OK, this one is likely to stir up some response, but I’m feeling a little ‘contrarian’ today… so here goes: I think market research agencies should stop delivering capabilities presentations as part of their sales process. And here’s why…
The vast majority of PowerPoint decks used for these presentations are really, really bad. I’ve seen scores of them over the years and they all suffer from two main problems:
- TOO MANY! Too many slides. Too many bullet points. Too many words in each bullet point. The fact is, the words on the screen are not a script! They are simply meant to be talking points so that you – the presenter, not the deck – are the star of the show. Sadly, too many salespeople just read the slides.
- These PowerPoint decks are way too focused on “all about us.” All about our services, our great team, our history, our neat technology, etc. Well guess what? The buyers don’t care! They know what you do (they’ve been to your website, visited your LinkedIn profile and talked with industry colleagues). If they didn’t know what you did, you wouldn’t have been invited to present in the first place. You’ve been invited to present for one reason – and one reason only – to show them how you can solve their problem. Show them that and they’ll all sit up straight and lean into what you’re saying. But nearly all agencies follow the traditional path of slide after slide of ‘all about us.’ And when you do that, your audience is asleep in two minutes. Like I said, “They don’t care!”
But back to the premise of this article – ditching the presentation. In fact, what I’m recommending is swapping the presentation for a conversation.
A presentation is one-way communication (you talking at the audience)… a conversation goes both ways. Which is what you want. The more people you engage (not talk at), the more likely you are to connect with people and cultivate champions within that company. And with so many different people involved in buying decisions these days (e.g. the head of consumer insights, a couple of analysts, maybe a brand manager, someone from Marketing, and even procurement), a conversation gives you the opportunity to understand each person’s specific needs and concerns and respond to them in a targeted and direct way (not generically, like with a capabilities presentation).
By the way, if you want to share the story of your firm’s capabilities with the buying committee, that’s fine… but do it after your conversation. Create a ‘leave behind’ brochure or PowerPoint deck and send it to them after the conversation is over. The fact is, once they’ve had the chance to meet you and engage with you, they might actually read what you send, rather than automatically hitting the DELETE button.
Bottom Line
At its core, success in sales is about relationships… about buyers getting to know you and like you and trust you. And while that happens a little when you’re presenting from a PowerPoint deck, it is dramatically increased when you’re all sitting around the table (in person or virtually) having smart discussions about their business challenges with you showing them how you can help.
Note: Like many of you, we are also an agency that provides a number of professional services… and in our 12½ years in business, we have never given a single capabilities presentation. Every client that we’ve won over has been because of a series of conversations, of back-n-forth questions and answers and getting to know each other a bit. I challenge you to do the same thing.
Good luck and good selling.