Death By Powerpoint
Sales Happen from Conversations, Not Presentations
%
Of Sales Reps find it difficult to gain a buyer’s attention and keep the buyer engaged during the meeting
Source : Rain Group
“I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People confront a problem by creating a presentation.
I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint”
Steeve Jobs
We’ve all seen the same scene play out before our eyes
A salesperson hops into a meeting and shares his screen to reveal 20+ slides while customers at the other end watch on as he takes them through the content of each slide.
The room goes silent for hours as the presenter is the only one talking. Zero engagement and the audience sit through with a dull face.
What should be an interactive conversation quickly turns into “dead air”, like a cold war between two rivals. Prospects zoom off to YouTube, Instagram, or any avenue that provides a quick escape from this misery called a sales call.
And in the end – no one buys.
That’s hours of sales training wasted on not closing anyone.
That’s hours of sales training wasted on not closing anyone.
Sales pitches have followed this trend for far too long. Presentations like this put the audience in a “Listen-only mode” and fails to seek the customers’ opinion:
What do they like and dislike about the product/service?
What job needs to be done with the product?
Why did they choose your product over other competitors?
And what new features would they like to see integrated?
Such insights make sales presentations enjoyable. Because in the end, the seller goes home with valuable insights that help improve future meetings. This brings us to the ultimate problems most sellers encounter with slide presentations:
The problem
Information Overload and Poor Attention Span
Presenters fail to hook listeners from the first minutes, and that partly arises from the usage of confusing graphics, long-winded sales content, and videos that don’t relate to the listener.
When your audience tunes out from a sales meeting, it translates to wasted valuable hours that would have been invested in other sales activities. Salespeople, therefore, have to leverage the right tools to ensure customers stay glued to their smartphones during a call rather than taking numerous trips to the bathroom.
Presently, there are two ways to achieve that:
Before SalesDeck
The Old Tradition, PowerPoint
There are 3 items required to reduce ramp time with SalesDeck.
They are – A winning sales process or methodology, a lineup of top performers and your new hires.
Powerpoints and Google slide has become a mainstay in the business world.
Businesses leverage these tools to deliver sales pitches and convert bulky information into slides, which is ‘supposed’ to be easily consumed by the reader. The problem with PowerPoint or other similar tools is that it initiates a one-way conversation.
The presenter fails to acknowledge the prospect's presence in the room
The presenter fails to acknowledge the prospect’s presence in the room since he’s engrossed in the activity on his screen. Besides, it prevents the presenter from connecting deeply with the audience, and the audience quickly tunes out, making it difficult to recall what was said in the meeting.
You struggle to convert prospects to buyers
In the end, you struggle to convert prospects to buyers because their needs have not been met. Afterall, no one buys when it’s a one-way traffic – no time invested in learning about their pain points, hidden desires, hopes and dreams.
Hence, this continuous “Talk and listen” loop has to take a new path. A path where only one person isn’t doing all the talking; instead, both parties contribute: talk, listen and ask questions (Rinse and repeat).
All this points to the fact that salespeople can no longer rely on PowerPoint to help them deliver interactive meetings.
So, the question is: If PowerPoint can’t do it, then what can?
Simple. Salesdeck.
The New Evolution
Turn Presentations into Conversations
sales only happen when there's a two-way conversation
As we all know, sales only happen when there’s a tw0-way conversation between the buyer and seller. Both parties take equal ground, i.e. customers also lend their voice rather than allowing an individual monopolize the microphone from the first to the last minute of the meeting.
In a two-way conversation, No one is a spectator.
Instead, both parties: talk, listen, ask questions, offer answers, raise objections, and share emotional stories. This flow ensures salespeople have a deeper understanding of their prospects, and such knowledge makes conversion easier.
Modern salespeople have a seamless tool
In Salesdeck, modern salespeople have a seamless tool that makes two-way conversation possible. This innovative tool offers a sophisticated platform that refurbishes in-person meetings for salespeople wishing to deliver engaging, entertaining and impactful sales pitches.
Build a Deck
Invite Everyone to Play
Consider the following ways Salesdeck can transform boring sales presentations into a helpful conversation that puts you ahead of competitors:
We're all fed up with long presentations on PowerPoint.
Customers are tired of staring at their screens for long hours and being treated like they’re on the Instagram live of their favorite celebrity. What’s different with Salesdeck is that it creates a leveled ground for every participant to contribute. This transforms a boring presentation into a dialogue.
This dialogue takes place with the help of the card system developed on Salesdeck. The cards are stacked to create a deck that serves as a conversation path during virtual meetings.
To understand how this card system works
To understand how this card system works, you will have to look back at the playing model of popular card games such as Pokemon. Every card game needs at least 2 active players: Salesdeck needs the same number for a sales conversation to happen.
The leading player is the presenter – in this case, the salesperson, while the second is the buyer, and both parties will have access to different cards of their choice. Each card represents a small piece of information such as questions and answers, short sale documents, host control or objections.
You have content flowing from both ends
This way, you have content flowing from both ends rather than just one direction, which often leads to “dead air” from the buyer’s end. By the way, this scenario also goes beyond one-on-one meetings with prospective buyers.
It also applies to group meetings between salespeople in a large company.
Conclusion
Insights on Buyer’s Reaction
Insights on Buyer’s Reaction
What makes up this reaction deck?
Here’s an example: if a seller presents a feature during a product demo, the prospect can offer their feedback by playing a reaction card such as “I like it”, “I don’t like it”, or “I’m not sure I will want to pay for that”. This keeps everyone on the team in sync about what the prospect wants and the best offer to make.
Improve Meetings With Feedback
This way, salespeople can avoid guesswork and improve their chances of closing deals quicker. This is one way to improve sales efficiency as well.
Final Thoughts
The most significant advantage of ditching a one-way conversational tool such as PowerPoint is that you can monitor real-time interaction between the buyer and sales content. With old tools, the customer can turn off their camera and microphone; then zoom off to post images or videos on Instagram without the presenter’s knowledge.
Using an interactive tool such as Salesdeck keeps them busy, and since it models an activity they enjoy, they’re much more eager to participate. Salesdeck no doubt helps you unlock new opportunities and dialogues with customers.
If you want to kill death by Powerpoint with SaleDeck, book a live demo to see how our tools work.