I have found over the years that one of the easiest, best ways to sell something is the come prepared. It doesn’t matter if you are sitting at lunch with a colleague, visiting a long term client, or showing up to pitch a brand new client.
People don’t like to think. They don’t like to interpret. And they don’t like to read between the lines. It is a simple fact of business - we don’t have any time. So why do so many sales people seem hell bent on wasting it?
One of the most effective techniques I have found to sell something is to have support. I’m not talking about page after page of documentation, but a graph or an image that sums up the entire sales presentation in one shot. It’s like having a magic coin in your back pocket. You don’t need to pull it out all the time, just when the situation calls for it.
One of my favorite places to go for analytics and data is marketingcharts.com. The reason is simple - a chart will provide the pitch, the presentation, and the closer. The pitch is your 30-second value proposition in which you pique the client’s interest. The presentation is the sit down meeting where you explain exactly what you could and will do for a client. The closer is setting up the project parameters, receiving the check, and so on. We all like closers!
Say for instance, I am pitching search engine marketing to a financial services firm. I might take the chart below along with me:
From this chart, I can talk about the current state of the industry as well as the ad dollars that other financial companies are throwing at the Internet. This can prompt all kinds of conversations about conversion rates, the analytics of search engine marketing, and the real time tracking of expenditures.
It’s not that I am trying to make my client feel that they need to get in or get out… But this chart provides talking points on their industry as well as what I can offer them through my company.
A lot of times, being prepared doesn’t do anything more than let you establish points of interest with a client. If you can get involved in a conversation that will directly benefit their business, you have just won yourself a job because you are talking in their language and involving them in a conversation!