Making a sales presentation work

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 1992 by Josh Gordon

Has this ever happened to you? You are in a media director's office pulling out a prepared presentation that your publisher has been hounding you to use. The media director reaches across the table, touches you on the arm, and with a strained smile says, "Look, I don't have a lot of time right now. Can't you just explain it to me in your own words?"

Having seen many of the presentations given in the name of magazines, I can't say that I blame those media directors. To read some how-to books on presentations, you would think that a successful presentation has the salesperson starting at the beginning, overcoming objections from the prospect, managing distractions along the way, and then closing at the end. But the true purpose of a prepared sales presentation is not to give an uninterrupted lecture, but rather to intensify and deepen the selling dialogue.

Think about how much actual face-to-face selling time you get with most clients. Aside from your top accounts, it's possible that you don't get more than a few hours a year. If you can arrive at that call with a well-thought-out presentation, you can focus the dialogue, add proof to the points you make, and cover more ground than if you just showed up and had a spontaneous conversation.

Preparation is the key. Before you put your next presentation together, ask yourself these questions:

Will this presentation encourage communication? Bill Slapin, publisher of Presentation Products Magazine, offers this advice about good presentations: "Don't create a presentation just to make a presentation. Create it to help the communication process. A presentation is a communication, and the media used should reflect this. If you are presenting to a group at an agency, a slide presentation could be extremely effective, but if you were to show up at a one-on-one lunch with the same presentation, it would be overkill."

Does the presentation encourage two-way dialogue? If your publisher gives you the option, pick a presentation format that will maximize interaction. Overhead transparencies, color slides, flip charts and notebook-size presentations allow you to control timing. Should you miscalculate where your client's interest lies, you can instantly refocus the direction of the presentation.

Video or film representation can be terrific dialogue starters when they are brief and focused, but if they are long, they can inhibit dialogue.

Whose business is my presentation about? Chances are pretty good that your client is not in the magazine business. This means that if your presentation is all about circulation, rate structure, editorial focus and so on, you are talking about your business, not the client's. And you will have great difficulty involving your client in that kind of conversation.

If you are selling ad space to a company that sells gumballs, present your information in terms of how it will help sell more gumballs. Talk about gumballs first, and sweep your magazine's story in behind it.

If you get a canned pitch from the home office, customize it. Chances are there are some parts that are relevant to what you want to say to a particular client, and some that are not. Every one of your clients is unique. Each has different products, markets, distribution channels, pricing strategies, and marketing communications needs. To be effective, your presentation should reflect this.

Am I talking about the right things to the right person? Different people you call on will want different information. An agency media person may want to know about the numerical side of your magazine's story. But to a marketing VP or company president, the details of your audit statement and CPM will probably be a bore. They will want to know how advertising in your magazine will help them sell more of their product.

Has my client heard all this before? If you are just beginning a new territory, chances are that the rep who had the territory before you has given the basic pitch to most of your clients. Reinforcement is always a good thing, but if it is the central focus of your visit, your client may think twice about making time for you on the next occasion.

Can I prove the points I am making? It may well be that you can present a brilliant case for your publication to be added to a schedule, but so can every other space rep who calls from other magazines and competitive media. After all the pitches and dialogues are done, the question is, which stories stick? Often the story that sticks is the one that offers proof.

Proof can mean different things to different clients. For some, solid independent research is "proof," whereas other clients will believe what you say only if they hear it from some of their key customers. Once you have answered these questions, start thinking about your specific presentation. Here are some points to keep in mind.

Start by asking questions. Has the situation changed since you prepared for the visit? It is possible that the presentation you've so carefully put together is now obsolete? Is the selling problem you are trying to overcome still relevant?