How to Have A Terrific Day – Motivational Positive Thinking Video

In this fast-paced positive attitude training video, top motivational speaker Ed Foreman recommends a series of easy to implement strategies for overcoming the daily bombardment of negativity surrounding us. You’ll learn the basic habit patterns of winners, techniques for overcoming worry, how to help others to have a more positive attitude, and dozens of ideas to make sure that every day is a terrific day. Whether you are in sales, service, management, or any other capacity in business, maintaining a positive attitude is critical for success.

When it comes to motivating and teaching people how to have a consistent, positive attitude, Ed Foreman is one of America’s best! Serving corporate America for more than 40 years, he has been a full time management consultant and motivational speaker in high demand. As a trainer, Ed Foreman regularly addresses corporations and associations across America conducting his highly acclaimed positive attitude training seminars. In addition, he has been positively featured on CBS 60 Minutes, and has been inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Through his down-to-earth, humorous style, and no-nonsense approach, audiences consistently give him rave reviews. At 71 years young, Ed Foreman is living proof of the benefits of living a positive lifestyle.

Street Smart Selling and Marketing – Sales Training Video

Sales and marketing training is essential for any business, small or large. No matter what your industry is, sales and marketing training can give you the competitive edge. In this fast-paced, entertaining, and idea-loaded program, you’ll learn dozens of innovative tactics for selling and marketing your products and services more effectively than ever before. You’ll hear clever stories loaded with insights, ideas, and humor. And finally you’ll be reminded of some of the most important sales basics that many of us tend to forget. If you are ready to start thinking outside the box, Jeff Slutsky’s sales and marketing training seminar will give you the tools you need, with an entertaining twist.

Jeff Slutsky is well versed on the subject of sales and marketing training. He is known for his energetic, entertaining, and high-content style. As dynamic as he is informative, Jeff knows how to captivate an audience from start to finish. His Street Fighting program has received a great deal of national media attention, in fact, Jeff Slutsky’s work has been discussed and written about in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Success Magazine, Inc. Magazine, and CNN. In addition to having authored 8 powerful books, he is a contributing author to the bestselling book, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. As a speaker and trainer, Jeff Slutsky has helped hundreds of prestigious organizations, including AT&T, McDonald’s, American Express, Walt Disney, Pizza Hut, Sony, the city of Dallas, the state of Arkansas, and the country of India. With more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing training, Jeff Slutsky is an excellent choice for training and entertaining your team.

Make My Life Easier – Sales Training Philosophy Training Video

Expert speaker Warren Greshes is right on target in this motivational business training video geared towards boosting customer satisfaction. In it, he shares the importance of delivering extraordinary quality, service, convenience, and value, no matter what industry you are in. With the ability to buy almost anything online, the day of the mediocre salesperson is dead. The 21st century customer is more demanding than ever and will only deal with people who are ready, willing, and able to add extra value to everything they sell. And it’s not just value … It’s quality, service, convenience, and value. Discover the importance of exceeding customer expectations in this powerful training video for increasing customer retention.

Award winning motivational speaker, Warren Greshes, knows what he’s talking about. His inspiring stories and motivating philosophies help instill new levels of commitment towards excellence. After beginning his career as a National Sales Manager in the highly competitive Garment District of Manhattan, Warren Greshes then joined a New York City consulting firm. It was there that he tripled sales in just two years. Warren has served on the Board of Directors of the National Speakers Association, and in 1998 was awarded their highest designation, induction into the Speaker Hall of Fame. As a full time professional motivational speaker, he delivers over 70 programs each year on topics including customer satisfaction, customer service, goal setting, prospecting skills and sales techniques. Warren Greshes has an energetic, no-holds-barred delivery style that keeps his audiences engaged and entertained.

