Product presentations and product catalogues are not the same thing

“Let me talk you through our exciting products!” And up comes the agenda page: product 1, product 2, product 3, product 4. Uh oh. Your audience starts checking whether there is guest WiFi to check some emails on the phone…

Product catalogues are an exhaustive description of what you have on offer. They are about you, not about the customer.

How can you keep a product or sales presentation interesting and relevant? Start explaining the overall architecture of your product range (we have big ones, and small ones, we work in this segment and that segment). Then, think about the needs of the customer in front of you and narrow down the options dramatically. Spend a lot of time / slides on solutions that are relevant for your audience, and surpress the urge to be complete and cover everything.

4 comments

Jim Harvey2011-09-04 17:52:49

Jan,

Lovely, simple explanation of a complex skill for a salesperson. I'll make it required reading for my more 'traditional' sales clients.

Hope you don't mind that I've linked to this post for my blog and added you to my blogroll.

Great stuff.

Jim

Jan Schultink2011-09-04 18:10:16

Thank you Jim

Jim Harvey2011-09-04 17:55:46

Andy Gurnett2011-09-02 08:22:52

I agree wholeheartedly. In my experience, the urge to be complete and cover everything is what derails so many presentations. The thought "What if they ask me about x?", often causes people to include too much information in their slides.

To keep the presentation tight and audience-focussed I ask people to think about the following.

1. Who the audience is. What they know and what they need.

2. The purpose of the presentation and of each slide.

3. The fact that you are the expert and can answer any 'surprise' questions. And that if you have thought about the audience these should be limited anyway.