Weekly Sales Tips: Creating a Memorable Sales Presentation
If you think about the experiences in life, how much are you thinking about it today versus how much you will be remembering tomorrow?
That’s going to make sense in a few minutes because today we’re going to talk about what your customer thinks about your sales presentation and what your customer remembers about your sales presentation.
I want you to think about an experience you’ve had. It could be a vacation, might be a nice dinner, even just a pleasant conversation with a friend.
My wife and I, recently celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary at a local restaurant called Josephine’s. It was outstanding, the food, service, the company, and the wine.
But the question is, what do I think about that experience today? I mean, that was over a month ago. The only thing I can think about that experience today is that which I remember.
There are really two selves involved in any experience. There is the experiencing self that we experience in the moment. And then there’s the remembering self. So when you think about a vacation or a nice meal you had, or a great conversation, there’s what you experience in real-time, and then there’s what you remember afterward.
What does this have to do with sales?
A lot actually, it would be nice to think that anyone who is ever going to buy is going to buy the moment that their emotion is really high, right there on the spot. The reality is a majority of customers will have to think about it.
And this is where their memory, the remembering self kicks in, the customer is going to go through a sales presentation. They’re going to walk away to think about it, and then eventually they’re going to make their decision, but they’ll make their decision based on the memories of that sales experience.
Whether I’m making the buying decision in real-time, or I’m relying on memories to make the buying decision, either way, I’m relying on my emotion. It is the emotion that drives the purchase decision.
Dr. John Medina puts it this way in his book Brain Rules. He says emotions act like sticky notes that are attached to experiences and turn them into memories. Let me say that again, emotions act like sticky notes that you attach to experiences and turn them into memories.
So when I think about that great, 35th-anniversary dinner, I’m left to be thinking about the emotions that made that evening memorable. The emotion of talking to the chef, the emotion of spending a romantic evening with my wife, the emotion of what it was like to savor some of the best food I’ve tasted in a long time. Now, I don’t remember every detail about the experience. I just remember the emotional moments in the experience.
Three suggestions for you to gain more emotional involvement with your buyers:
- Strike while the emotional iron is hot. For example, when you see your customer’s eyes light up when you’re explaining something. What you just said was meaningful to the customer, use this opportunity to slow down and let them live in that just a little bit.
- Give them time to internalize a benefit. Too often Salespeople make the mistake of rushing through the presentation. Here’s a feature, there’s a feature, everywhere there’s a feature. By doing this we don’t give the customer the time to really think about how this is going to improve their life. We don’t give them the time to internalize all of that.
- Ask agreement questions all along the way. Customers don’t just want to make one big decision. It’s much easier to make that big decision if you’ve already made a series of small decisions. Each of those yeses along the way is rooted in emotion. “I like this.” “That works for me.” “I appreciate this over here.”
The overwhelming majority of salespeople downplay the importance of emotion. They think it’s all about the features and the price point and the way we structure the deal. But I can tell you according to science, people make decisions based on their emotions.
It’s time to make sure we are selling the way our buyers want to buy.
Until next time, learn more to earn more.