It’s Easy to Earn Money

There is a very real possibility that everything you and I have been taught about how to earn money is so far from the truth that it’s almost comical. Earning money has nothing to do with age, formal education, gender or geography. It has nothing to do with past experience or your formal years of education or your level of intellect. Check it out… there are individuals who are functionally illiterate who have become multi-millionaires, while there are others who are absolutely brilliant and they are broke. Virtually anyone can be taught how to earn millions of dollars and yet the sad truth is that 97 out of every 100 people are born, live their entire lives, and die without ever learning how to earn money. To perpetuate this ridiculous problem, their ignorance is passed along from one generation to the next.

Our school system has been designed as an environment to enlighten young minds, to replace ignorance with understanding and thereby improve the quality of life. Our educational system has obviously been successful in many areas. However, it has woefully neglected one important subject, “How to Earn Money.” You can earn a doctorate degree in economics and have little or no knowledge of how to earn money. A lack of understanding in this area is the cause of numerous unwanted and unnecessary problems, since money is the medium of exchange that is used worldwide for other people’s products and services.

There has always been a small, select group, approximately 3% of our population, who clearly understand that prosperity consciousness is the primary cause of wealth and their prosperity consciousness, like ignorance, is also passed down from one generation to the next.

Let’s look at “money.” What is it? Money is a reward you receive for the service you render. The more valuable the service, the greater the reward. Thinking of ways we can be of greater service will not only help us earn more money, it will also enable us to grow intellectually and spiritually.

Money Is An Idea:
The paper you fold and place in your purse or pocket is not money. It is paper with ink on it. It represents money, but it is not money. Money is an idea. The earning of money has nothing to do with the paper stuff. It has to do with consciousness.

I am aware there are books that instruct you on how to manipulate the market, stocks and people… they might even help you get money. But, let me caution you… when there is no spiritual growth… there is no spiritual strength… there is no lasting happiness… and, there is no real or lasting wealth.

To accumulate wealth, a person must become very comfortable with the idea of money. That may sound strange, however most people are not comfortable with the idea of money, which is why they do not have any. The cause of poverty is poverty consciousness. A poverty consciousness will cause a person to see, hear, smell, think and feel… lack and limitation.

The late Mike Todd said, “Being broke is a temporary situation. Being poor is a mental state.”

He was correct. There are wealthy people who lose every cent they have through a series of mistakes in judgment… but that does not make them poor. They will have it all back in a short time because of their prosperity consciousness.

If you have any question in your mind regarding your level of consciousness with respect to money, be very honest with yourself and look at your results. Study the patterns in your life.

If you want to improve your financial position in life, focus your attention on creating a higher level of prosperity consciousness. Begin by preparing a powerful, positive affirmation and fuel it with emotion. When you do this, you are depositing this creative energy in the treasury of your sub-conscious mind. And, by repeating this process over and over and over again every day, it will begin to alter your conditioning and mentally move you in the direction you want to go. Write it out, read it, feel it, and let it take hold of your mind.

How much money do you want? Saying you want more is not good enough. Five dollars is more. How much more? Decide on a figure. Be specific. You will not seriously want more money than you are capable of earning… however, you would be wise to remember, you must earn it.

There Are Three Income Earning Strategies:
Trading time for money – By far the worst of the three income earning strategies, it is employed by approximately 96% of our population – doctors, lawyers, accountants, laborers, etc. There is an inherent problem with this strategy – saturation. You run out of time. If a person accumulates any degree of wealth employing this strategy, it will be at the expense of a life. They compromise on the car they drive, the house they live in, the clothes they choose and the vacations they take. They rarely, if ever, get what they want.

Investing money to earn money – This strategy is used by approximately 3% of the population. The number is small for the obvious reason – very few people have any money to invest. Many people who effectively employ this strategy follow the advice of a trusted, knowledgeable advisor.

Leveraging yourself to earn money – This is where you multiply your time through the efforts of others by setting up Multiple Sources of Income (MSI). This is, without question, the very best way to increase your income. Make a decision to have many sources of income; it’s the strategy that wealthy people have used dating clear back to the ancient Babylonians. Unfortunately, this strategy is only used by approximately 1% of our population, yet that 1% earns approximately 96% of all the money that is earned! You are only a decision away from membership.

