Sales Presentation: How To Gain The Attention Of Your Prospect

Marketing is one of the core objective of an  organization. knowing how  to deal with clients is very important to an organization.Let us consider this, you have spent four weeks trying to book a presentation appointment with the marketing manager or managing director of this big organisation ABC to no avail. After trying one more week (for trial sake), you get a lucky break-you are told the managing director will be available for your presentation the next day. So you get excited, pick your demo product, iron your ‘presentation suit’ and mime your presentation in readiness for the big opportunity to ‘hit’ your company a multi-million naira contract.

It’s D-day and you’re in front of the ‘big cheese’. You are confidently rapping away at the reasons his company needs to patronise your product and… its crystal obvious his attention is divided. It is apparent you are not getting his attention. Knowing full well your making a sale depends on his understanding of how your product works, what do you do? Pack your bags and leave? Scream him to attention?

For a start you must realise that lack of attention indicates deficient stimulus. A major cause of inattention is lack of interest. If your prospect is not listening to what you have to say, perhaps your product or service is not useful to him. Conversely, if your prospect indisputably needs your product, you have not made your enlightenment and presentation apparent and appealing enough that he is paying attention to his needs. Try a different approach and if his attention isn’t still with you, you have to do a better job of qualifying your prospect next time. You probably did not decide if he could use it.

Sometimes, the reason for his inattention may be the fact that another ‘priority’ subject or idea has preoccupied his mind. Or even perhaps your visit is taking up his time. In this case wisdom demands that you pack your kit and try arranging another meeting. Fact is, if you don’t take the initiative of postponing the presentation, insisting instead that he hears you to the last detail, your prospect may get irritated and you just likely may lose that opportunity.

But this doesn’t have to always be the case if you develop your own method of managing people who do not give you attention. Most successful presentations are undoubtedly a pointer to the quality of preparation. So, first,work on your preparation and do everything necessary to qualify your prospect. A little research on the prospect will not be out of place.

Let’s look at some ‘commonsense’ ways to solve the problem of inattention during presentation.

Every story worth hearing often gets to the point where the hearer adjusts his or her sit in order not to miss the point. No matter how difficult it may be, you must learn to create something interesting around certain parts of your product or service. These sections or parts should be strong enough to arrest the attention of your buyer even if you had lost it.

This as a presentation strategy is meant to make your buyer very much a part of the presentation process with an eventual view to getting him to buy. Ask simple and interesting questions; questions whose answers are revealing of your prospects inner desires and need. Once you have achieved this, clearly tie this discovered need(s) to the relevance of your product.

The above has become one of the commonest ways of presentation, today. Like the name Powerpoint, it has become powerful in proving useful marketring points. Make them as simple as you possibly can. Depending on your buyer, it pays to reduce the very ‘technical’ details. One important thing though; ensure that you examine your laptop before the presentation. I have seen presentations that were short lived because the system shut down(low battery) I have also seen well planned presentations stalled because the slides wouldn’t just yield. These things happen. At this point, you have to be an expert at presenting to overcome this issue. Else, it will negatively impact on the final outcome of your visit.

Seeing and touching the product is a welcome plus to your presentation.

Varying the strength and pitch of your voice breaks dullness. It also has a way of ‘carrying along’ your buyer’s emotions.

There are some interruptions that maybe sometimes be beyond the control of both parties i.e. you and your prospect. Let’s say you are just at the brink of making the first statement of your presentation; the phone rings, five minutes later another manager walks in and wants to talk to your prospect about something ‘urgent’…and so on. There may also be some deliberate drama staged to confuse you as a marketer; our prospect may excuse himself and leave the room for about five minutes, he may state he has another meeting in 15 minutes time or the good old trick – he tells someone prior the presentation to call him five minutes into the presentation about an urgent appointment.

If the latter is not the case, the following is the basic thing to do depending on the length of the interruption, the complexity of your product or service, and the interest of your prospect. First, recapitulate in a sentence or two before introducing your next point. You may say: "As you remember, Mr. Lagbaja, we were discussing how to motivate your staff." As you recall, Mrs. Tunde, we were just beginning to discuss the impact of this product on your generating set". You may then continue with another attention –holding point. Interestingly, the ‘break’ allow you ample time to think of what interesting point to articulate, next.

Always remember, no two prospects are the same. This thought should always guide your preparation. Finally, one must always be mentally alert to the changes that are likely to occur during a presentation. Commonsense, right?