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Here’s the sad truth: most business presentations are completely irrelevant. They normally go something like this. The prospective customer asks something like: “So, what can you do for us?” We feel compelled to answer, so we launch into an amazing presentation so full of impressive facts about what we do, that we even ‘wow’ ourselves. The meeting concludes, everyone is enthused, and we’re convinced we’re going to make a sale. Days, maybe weeks go by. The phone doesn’t ring and no sale gets made. We can’t figure out what went wrong, it all looked so good.

Sometimes even the most compelling presentation fails to hit the mark because it was made way to early in the process. Even the most captivating presentation made at the wrong time can be your biggest detriment to success. It’s usually made before we understand with any depth where the client is coming from and what they really need. Remember: every customer buys for their own reason and people buy outcomes. We were so busy telling them how great we are that we never got around to understanding their underlying “why” and the outcome they were after. In a word…we were irrelevant.

Simply begin by trying to discover what your client actually needs and wants. All you need to do is ask them. When that happens you’ll know how to present it and you’ll be positioned as a trusted, relevant potential partner who understands them. Ditch the pitch and get to a place of mutual understanding. Selling is a conversation, not a pitch or an interrogation.

Written by Howard Olsen, iB’s Sales Whisperer. Visit his website here.

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