Sales presentations are rarely exciting events. For the person giving the presentation, it’s a terrifying time where they have to remember to say every word that comes to mind. For the people watching, it’s the time where you have to pretend not to fall asleep.

But a sales presentation done right can make a sale and it can lead to big things for your company. You need to engage your audience and make sure that your words resonate, though. There’s a reason why 80% of the sales are gained by 8% of salespeople. This guide is going to show you how to succeed.

Make the Welcome Easy

Nothing annoys a buyer more than having to jump over unnecessary obstacles to join in the meeting. Make sure that joining an online meeting is easy. Send the link to all interested parties and allow them to watch on a platform that doesn’t require them to sign up for an account. Also, there should be no need to download anything.

Ensure that the platform has the capacity for people to come and go as they please without any friction.

Delivery Should Be Your Priority

There are two different ways to deliver a presentation. You can email a presentation that someone can view at their leisure or you can provide a physical, live presentation. Emailed content has to have a story all on its own. But a live presentation relies on the color and context coming from you.

With a live presentation, you don’t need to explain much before the person actually makes it to the presentation. With an emailed presentation you would explain the whole thing in vivid detail. But a live presentation should be all about leaving some mystery. Use compelling imagery to get people’s interest.

Add Video to Increase Engagement Rates

Video marketing has taken over the Internet. You can no longer do anything without including video content. With many people now using mobile devices to view content, you need to go out of your way to cater to them. The chances are your buyers will be using a tablet or smartphone to interact with you. They don’t want to read hundreds and hundreds of words.

A video can say what an entire book can say in just a few minutes of content. Presentation slides that use video instead of words are more likely to engage your audience. Add in videos personalized to that general audience to really get people going.

Use Analytics to Drive Content

You use analytics for your website. You use analytics for social media. Why would you not use analytics for your presentations?

It’s unbelievable when you think about it that analytics seemingly never comes to the front when it comes to presentations. But it’s the same audience and the same principles apply to presentations as they do to content marketing. To understand what your audience wants, you have to conduct research.

If you have conducted presentations before, you can use your previous experiences to inform what happens next. Find out which parts buyers skip and what really engages them. Use the same trial and error process to produce better content.

The presentation that holds the audience’s attention always wins.

Adapt to Where the Buyer Is

The buying process is a journey. This is a journey that everyone embarks on sooner or later. But you don’t want to repeat the same information over and over again. This tends to happen because presentations don’t take into account where people are in the buying process.

Ideally, your audience should be segmented based on where they are in their journey. If you are approaching someone for the first time, you should have a different presentation to approaching a repeat buyer about a new product.

Your target audience wants a presentation personalized to their needs. If all you are doing is repeating the same nonsense, you can’t expect them to want anything more to do with you.

Last Word

So how are you going to make sure that your presentations gain results again and again?

The best salespeople learn from their mistakes. They go through their previous presentations in detail so they can find out what worked and what didn’t. They are not afraid to make mistakes. In fact, they welcome mistakes because they know they can learn from them.

If you are preparing for a presentation soon, follow these tips and you’ll be amazed at the results you come up with.

What are your biggest challenges when conducting a sales presentation online or offline?

About the Author

AJ covers the art of using smart, simple shortcuts that lead to growth. He is a regular writer for Forbes, Inc., Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Media (among others), as well as CEO and Chairman of Alumnify Inc. Proud alum from 500 Startups and The University of San Diego. Twitter @ajalumnify