Once you determine how much money you want to earn, write it down on a sheet of paper in large figures. Look at the number with the dollar sign beside it and tell yourself over and over again:

That Amount of Money is an Effect:

It Represents a Reward that I Want to Receive.

What Service Can I Render that Would be Deserving of that Reward?

You can take the total figure and divide it into multiple parts. Each part would represent a source of income. Each source of income represents a separate reward that you would receive for a service you would render.

Work on one source of income at a time; each one can become an exciting part of your life. What you are actually doing is thinking of different ways you can be of service to others.

Think of how you can do whatever you do – more effectively.
Think of how you can improve the quality and quantity of service you render.
Think of how you can help people in a greater way.

Money is the ultimate servant. The more you earn, the more you can help others.

Beyond Excellence – Leadership, Service, Team Building, Management Training Video

The fast-paced team building and leadership training program is filled with advice on how to become an extraordinary person in business, and in life. Using real world examples, dozens of interesting slides, and powerful true stories, Robert Stevenson delivers a high-energy leadership training program that can help anyone to achieve higher levels of excellence. He covers a broad spectrum of ideas, including team building, leadership training, management training, team skills, accountability, dealing with stress, handling change, how to criticize, the power of laughter, how to exceed expectations, balance, and much more. Whether you are just starting out in business, or a seasoned professional, this leadership training video seminar will remind you of all the things you need to do when you are committed to soaring above and beyond excellence.

Robert Stevenson is a highly sought-after professional speaker who has delivered more than 2000 leadership training programs and team building seminars around the world. In addition to being a former All-American athlete and graduate of Georgia Tech, Robert has been a successful entrepreneur, business leader, and sales professional, maintaining hundreds of accounts in over 20 countries. Today, Robert travels around the world, sharing powerful ideas for achieving excellence, both personally and professionally. His client list reads like the Who’s Who in business. Companies like Prudential, FedEx, Radio Shack, HBO, American Express, Time Warner and Citi Group have all invited Robert Stevenson to conduct his powerful team building and leadership training programs. Now you can bring these powerful team building and leadership training ideas right to your staff in a cost-effective and easy to use format.

Closing Through the Buyer’s Eyes

Several years ago, I attended a banquet for top salespeople. Before I gave my talk, the speaker introduced someone in the audience and said, “This man earned twice the national average in sales last year …”

The speaker’s manner suggested that it was quite an achievement. But, it has been done by many, so everyone craned their necks and looked at the man in puzzlement.

“… and he’s totally blind.” There was a burst of applause. When that finally quieted, the speaker said, “I’m sure that many of us are wondering how you got into the top third in sales achievement with your handicap.”

“Wait a minute,” the blind man replied, “I don’t have a handicap, I have an advantage over every other salesperson in my field. I have never seen a product I’ve sold, so I have to close through my prospect’s eyes. What I do is what all of you sighted people could do. You’d serve your clients better, and make more money if you did.”

This is so true! You must see the benefits, the features and the limitations of your product or service from the buyer’s viewpoint. You must weigh them on their scale of values, not your own. Once you are able to do that, you will be able to concentrate on your job of serving them. You will be able to empathize with their situation, their specific needs and radiate the confidence that you can help them.

There are certain signs you will begin to notice when they are ready to go ahead with your product or service.
1.When they change the pace of your discussion — either by slowing it down or speeding it up.

2.When they start asking more questions about the product or service.

3.When they become more relaxed and less businesslike.

4.When they favor your test close. This would be a question about installation or start up of service that they answer without hesitation or when they give you an objection.
Now that you know they’re ready, where do you close? Anywhere. If you are in their office, your showroom, your car, or even a restaurant, if they’re ready, put your pen to paper. For many people there is a certain excitement about executing a decision, right now. Most of us feel joy and relief at having the mental strain behind us. We now see only the benefits of having the product or service already working for us. Don’t spoil that mood for your customers by insisting on getting back to the office, or somewhere where you’re comfortable to start writing up the agreement. You’ll be taking the risk of having them cool off about their decision. To use an old cliche, “Strike while the iron is hot!”

