Why Some Sales Calls Are DOOMED From the Start.

I wish salespeople would use more PowerPoints in their sales presentations... said no one ever. ??

But honestly, I WISH THEY WOULD!!!?

Now, before you think Microsoft has kidnaped me and I'm being held against my will in some dark, cold, basement conference room in Seattle, tied to an uncomfortable chair, with toothpicks propping my eyelids open, forced to watch an unending litany of poorly designed PowerPoint presentations until I finally relent and write this pro-PowerPoint post….?

Worry not, my friend. I’m safely writing this while enjoying a fabulous breakfast at Betsy’s Pancake House here in New Orleans.?

But I understand why you'd think I was forced to write this email. The majority, heck, darn near all of the PowerPoint presentations we sit through stink—especially sales presentations created by salespeople.?

We all know that when done well, conversational selling is preferred and more effective than presentation selling.?

BUT… Therein lies the problem.?

Conversational Selling is really, really hard. The best conversational salespeople are the best because they’ve been doing it for a long time, screwed up countless sales calls, and learned from their mistakes and the mistakes of their colleagues.? That’s why they can manage their sales calls in real-time… often appearing or actually “winging it” versus doing a ton of pre-call planning.?

But then you sit through a sales call like I did recently… with a young, inexperienced salesman.? Oy! ??♂?

He did a great job of establishing rapport. Then, he dutifully went through a list of questions designed to establish pain points I might be experiencing. And finally, he began to throw up.?

No, he didn’t physically throw up ?? he began to talk about all of his product’s benefits and how those benefits addressed the pain points he had asked about.?

And he went on and on and on…? It was painful. But then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I made a fatal mistake…

I asked questions. ??♂?

I have to assume most were pretty standard, but a few were potentially out of left field, and I’ll admit one or two were just me being cranky - purposely trying to throw him off his game because I was annoyed at having my time wasted. ??

That was a week ago, and honestly, I am no closer to buying his software than I was before he walked into my office.?

Why??

Simple.

He and his presentation made THREE FATAL MISTAKES.

All three could have been eliminated by having a well-designed PowerPoint deck loaded on his laptop… even if he didn’t present the deck to me during the call.?

First, he didn’t understand my WHY.

Sure, he found out that, like many users of his competitor’s software, I had issues with the software. Things that frustrated me and why I was open to exploring alternatives.? But he didn’t establish MY WHY… what I had hoped to learn from the sales call that would help me decide to continue down this purchase journey or realize I wasn’t on the right path and either stick with my current solution or look at another competitor.?

Second, there was no yellow brick road.

Instead of leading with a compelling benefit statement (ideally tied directly to my WHY) and supporting it with three to four memorable support points that serve as guardrails for the sales pitch, he just walked through feature point after feature point with no information structure at all.? The human brain craves organizational structure when consuming new information. But that didn’t happen here.

Instead of needing to remember 3-4 compelling ideas or concepts and referring to leave-behind for more detail, I now had to remember everything he shared and then figure out how to piece it all together to create a compelling argument to continue down the purchase pathway with him.? I don’t have time for that, nor does your prospective customer.?

Third, he answered every question himself, even when he clearly didn’t know what he was talking about.

Humans are incredibly adept at sniffing out BS. Our brains zero in on common language and presentation patterns that indicate the speaker isn’t 100% sure of the information they’re sharing at the moment.

It’s true. There are very common words you use when you present information to others that research shows immediately make you appear unsure or, in some cases, less intelligent.?

I get it. The guy was relatively new to the company and sales in general. So, I didn’t expect him to know everything, especially on those questions where I was purposely trying to trip him up. I know… that’s not nice… but I couldn’t help myself. ??

If only he had been given a perfectly crafted pitch deck — even if he didn’t present from the deck.?

But Tom, if he’s not going to present the deck… why does he need a deck??

Glad you asked… because that’s the point of this whole rant.?

A perfectly crafted pitch deck is a framework for managing a sales call. It ensures a minimally effective sales call, no matter how junior the salesperson making the pitch.?

It gives them a framework to guide the call from confirming the prospects’ WHY to walking them down a scientifically-designed yellow brick road toward conversion.

Best of all, it places the most persuasive answer to the most frequently asked questions at their fingertips. Appendix anyone?????

And because people trust content more than people, it creates a compelling approach that turns Q&A into C&C (Clarify & Close).??

I’m not saying all salespeople should present PowerPoints during all sales calls, but they should have the perfect pitch deck to guide and support their sales calls.?

That's my point of view, and I'm sticking to it... but if you're a PowerPoint hater... feel free to tell me why I'm wrong via a comment ??