A client recently shared with me that they had conducted a sales presentation by using the process outlined in my book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way. Afterward, attendees said it was the best presentation they had ever been to. Talk about differentiating yourself.

How did they do it? By engaging the participants and making it a genuine meeting rather than a show-and-tell of the seller’s capabilities. Instead of coming in with great slides and telling the attendees what they do, how they do it, and how great they are, they walked in and announced: “This is your meeting.  We want to make sure that when you walk out of here, your biggest issues of the day have been addressed.” They then went around the room asking each person to identify their biggest issues and wrote those on the board with the name attached to it. When my client started to talk about what they do, they customized their presentation on the spot by talking about solutions and ways of looking at each issue on the board.

This lunch-and-learn was not a one-sided conversation. They flipped the switch and engaged the audience up front by asking what was important to them. Then they followed the psychological process of influence by presenting their ideas in the CONTEXT of what was important to each and every person in the room. This is what made their presentation sing.

Without context, their presentation would likely have fallen flat. Instead, they had a fully engaged audience for the entire time.  By using this process, they operated out of the Velocity Mindset™ and hit a home run with their presentation. This resulted in them solidifying their differentiation and getting three opportunities to look at.  

Ideas alone will not achieve differentiation. Action is required. In other words, you really do have to live your brand.

If you want to read more about this process and other ways to engage your customers, you can find the answers in Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way.