Be aware that your buyer may be the kind of person who needs to be sitting at a desk or conference table to finalize any paperwork on a purchase. If they are, you should understand any hesitation and suggest that you get into a more appropriate setting before you begin putting things on paper. If you press that kind of person, they may quickly have second thoughts about the investment.

If buyers show hesitation once you’ve begun your closing sequence, you need to relax them and let the pressure off before continuing. Begin by apologizing to them for rushing things. Tell them that you get excited when you think about all the benefits they’ll be receiving, and that you may have gotten a bit overzealous. Watch them closely here and when they begin to relax, summarize the benefits they already agreed to, using questions.
- “I know there are still a lot of questions in your mind, but this model is the size you wanted, isn’t it?”

- “And the delivery date we discussed is okay, am I right?”

- “Our service agreement meets your company’s needs, doesn’t it?”
Once you’ve covered all the minor agreements, ask a lead-in question and try another close. A lead-in question would be something like, “I know I covered that list of items rather quickly, but those are the things we’ve discussed so far, and we have agreed on them, haven’t we?”

If they still show hesitation, I suggest you move on to the “Similar Situation” Close. The “Similar Situation” close is one in which you tell them about another client who had needs much like theirs. They hesitated at first, but finally agreed to go ahead with the investment and today they are so happy they did. They realized all the benefits you had discussed in your presentation and a few others they hadn’t thought of previous to making their decision.

After each transaction make notes on the situation and the resolution of each client’s challenges. This way, you’ll have a large inventory of similar situations you can draw from when a new client shows hesitation. Once they see that you’ve helped someone in the same type of situation before, it’ll build their confidence in your ability to do the same for them.

Once they understand that your main interest is in serving their needs, not your own pocketbook, they’ll relax and let you see exactly what they see through their eyes.

Customers Expect More

What makes a successful salesperson?

I’ve often asked that question at seminars, and the answers have been all over the ball park.

“You’ve got to have the right product,” some say.

It helps. But we’ve all known salespeople who went broke trying to move superb products and others who could make fortunes selling ice cream on an iceberg. A really good salesperson can rack up more sales with a mediocre product than a mediocre salesperson can make with the greatest product in the world.

“You’ve got to make plenty of sales calls,” others say. “The more calls you make, the more sales you’ll get.”

As a general rule, that’s true, but it doesn’t go far enough. If you think about it, the more passes a quarterback throws, the more passes he’ll complete.

But a quarterback who completes three out of four passes will put points on the board much more regularly than one who completes one out of four, even though both may throw the same number of times. A baseball player who hits .350 will cross the plate much more frequently than one who hits .200, even though both take the same number of swings.

Similarly, a salesperson’s success doesn’t depend on the number of calls. It depends on the number of sales. An effective salesperson and an ineffective salesperson may make the same number of calls, but it’s the effective one who eats steak and lobster instead of hamburger.

Still others say, “you’ve got to master the mechanics.” That helps, too. But mastering the mechanics won’t put you on top of the sales charts unless you master the right mechanics.

In today’s market, as in none before, it is crucial that we learn selling savvy. The sales environment has changed radically in four distinct ways:

1.Customers are better-educated, more sophisticated, and more value-conscious.

in other words, they are harder to please; they want more for their money.

Think about your own demands as a consumer. You insist on quality goods and efficient service. You don’t want some slick con artist trying to trick you into buying a product or service you don’t want or need. And you don’t want to be abandoned after the sale.

You expect follow-up service. If something goes wrong, you want to know that the salesperson and the company are going to stand behind the sale.

This means that salespeople have to stay on top of their markets. They have to be knowledgeable about the products and services they are selling. And they have to be honest, and sincerely interested in helping their customers find value and derive satisfaction.

Customers expect more from us than ever before.

2.Competition is stiffer.
Customers now have so many options that price will always be the deciding factor — unless you can offer a strong differential advantage.

