most sales people are not as prepared as they could/should be. If I am, that gives me a distinct, competitive advantage.
Proper preparation means much more than some Powerpoint presentation or marketing brochures. It involves your mindset as much, or more, than anything else. Are you prepared to REALLY engage this person? Have you got a plan, an outline of where you want to go?
Winging it is not a good option and most often the results are less than stellar.
Cheers,
Marc