Need Satisfaction—Selecting a Consultative Presentation Strategy

  1. 12.1 List and describe three types of need-satisfaction presentation strategies

Conducting business in the 21st-century information economy, which is based on the assets of knowledge and information, requires that we think about ways to improve the sales presentation. This is how one author described this challenge:1

As we move from the rutted byways of the Industrial Age to the electronic thoroughfares of the Information Age, business presentations become a measure of our ability to adapt to new surroundings. The most successful and forward-thinking companies already have assigned presentations a new, fundamental, and strategic importance.

After you have configured a solution that matches the customer’s needs, you must select which presentation strategy or combination of strategies to emphasize (Figure 12.1). Need satisfaction can be achieved through selecting an informative, persuasive, or reminder presentation strategy, creating the presentation plan, and initiating the presentation. Salespeople, such as Ecolab’s Chris Wylie, often will use a combination of the three presentation strategies.

An illustration shows the steps of the six-step presentation plan and their options. All the options of step one and two are selected, while step three is highlighted.

Figure 12.1

Creating value with the presentation.

Need Satisfaction—The Informative Presentation Strategy

To be informative, a message must be clearly understood by the customer. Of course, clarity is important in any presentation, but it needs special attention in a presentation whose primary purpose is to inform. The informative presentation emphasizes factual information often taken from technical reports, company-prepared sales literature, or written testimonials from persons who have used the product.

This type of presentation is commonly used to introduce new products, highly complex products, and services of a technical nature. Salespeople, such as Ecolab’s Chris Wylie and Hilti’s Alim Hirani, play a key role in the ultimate success of a firm’s new-product innovations.2 Pharmaceutical sales representatives frequently use the informative presentation strategy to describe the details of their products to physicians who may be engaged in an educated search for a prescription drug best suited to meet their patients’ medical needs.3 This strategy emphasizes clarity, simplicity, and directness, and in many cases is welcomed by the reflective and directive communication style customers presented in Chapter 5. Salespeople need to keep in mind the “less is more” concept. Too often the prospect is given far too much information and detail.4

It is important to keep in mind the partner/problem-solver role of the salesperson when making an informative presentation. Today, information is not just plentiful, but also available directly to customers in overwhelming amounts. As a result, customers no longer value sales professionals as just information providers. To use the informative presentation strategy effectively, the salesperson must transition from an information conveyer to the role of a trusted business advisor.5

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