With companies producing similar products at similar cost, it’s getting tougher every day to offer substantially lower prices than the competition does.

That means that you have to offer something that sets you apart from all the other salespeople who are trying to get your customers to buy from them. You have to provide quicker service, more up-to-date product knowledge, and better follow-up.

It’s not enough to provide products and service as good as those of your competitors. Yours have to be better — a lot better. Moreover, your customers must acknowledge the superiority of your products and services, and the object of your presentation should be to lead them toward that recognition and acknowledgment.

If you can’t lead your customers to that acknowledgment, you won’t get the sale, no matter how good your product. Your success in selling depends less and less on the product your are selling, and more and more on your skills as a salesperson.

3.Technology is rapidly replacing peddlers.

People are buying more through direct mail. And such media as interactive television and the Internet are making it possible to buy almost anything you want by pressing a button or clicking a mouse.

Companies are no longer looking for peddlers to handle items that are much easier to sell by phone or through the mail. In many cases, they’re setting up self-service systems that can be operated by clerks.

Of course, there are plenty of very good opportunities for really sharp salespeople who can sell with power and skill, especially in the industrial field.

To be successful as a salesperson, you must find ways to distinguish yourself from the inexpensive clerks and the commonplace peddlers. You must rise to the challenge with proficient skills, depth of knowledge and a positive attitude.

4.Time has become a priceless commodity — for salespeople and for their customers.

Prospects don’t want salespeople wasting their time.

And if you’re serious about becoming successful, you don’t have time to wander around showing your products or services to anyone who will look at them.

To survive in today’s volatile marketplace, you need a clear and effective strategy. You need the skills to implement that strategy. And you need the know-how to make that strategy work for you.

When you acquire and apply these things, you’re demonstrating selling savvy.
Five Ingredients for Selling Savvy

What do we mean by selling savvy?

The answer lies in five ingredients that are vital to your team’s success as professionals:
1.Selling savvy is understanding the selling process well enough to approach it as a highly educated professional.

2.Selling savvy is understanding people well enough to influence them to buy.

3.Selling savvy is knowing how to execute.

4.Selling savvy means developing street smarts.

5.Selling savvy is having the self-discipline to carry out every detail of your strategy all day, every day.
Professionals Versus Workers

I often draw the distinction between a person with a worker mentality and a person with a professional mentality.

Workers tolerate their jobs as burdens to be endured for the sake of putting food on their tables and roofs over their heads.

Professionals see their jobs as rewarding components of their lives. Their careers and their personal lives complement and support each other. Their jobs are part of who they are.

Workers wait to be told what to do. They don’t reach out for new responsibility, because they don’t want responsibility. They take care of their own immediate tasks without worrying about how their tasks affect others in the organization. In fact, they don’t see themselves as part of the organization. They see the organization as an outside entity that may have a negative or positive impact on their lives. They refer to it in the third person: as “it” or “them,” and not as “we.” The organization is something they have to respond to, although they’re not a part of it.

Professionals see themselves as part of the organization. To them, the organization is “we.” When it succeeds, they succeed. When it suffers reverses, they feel the reverses.

People look up to professionals because they recognize them as being good at what they do. They’re good because they’ve walked the extra mile toward excellence. They absorb information about their chosen fields, and they share their knowledge with others. They’re jealous of their images and are always careful to avoid compromising them. To be a professional, you have to look like a pro, communicate like a pro, and exude the confidence of a pro. You must set a high standard for yourself and never allow yourself to fall below that standard.

Defining Qualities of a 360º Leader

Dr. John C. Maxwell

Adaptability – Quickly adjusts to change.
Leaders in the middle may not be the first to know, but they are often the ones in charge of implementation. Adaptable managers in the middle are willing to embrace a change operationally even if they are not yet ready to do so emotionally.

Discernment – Understands the real issues.
Good leaders cut through the clutter to see the real issues. A smart person believes only half of what he hears, but a truly smart person knows which half to believe.

