Your Presentation Is Killing Your Conversion Rate

A year ago, I was working with a professional services firm in a competitive industry in a competitive market. The people who were talking (ahem, “selling”) to potential clients were well-educated practitioners, not traditional salespeople.

They did a fabulous job telling potential clients about their expertise, how they’d handle the problem, and what they could expect. They loved to present. They had a lot of information, and they wanted to share it with potential buyers.

Yet they weren’t closing much.

So I got hired.

We almost doubled their close rate within 5 months.

Because we stopped presenting so much.

One of the practitioners said to me, “Every week, I talk less about (insert industry information here), and I see my close rates climb.”

Something similar has happened with companies I’ve helped in commercial finance, where potential clients make it all about rate. They want to rush to price and terms, which are effectively the “presentation” or “demo.” But when salespeople focus less on that part of the sale, and more on the elements that really matter, they win more business.

I’ve seen it in financial services. Software (yes). Real estate. Manufacturing. And more.

The presentation, whether demo, pitch, proposal or quote, is not why you’re winning or losing business. It matters, but not in the way sales people seem to think.

I’m going to challenge your thinking. Why?

Because I’ve helped other companies in various industries boost close rates by… presenting less information… and later in their sales process.

Maybe it’ll help you sell more.

Are you open-minded enough to give this a shot?
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Note: I don’t advocate for presenting NOTHING, nor do I advocate for withholding information.
What you’ll find here is an argument for presenting the right information at the right time in the right way for the right reasons.

Here’s what I have seen, time and again: Presenting less information, and later in your sales process, can dramatically boost your close rates. Let me explain.

If you’re reading this, you either sell, manage salespeople, or run a business that relies on someone to sell something. No one managing an Amazon storefront is reading my newsletter.

In white collar services, whether consulting or law, a lot of emphasis is put on the education of the client.

In blue collar services (think janitorial), it goes to the quote.

In software, it’s about the demo.

In agencies, it’s about the pitch.

Companies are pretty good at training their people on how to run these parts of the sales process, and salespeople like working on them for several reasons. It’s straightforward, the seller is usually in some form of control, there’s not as much decision-making, and it offers the hope of business getting done, whether warranted or not.

But the emphasis on the presentation actually hurts the chances of winning business. You’re probably falling int one of 2 camps now:

• You believe what you sell absolutely requires a presentation, and you can’t NOT present early
• You are nodding your head in agreement with me, saying, “Yeah, you just have to qualify better.”

If you’re in the second camp, I agree. But I rarely see salespeople truly qualify. They rush through a checklist to get to the presentation… OR they interpret any perceived impatience on the part of the prospect as a DEMAND to present NOW. More on this later.

If you’re in the first camp, see my note: it’s not about NOT presenting, but doing so at the appropriate time so you win more. You or your people are likely presenting WAY too early, and as a result, you’re making it about you or your company and probably chasing deals.

But is presenting early so bad?
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Let me count the reasons that early presentation is a problem.

• Once the presentation is delivered, leverage is lost. Think about the times a prospect has gone dark on you. 80% of the time, it’s AFTER you’ve delivered a demo, quote, or proposal. Trading a presentation for information like, I don’t know, the customer’s decision criteria, timeline, and budget isn’t a bad idea.
• The presentation, especially if it’s well-designed, becomes a crutch, leading to 0 (or almost 0) actual discovery and qualification. Want an example? Take a sales call with almost any 4-5 figure SaaS company. You’ll typically see a demo on the first call, or, if they’ve been trained, they have someone ask you 4 questions to “qualify” you and the next call is a … demo.
• Early presentation prevents tailoring of the presentation, leading to a lack of differentiation. The more questions you (or your people) can ask early on, the more you can learn, and the more you can present exactly the right information to the potential buyer.
• Early presentation prevents building a relationship. And everyone today wants to be a “relationship” person. But they can’t seem to do what you’d want someone in a relationship with you to do: ask a lot of questions, and listen, and withhold suggestions until you’re ready.

I could go on, but I’m holding on to a tighter word count these days.

So what should you do instead, and WHEN is the right time to present?
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In a conversation with the client the other day, I said, “Presenting should advance the opportunity by either answering a question the client has, or validating what they believe they’re getting.”

Think about that. It’s not designed to do the work of selling. The work of selling is…

• Finding out if there’s a need for a problem, whether they realize it now, or if you can get them to accept that the status quo is problematic.
• Uncovering a compelling reason (for the business and the person you’re talking to) to change. Do this well, and you learn what they need in your specs, or workflows, or integrations, or solution. Full stop.
• Attaching a financial impact to the status quo.
• Discovering if they’re committed to getting a solution, and if so, under what circumstances.
• Determining if they’ll spend money (and how much) to get it solved.
• Identifying and connecting with the other people involved in the decision.
• Understanding when (timeline) they want it solved.
• Learning what criteria goes into their decision making, and what their process for making a decision involves.

THAT is the work of selling. When you do that, you know who cares about the problem, what they want in a solution, how and when they’ll make a decision, and what they’ll spend to get it fixed.

Then you can present a cost and needs-appropriate solution. Knowing you have done the work of truly qualifying someone for you and for them.

So… when do you present?
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This will sound like I’m trying to have my cake and eat it, too, but…

You’re presenting throughout the entire sales process, if you’re doing it well.

But you’re simply presenting intentionally, and not relying on your slide deck or proposal to do the work for you.

Think about this: a well-crafted opening “About Our Company” shouldn’t really be about your company: it should be about the problems your customers or clients have… The skill with which you articulate those issues builds credibility about your company.

The questions you ask demonstrate your competence.

(When your questions are smarter, tougher, and more thoughtful, they differentiate you.)

The examples you use – which should be tailored to draw out the information you need to qualify that person – provide evidence of your expertise and experience.

But they all work to advance the deal.

None of them alone are designed to be the end in themselves.

There will be times you need to show some material in a first conversation, or a second conversation to clear some hurdle for the prospect. That’s fine. If you know why you’re presenting, and what they need to see, and that there’s a decision to be made upon delivery of the information.

All that being said, a presentation is appropriate if we know:

• Why the purchase is truly important to the buyer, personally: what is at stake?
• If they’re committed to solving the problem
• What they need specifically in a solution
• Their decision process and criteria
• Their level of investment
• The right people in the room
• An agreement to make a decision upon presentation

Once we have that, we’re in a position to present. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a Hail Mary, hoping it’s what they want or need, and that we’re with the right people.

Start slowing down your process and making the discovery your goal. If you do that well, you’ll find you win more business, and sometimes, just sometimes, the prospect will trust you enough that they don’t even need the presentation.

To recap:

• Your job is not to present, but to sell.
• You are looking for what they need to see or hear or experience to move forward, but you can only do that when you gather all the relevant information.
• Presenting too soon will have you chasing deals, rather than closing them.
• Presenting too soon is not in the prospect’s best interest, because you don’t know if you’re presenting the right information to the right people the right way.
• How you sell is the best presentation you can ever give.

Questions about this? Want to argue with me? Either way, email me at adam@thenorthwoodgrp.com. Maybe it’ll be our next newsletter.