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A sales presentation, also called a sales pitch, attempts to lead a potential buyer to purchase a service or a product. Sales pitches are persuasive in nature.
Audience
The target audience for a sales presentation depends on who has the authority to make the purchase under consideration. Some sales presentations are invited by the potential buyer; others are “cold sales” in which the presenter/seller approaches a first-time potential buyer with a product or a service. In some cases the audience might be an intermediary—a firm’s office manager, for example, who then makes a recommendation to the firm’s director.
Successful sales pitches clearly show how the product or service meets the needs of the potential buyer and demonstrates how it surpasses other options available.
Organization
Plan on organizing a sales presentation as you would a persuasive speech, selecting among the comparative advantage, problem-solution/problem-cause-solution, or motivated sequence patterns (see Chapter 24). The comparative advantage pattern works well when the buyer must choose between competing products and seeks reassurance that the product being presented is indeed superior. The problem-solution or problem-cause-solution pattern is especially effective when selling to a buyer who needs a product to solve a problem.
Sometimes called the basic sales technique, the motivated sequence, with its focus on audience needs, offers an excellent means of appealing to buyer psychology. To use it to organize a sales presentation, do the following:
Adapt the Motivated Sequence to the Selling Situation
When making a sales pitch following the motivated sequence, the extent to which you focus on each step depends on the nature of the selling situation. In cold-call sales situations, consider spending more time discovering the potential buyer’s needs. For invited sales presentations, spend more time detailing the characteristics of the product and showing how it will satisfy the buyer’s needs.