Security – Finds identity in self, not position.
Effective 360º leaders are secure enough in who they are to not worry about where they are. Instead of focusing on reaching a position, they focus on reaching their potential.

Service – Gains fulfillment in serving everyone.
A servant leader serves the mission and leads by serving those on mission with him or her. The true measure of leaders is not the number of people who serve them but the number of people they serve.

Resourcefulness – Finds creative ways to make things happen.
Creativity is the joy of not knowing it all. We seldom, if ever, have all the answers, but we always have the imagination to create solutions to our problems.

Maturity – Puts the team before self.
Nobody who possesses an unrelenting me-first attitude is able to develop much influence with others. A mature leader sees beyond his or her personal vantage point and has the courage to make sacrifices which advance the team.

Communication – Links to all levels of the organization.
We often think of communication in organizations as being primarily top-down. Leaders at the top cast vision, set direction, reward progress, etc. However, good communication is a 360-degree proposition. In fact, oftentimes the most critical communication comes from leaders identifying problems or solutions at the ground level and sending them up the chain of command.

Four Strategies for a New Business

There are four strategies you can use to find a new product or service to start or build your own business.

LOOK IN YOUR OWN FIELD The first strategy is to find a new product or service in your own field or skills. You may have a million dollar idea in your own mind. Many people have had the experience of having an idea for a product or service nag at them over and over again, and you keep pushing it away or ignoring it. They say the average person has four ideas each year driving to and from work, any one of which would make them a millionaire if they would just follow it up. So look into your own field or skills. Look into your own mind. Look into your own ideas.

LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES WHEN YOU TRAVEL The second strategy is to find a new product or service while you travel. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. A very good friend of mine who is now a multi-millionaire, started his fortune by traveling east and seeing a unique type of orange drink called Orange Julius and then getting the exclusive rights to sell it in a large Western city. From there, he expanded into other restaurants, into real estate, and into apartments. He developed a high positive cash flow from his Orange Julius business that made him a millionaire. Sometimes just finding a new product or service that is doing well somewhere else that hasn’t come to your market area can make you wealthy.

GET THE RIGHTS TO SELL IT Remember your objective, when you find a new product or service, is to acquire the rights to sell the product or service exclusively in your market area. Sometimes these rights are available for the asking. A gentleman I know named Peter Thomas got the rights for Century 21 to Canada simply by going to the offices and asking for them when Century 21 was a young company. From that, he turned Century 21 into one of the most successful real estate franchises in Canada. He is now worth millions of dollars, having taken the cash flow from Century 21 and channeled it into other real estate investments.

BE SURE IT IS ALREADY SUCCESSFUL Sometimes just asking for the right to sell it in your market area is all you have to do. Here’s the key, though. Before you bring a new product or service back to your market area, be absolutely sure that it sells well somewhere else. Many people advertise products outside their market area because they are not selling inside their market area, so make very sure that the product is selling well already in other markets.

DEVELOP A MONEY MAKING ATTITUDE Strategy number three is to keep your eyes and ears open and alert to new business opportunities occurring around you. Develop a money-making attitude. A friend of mine became very successful by building commercial property across the street from a new shopping center that was being developed. The traffic from the shopping center made that commercial space extremely valuable. He opened two businesses in it, and started his fortune. So be alert to what is going on around you.

BE SURE YOU LIKE IT YOURSELF And strategy number four is this. Remember you will only be successful marketing and selling something that you believe in, use yourself and would recommend to your best friend. Many times, I see people who make the critical mistake of trying to sell a product or service that they themselves would neither use nor afford, nor would they recommend to someone else, but they think that other people will buy it even though they wouldn’t. So remember you must really, really believe it the product. You must be excited about the product. You must absolutely believe that this product can enhance the life or work of someone else and then be eager to tell them about it.

ACTION EXERCISES First, develop a new business mentality. Continually look around you for new products and services that people need, want and are willing to pay for.

