Are your sales presentations memorable? Chances are, the product or service you sell isn’t all that different from your competition’s. The defining factor for any presentation is the presenter. Here are a few tips from SellingPower on how to sell yourself as well as your product or service.

Metaphors

What’s the best way to lose a prospect’s interest? Using language they don’t understand. If there’s a perk of your product or service that can be difficult to explain in technical terms, use metaphors instead. This is where your research into your prospect’s interests comes in handy. If you can come up with a metaphor that utilizes their interests, you’ve not only maintained their attention, you’re piquing their interest in both the presentation and you. The SellingPower example, “The competitor is a hungry shark,” would be super effective if the prospect has an obvious interest in ocean life.

“Talk less; smile more”

This may be advice that Alexander scorns in the musical Hamilton, but it’s fantastic advice for salespeople. If you keep chattering on about your product or service, you’re denying your prospect time to ask questions or get involved in the conversation at all. Instead, only talk about what’s relevant to the meeting at hand and have questions for your prospect. Their engagement will make both of you happier with the meeting.

Use Specifics

Be upfront and completely honest with your prospect. When telling them of how your product or service has helped a similar client in the past, name the client and give specific ROI numbers and details about important parts of the process. Do the same when you’re discussing future interactions. You won’t give them a call sometime next week. You’ll call them Tuesday, if that works for them. Your product costs such and such amount, not about such and such amount. Being direct leaves out room for a prospect to doubt you.