Sales Presentations And The Truth About Selling

I had a friend who was just getting into sales for the first time. She knew I was a business coach and had trained many sales teams and sales managers in the past. She wanted to try her “pitch” on me. “Pitch” is sales talk for presentation (if you live in LA it means, “I have an idea for a movie”). The biggest mistake that most people make when getting started in a sales career is the importance they put on the “pitch." Sales organizations usually give them that idea because they focus on the presentation first. The reason is that it’s the easiest part to get started on. Unfortunately it's also that approach that gets the least results. After I listened to a few minutes of her “pitch”, I stopped her and asked some questions ... (Oh no, the dreaded questions).

I asked her the last thing she bought from a salesperson. She said she hadn’t bought anything from a sales person lately.

"Oh, no, I" responded. "When was the last time you went to your hair dresser?"

"Last week,” she responded.

"Did you get any products for your hair?" I asked.

"Oh yes, I bought a new line of conditioner that does … (all kinds of stuff)." Then she kind of laughed and said, "What does that prove? She’s my hairdresser not a salesperson."

“Really," I asked. "How did you hear about this product?"

"Fromnher ..." she said.

"Would you have bought this product if somebody else told you about it?"

"Probably not," she said. "I know her really well, I’ve been with her a long time and I trust her. She knows what I need and she knows her stuff. She is very knowledgeable."

I asked her if she thought her hairdresser made any money from the conditioner she bought.

“Maybe, but she didn’t sell it to me because of that," she said defensively.

"Congratulations," I said. "You now know what a good salesperson is."

"MY HAIRDRESSER?"

"Yes!" I said, "The first stage of sales is build a relationship. And that's the secret! The whole secret. Not presentations, not slides, not fancy demos. The relationship.

"How do you build this relationship? You ask questions and get to know everything you can about your prospect. Why? Because this builds trust because you care about them enough to get to know them. Once you know them, they feel comfortable having you help them select what they need.

"In the end, if you are likable, they will enjoy spending time with you again and again. This furthers the relationship allowing you to sell them products over and over again over a long period of time."

"That's so simple," she said. "So why did my company give me this big presentation to learn?"

To which I responded, "Because they haven’t hired me, yet!"