Sales presentations are an everyday part of business throughout the world. Sales representatives for companies large and small give presentations to sell products or ideas. Most companies who require their sales representatives to give presentations offer and require some type of sales presentation training. The length and type of training required will depend on the size of the company and the product or idea being sold.
Regardless of the length and type of sales presentation training offered, the ultimate goal remains the same. The representative must learn how to get the recipients of his presentation to buy his product or idea. All successful sales presentation training includes technical and psychological components. Most successful sales executives will agree that the psychological aspect of a sales presentation is more important than the technical aspect; however, this is determined by the type of product or idea being sold.
Sales presentation training includes training on product knowledge. Sales representatives who are pitching ideas to individual consumers or business executives must learn technical knowledge about their product or idea. Technical knowledge includes learning product specifications and statistics that help support the product or idea being sold.
After a sales representative learns technical knowledge about the product or idea they are selling, they will learn psychological fundamentals on how to sell. First, when pitching a product or idea, a sales representative must establish rapport, because people buy things from people they like, regardless of the strength of the product or idea.
Next, sales presentation training teaches sales representatives to interact with their customers. The goal is to get customers to continually agree and answer positively, instead of spouting boring technical knowledge which may lose their interest. Additionally, sales representatives must learn to answer any questions, which may include overcoming objections from customers. Similarly, learning to read people is an important part of training; this is sometimes considered to be a personality trait which cannot be easily taught.
The final part of sales presentation training teaches representatives to ask their client or customer for their business or support in order to close the sale. For sales that require an exchange of money or services, sales representatives must also learn how to create value and a sense of urgency to coax customers into making a speedy decision. Additionally, sales presentation training will teach sales representatives who are learning negotiated sales how to charge the most for their product, service or idea.
