by Gautam Banerjee

Created on: October 06, 2009   Last Updated: October 07, 2009

Effective sales presentation is both an art and science. Sales persons in an earlier age had to plod through flip charts, overhead and slide projectors to complete their presentations. Today with the help of laptops and slide shows the task has become a lot easier. But it is not the props that make for an effective sales presentation. The basic objective of it is to create a winning value proposition about the product and to ultimately persuade people to buy the subject of the presentation.

There are many elements that must come together to create it's effectiveness and they can be summarized as follows:

1.Clarifying the objectives of the presentation.

To begin with knowing the exact objectives of the presentation is essential. If the presenter is not sure of what the objectives are, the audience is unlikely to know it either. Often sales people get stuck while talking about a feature of a product or an idea. But in order to persuade, features or ideas must be translated into a benefit and how it will help the audience. The presenter should be able to clarify how it differs in comparison to the benefits offered by the competitors and to what extent he can justify the claims of delivering such benefits. The effectiveness of his presentation will depend not only upon the value proposition that appeals to the audience, but also in successfully justifying the same.

2. Planning a logical structure of the presentation

Effective presentations are organized into simple beginning-middle-end format. First, tell the audience what you will be discussing, using an introduction that captures their attention; second, present the information you described, relating it to the audience's interests and the value proposition; and third, summarize what you said and offer a question-answer session to clarify concepts, outline problems, answer questions from the audience and identify issues. Here you can take on a leadership role and increase your visibility.

3. Proof and justification.

Gathering proof points is a straightforward approach for justifying value propositions and can enhance effectiveness. This can be done by testimonials which are self explanatory that proves positive things that have been said about your product or service or even your company by your customers or those with influence in the relevant industry. The most powerful of testimonials are the third person testimonials which are perceived as objective, independent and trustworthy. Further justification can

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