Templates and Robots
How do you feel when someone is giving you an obviously canned pitch or presentation that does not appear to be tailored specifically to you?
I’m often asked for standard presentation ‘templates’ or for pre-scripted answers to objections. Those who are looking for magic templates and processes are simply looking for the easy way to make a sale.
My father taught me, “anything worth getting is worth working for”. When you are in pursuit of a major sale, robotic processes and template systems just don’t cut it. They’re fine for the rookie who hasn’t learned how to approach prospects strategically, or for small ‘quick hit’ sales.
We have all seen the sales training that says, “this is the way (implying the only way) to get an appointment” or “when your prospect poses an objection, use this standard, snappy comeback”.
There are a number of problems with trying to train your sales people in robotic selling or to use down and dirty templates.
1.) Templates and robotic pitches make no allowance for buyer style and assume the same approach works for everyone.
Custom tailoring your approach to suit your prospect’s buyer style does take more research and effort, but pays off handsomely.
2.) Templates and scripts don’t allow you to benefit from experience. When you custom tailor your presentations for continuous improvement, each presentation becomes better than the last one.
3.) The average local business owner hears from 16 sales people a week trying to sell them one form of advertising or another. The odds are they’ve already seen the template or heard the script you’re using from one of your competitors. You know enough about marketing and branding to know the winner is always the one who differentiates themselves from their competition.
4.) Custom tailoring every major presentation to be relevant to your client has the added advantage of giving you time to mentally rehearse your presentation as you write it.
You’ve told your clients that marketing today is all about ‘engaging’ or ‘being relevant’. So it’s time for you to walk the talk. Robots who say the same thing to everyone are NOT engaging and I’ve yet to see the template that’s relevant to every buyer style and situation.
Randy’s ‘What If’
What if you gave every major presentation the time it deserves. Calculate what your time is worth per hour, then calculate the commission you will make on this sale. Putting time and effort into preparing a well thought out customer-focused presentation will always result in larger orders than, one size fits all scripts and templates.
Don’t know how to write customer-focused presentations? Contact [email protected] to discuss our Customer-Focused Communication sales training to help you capture larger 52-week orders.