5 Presentation Mistakes to Avoid in Your Sales Process
Creating a compelling, professional digital presentation experience is one of the most powerful ways to communicate with your buyers or decision makers during critical moments in the sales process. However, even a well-designed presentation can lose impact if not crafted with the end user in mind.
Take a look at five presentation mistakes to avoid in the sales process and how to fine tune your approach today:
1. Don’t get wordy
Too many words on a slide can make an audience’s eyes instantly glaze over. Avoid this information fatigue by immersing your audience in the content and letting your words drive the conversation.
Information overload can cause the viewer to lose focus, miss key messages, and ultimately disengage. Research has shown that presentations are more memorable and impactful when they deliver information in a concise, organized way.
How to avoid this:
Streamline your message by focusing on key points that move the sales conversation forward. Break complex information into multiple slides if needed and use visuals that support the message rather than distract from it. With the DIGIDECK interactive sale presentation platform, organizations can use interactive slides to tell their story helping audiences stay engaged and informed when it matters most.
2. Avoid The Blanket Approach
Using generic presentations fails to engage clients on a personal level. If the presentation feels like a one-size-fits-all solution, potential clients may question whether your solution can meet their unique needs or if you have listened to them appropriately throughout the sales process.
How to avoid this:
Overcome skepticism by inserting information about your audience directly into your presentation. From incorporating the logo of the brand you’re engaging to using the First and Last Name of your key contact directly on your Thank You slide, customizing your content shows that you care about your customers while simultaneously driving conversions. Presentation software like DIGIDECK enables teams to integrate presentations directly with their CRM giving them a way to seamlessly insert custom opportunity or account information throughout presentations in one click.
3. Closing Without A Calendar Hold
Nothing is more important than deal momentum – ensure your presentations are advancing your pipeline by confirming the NEXT sales call or important event while you have your audience engaged. This tends to happen toward the end of the call when you are ready to wrap up but want to establish next steps.
How to avoid this:
Insert a slide or prompt directly in your presentation that addresses the next meeting. This gives the audience a visual confirmation of what should happen next while also serving as a natural place for you to ask to pull up calendars to confirm the next conversation.
To take it a step further, software like DIGIDECK enables you to embed your calendar link directly into your presentation seamlessly giving your audience a way to book more time with you without adding extra lift on your end.
4. Failure To Follow Up
Speed-to-market is critical in today’s world where instant gratification is desired by the majority of your buyers. When you’re done with your presentation, failing to send it as a follow up right away can stall your deal and pause revenue momentum.
How to avoid this:
Avoid delays in your deal by sending your presentation via a link after your meeting allowing your audience to view materials again, forward to other stakeholders, or simply to remind themselves about one of your talking points. Through DIGIDECK’s automation, sellers can streamline follow-ups by immediately sending the same presentation discussed, personalized in real-time with your predefined settings. For advanced capabilities, DIGIDECK can also work with your CRM to automatically send presentations out on your behalf once an event has taken place with a specific opportunity.
5. Avoid Subjective Content Strategies
The content you use to drive forward sales conversations is a critical component of your business. Because of this, the content you use should not hang on the opinion of one or two sales leaders…
How to avoid this:
Use an objective approach when it comes to your content strategy by leveraging analytics and reporting to measure impact and engagement. Presentation platforms like DIGIDECK track every interaction your audience has along the way with your content. By understanding how long slides are viewed and which areas of the presentation resonate most with your audience, your content will inherently perform better while ultimately shortening sales cycles.
Elevate Your Sales Presentations With DIGIDECK
As you prepare for your next presentation, remember these top presentation mistakes and how to avoid them. Remember, it’s not about checking off a list of features or delivering a one-size-fits-all pitch. It’s about creating an experience that speaks to your audience’s needs, captures their attention, and inspires them to take action.
DIGIDECK by Sportsdigita combines visually stunning presentations with actionable insights allowing you to avoid these costly presentation mistakes. For more information, request your custom demo today!
