Tablets, Laptop Computers and Demonstration Software
A survey conducted by Selling Power magazine found that 87 percent of salespeople use laptops during their sales presentations.42 Many salespeople will tell you that their tablet or laptop computer is the single most powerful sales tool they use. Many of the things needed during the demonstration can be stored in the computer. If the customer is interested in a specific product, pull up the appropriate brochure or video on your laptop screen. If the client wants a copy of printed material, you can either print the pages or send them via e-mail. If the customer raises a question regarding product availability, use your laptop to access the information. You can place an order and in some cases print an invoice.43
Thanks to modern computer technology, it’s possible to conduct impressive multiple, simultaneous product demonstrations without leaving your office. Let’s assume you are presenting a new employee disability insurance plan to members of the BMW of North America human resources staff. One key decision maker is based in Germany and the other in the United States. With the aid of Pixion PictureTalk software, or a similar product, you can use the Internet to conduct the demonstration for both persons in real time. Sales managers might use this same approach to train members of their sales team in remote offices.
Personal computers (laptop) with the support of online presentation technologies and presentation software have played an important role in increasing sales force productivity. Salespeople have instant access to customer data, so it is often easier to customize the sales presentation. Many salespeople report that PC-based presentations, using graphics software, are very effective. Today’s personal computer or laptop can produce striking visuals and attractive printed material that can be given to the customer for future reference.
Enhancing Demonstrations with Powerpoint
The PowerPoint software program from Microsoft has been available to salespeople for 20 years. PowerPoint is so common that many prospects find the standard presentation graphics very familiar, even dull. Salespeople who want their demonstration to look unique and different can create their own corporate template, animate their logo, or put video clips of their own company information into the PowerPoint presentation. When developing a PowerPoint presentation, use bold, simple, and large fonts (such as Arial and Veranda) and put graphics on several slides. Limit the number of words to 15 or fewer per slide. Keep in mind that two quality alternatives to PowerPoint are Apple’s Keynote and Corel’s Presentations.44
Creating Electronic Spreadsheets
For many years, salespeople have been using electronic spreadsheets to prepare sales proposals. The electronic spreadsheet is an excellent tool to organize the numbers involved in preparing quotes, such as quantities, costs, and prices. CB Richard Ellis’s Susana Rosas, introduced in Chapter 4, frequently uses electronic spreadsheets to justify the purchase or rental of commercial properties. The electronic spreadsheet allows the user to answer “what if” questions about the effects of lowering costs or raising prices. Once the preparation work is finished, the electronic spreadsheet itself can be printed and used to serve as the proposal or to accompany the proposal.45 The spreadsheet data can also be converted to a chart or graph that can enhance the proposal. When presenting the spreadsheet on a laptop computer, with minor adjustments, client questions regarding alternative proposals can be quickly generated.
Many computers sold today include an electronic spreadsheet program. The leading electronic spreadsheet, Excel, is part of Microsoft’s Office Suite of products. If you have access to Excel, or any other electronic spreadsheet software, you can explore the power of this tool for preparing proposals.
Web-Based Presentations
Salespeople who want to avoid long airport security lines, lengthy terminal wait times, high-priced hotels, and expensive rental car rates are turning to Web-conferencing solutions. Popular alternatives to in-person sales presentations include GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx Sales Center, Raindance Meeting Edition, Adobe’s Macromedia Breeze 5, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Some salespeople create computerized demonstrations that are stored in a central library and accessed on demand. With a few clicks of a mouse, presenters can call up the information they wish to showcase using a Web browser. The salesperson can show PowerPoint presentations, present product features, and conduct question-and-answer sessions in real time. Prior to scheduling an online meeting, be sure to find out if the customer’s firewall restricts the usage of your Web-conferencing software.46