Second, develop a money making attitude. Look around you for opportunities to sell products or services that are not currently being offered, at either higher prices or in greater quantities. The possibilities are everywhere.

Award-Winning Presentations

Okay. You used some of your excellent prospecting methods to find someone who needs your product or service. You made a competent original contact. You qualified the decision-makers as to their needs and are confident your product or service will truly be good for them. Now, it’s time for the show to begin — and YOU are the master of ceremonies. Are you prepared?

Giving a winning presentation is not unlike presenting at the Oscars. It’s not easy preparing for such a major event. While chances are good that you will probably never have the opportunity to present at the Oscars, every presentation you make can potentially earn you the award of a new client. Always keep the potential reward in mind when you are preplanning a presentation. That reward or goal should be inspiration enough to keep you honing your presentation until it’s smooth as silk.

While most salespeople agree that the fun is in the presenting, too many fail to prepare properly for their presentations. Preparation is the key to giving any winning presentation. Doing your homework is vital. Knowing the decision-maker’s history — his or her likes and dislikes — will help you direct your presentation in a manner that will be most acceptable to him or her. And, acceptance is exactly what you’re after. Getting acceptance, authorization, approval, an endorsement or his or her OK on the bottom line is what selling is all about.

Giving a powerful presentation or a deft demonstration should never be your purpose in and of itself. You’re a key player in the event, but you are not the star. The only purpose for presenting or demonstrating is to get the prospect ready to approve the purchase. You receive no trophy until and unless you give a truly award-winning presentation and the decision-maker decides to keep whatever it is you’re offering.

View yourself as a sort of matchmaker. You believe your product and the client are a perfect match. During your presentation, you introduce them and give them a chaperoned opportunity to get to know each other. After all, they’ll be alone together for many years if they agree to the match.

Many salespeople falter and ultimately lose sales because they try to make themselves the stars of the presentation. They want to show how well they have learned to operate the equipment. Unless you’re also applying for a job with this company to run the equipment for them, you must let the product be the star.

There’s no essential difference between a presentation and a demonstration. Both are processes by which you prove the reality of the benefits that the prospects are seeking. In the presentation, you do it with graphs, numbers and words. In the demonstration, you do it with tests, samples and performances. The results should be the same: implanting in their minds the conviction that you are their best source for the benefits they want.

During the demonstration, if you are not having people push the buttons, make the copies, type on the keyboard, smell the air freshener, open and close the doors, you’re not selling–you’re showing. You must have them participate in the performance to make them feel involved.

If you market an intangible product or service, be sure to have brochures, graphs, and other items that you can hand to the decision-makers. Give them a calculator to prove the figures you’re quoting are correct. Show testimonial letters from other happy clients. This creates both physical and emotional involvement.

Keep the clients mentally involved by asking questions that will keep them thinking about how they’ll use your offering once they own it. Keep the clients physically involved by giving them simple things to do.

Some of the best advice I give salespeople about giving presentations is to get themselves out of the picture. If you are in real estate and demonstrating a property, don’t precede the potential buyers into a room. When they own the property and enter that room, will you be there? Not likely. So, let them see it as they will once they have it all to themselves. If you sell business machines, step to the side and direct the decision-maker through the operations. Get their hands on the machine as quickly as possible. Developing their comfort level with the product is essential.

Another key point is not to let the decision-makers see anything until you’re ready to address it. Keep control of the presentation. This may require that you make a preliminary statement to the effect that you have planned a precise presentation and ask that they hold any questions, then address them when you’re ready. If you’ve truly prepared a winning presentation, chances are good that you will have answered all of their questions by the time you each the end of your presentation.

If you have several things to display, I suggest you bring a cloth of some sort to keep them covered until you’re ready for each item. Don’t risk a distraction. Keep them focused. Keep them with you. If you’re giving a computer presentation, be certain to insert attractive blank screens where you plan to elaborate or pause rather than leaving the information from your last point in sight when moving onto the next item.

Proper planning allows you to keep control of your presentation. If you’ve really prepared well, that control will lead you directly to a sale.

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