How to present your product
Knowing how to present your product or service is a critical step in The Sales Process. It can be a scary prospect, but follow these tips to put your best foot forward.
Nowadays, B2B buyers and influencers are busy people and if you have managed to have them dedicate some of their time to listening to you present your new product or service, it’s most likely because they are interested. So banish those fear demons and get ready to be enthusiastic and to impress.
The most important tip when it comes to presenting is to ensure you do not spend the whole time simply talking. Be sure to ask questions and listen for buyer engagement and buying clues. People buy from people they like and one sure way of being better liked is to listen and make your presentation a participative experience for those in front of you. Your buyer’s needs are more important than your product offering. Be seen to grasp that and you are on the right track.
While demonstrating your product or giving a sample of your food product, stop talking. While they are trying out, tasting, working or touching your product, the buyer will not hear anything you say. Plus, you will not pick up on their signals. Knowing how to present your product or service is so much more than the words that spill out of your mouth, no matter how well you have prepared on that front. Observe their reactions!
Salespeople often suffer from a number of doubts – one of the classics being that “the buyer has all the power”. In truth, this is not always the case. Your buyer needs some product or solution to his or her issue. Equally, we often hear a vendor say that “price is the only factor and my competitors are better priced”. Again, this is not necessarily the case and your product or solution should have a USP that trumps price anyway.
During the presentation, be sure to ask questions and seek to gain powerful information from your buyer or influencer. Communicate the advantages of your product or service in a way that is most meaningful to your buyer, that is, in terms of benefit to them. You are presenting because you want to be appreciated as the preferred option. After your presentation, why would they consider any alternative?
How to Present your Product or Service
I like to advise clients to practice presenting their product or service on a prospect that has limited or no capacity to become an important customer. Make your mistakes here, before moving on to the guys you’d really like to be partnering up with. Self-observation can be a difficult to master skill, but it becomes essential when presenting a product or service.
On reflection, did you ask enough questions? Did you talk too much? Did you let the buyer feel, touch, taste or sample the product in peace? Then, did you get feedback and thoughts from him/her? Ultimately, did you impress during your presentation, enough to move on to the next step – negotiation? Remember – it’s not simply a question of how to present you product. It’s one step on the over-arching Sales Process.