Did you ever refer to or use Cliff Notes when you were in school?
Cliff Notes are officially classified as “student guides to literature”. However, many students used these greatly abbreviated versions of books to understand an entire book in a fraction of the time.
Most salespeople could use this approach and concept especially when dealing with corporate executives.
I recently heard the CEO of a company say, “I have ADD so you have about eight seconds to get my attention.” Pretty harsh words but let’s look at things from their perspective for a minute.
Decision makers are exceptionally busy and assuming you can catch their attention; you also need to deliver the rest of your presentation in a clear, concise manner.
Forget about discussing every aspect of your solution or offering.
These people have no patience to sit through a lengthy sales pitch particularly if the solution is not relevant to their situation. Highlight the key points and discuss the rest of the information only if requested.
Stand out from your competition by delivering a Cliff Notes version of your solution.
Could your sales team benefit from this concept? Call me and we can discuss the best way to implement it in your company. 905-633-7750 or email me.
A recent question on Focus.com asked if it was possible to create a two-way dialogue with a PowerPoint presentation. One of the people answered and said that you should always open by talking about your company and your products and services because that’s what customers want to know.
I couldn’t help but groan when I read this…
I know that you ‘think’ customers want to know about your company but here’s the reality…they don’t.
Sure, prospects may say, “Tell me about your company” at the beginning of a sales presentation but they only do that because you haven’t taken control of the sales call or meeting.
Here’s a confession…
When I worked in the corporate world and met with sales people I usually opened with this question because it was an easy way to open a sales conversation. I didn’t really care about the company nor did I really listen to what was said because most of the information was irrelevant to my situation or I was thinking about how the meeting was preventing me from tackling the work sitting on my desk.
Here’s the deal…
You need to be ready for this question. BUT, your response MUST not be long or drawn out. You can’t spend several minutes talking about your company or its offerings
You need to develop a killer opening that briefly—and by briefly, I mean 20 seconds or less—describes what you or your company does.
Twenty seconds. Preferably less.
That’s not a lot of time. But you have to remember that prospects, buyers and decision makers REALLY don’t care about you or your company.
They want to know how you can help them solve a problem so the less time you spend talking about your company and the more time you invest discussing how you can reduce their expenses, improve their sales, gain more market share, increase customer loyalty, etc. the greater the likelihood you will move the sales conversation forward and increase your sales.
Need a speaker for an upcoming meeting, conference or event? Give me a call: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca.
