Pump Up Your Sales Process With Technology (9/21)

Pump Up Your Sales Process With Technology

To perhaps no one's surprise, the traditional binder-based sales presentation is going the way of the dinosaur. In today's cutthroat world of sales and marketing, the deals are given to those who can deliver the goods in the prettiest package most efficiently. Yet there are still those die-hard, old school salespeople that pull out their sales binders every time they make a new presentation to a potential client. If you fall into this category, you must ask yourself how you can expect a client to take your business seriously if you don't have the tools to make the proper presentation.

Top sales performance happens when you develop a plan that ensures your sales team is not missing sales opportunities. Missed sales impact the bottom line. They mean a loss for you and a win for your competition. What causes missed sales opportunities? Usually it is not the product or the price. Most sales opportunities are missed because the prospects aren't thinking about your company when they are ready to buy.

Research shows that prospects must be "touched" 6.7 times before they will act on your sales message. You need to be sure that your sales people are touching your prospects when the window of opportunity is greatest. And when they do this with a killer, multimedia sales presentation that engages the attention of the potential new customer, educating them about your product, you will be several steps closer to sealing the deal.

How It Can Help

The presentation has to be persuasive, communicating strategy, technology and use. The viewer should come away from the presentation feeling that your company has answered all of their questions and addressed their objections.

A dynamic presentation will reinforce your company's position as a leading force in its market. Attention-getting tools captivate and impress audiences, making it easier for salespeople to make sales.

A high-tech presentation can also reassure clients that your company is up to speed on the latest technology and strategies to compete in today's competitive climate.

One company that learned the value of a quality high-tech sales presentation is a magazine publisher in the Northeast. When attempting to sell advertising space in their magazines, one a small business publication and the other a trade magazine that deals with desktop publishing, the company made presentations that were printed on typical flipcharts in a three-ring binder, which included color PowerPoint slides in clear plastic protective covers. The company's sales representative would bring the binder into a sales meeting with a potential client and show the binder presentation while reading a script, either from memory or from notes.

For a magazine that was supposed to be the industry expert on desktop publishing, one would think that their sales presentation would be full of multimedia tricks and as flashy as New York's Times Square. One reluctant advertiser asked the salesperson: Why should I bother investing advertising dollars in a publication that can't even follow its own advice when making sales presentations?

The advertiser was right: A publication that covers the desktop publishing industry should have a state-of-the-art sales presentation. The publisher took this as a serious wake-up call and immediately went to work on developing a multimedia presentation for the sales group.

The first step the publisher took to correct the problem was to take all of the company's marketing and sales materials to a graphic design studio. After spending several hours with the designers going over the materials, the design studio developed a snazzy presentation on CD-ROM that included several multimedia elements: animation, sound, video and graphics. The key element of the presentation was that it was only 5 minutes long - long enough to get the company's message across, but not so long enough that it put the viewer to sleep.

This presentation was a complete 180-degree turn from the old sales-binder presentation: It ran automatically, it could be paused for questions, and it could be installed on each sales rep's laptop. It could also be customized to target specific target companies. For example, if an important client was being pitched, the presentation could be edited by the design studio to include pertinent information about the client, such as graphics of their products, market information and perhaps copies of similar ads that previously ran in the magazine. Once everything was said and done, the multimedia presentation cost about $3,500. It was more than the cost of the PowerPoint presentation, but the publisher justified the cost because of the improved impression it made on potential advertisers.

Getting Started

A multimedia sales presentation can be as simple as creating a colorful PowerPoint presentation that walks a potential client through a description of your products or services, the benefits your company provides, and any other important details. Or your presentation can include graphics, audio and video placed on CD-ROM or floppy disk that links to your Web site to highlight your portfolio. Additionally, you may choose to use your Web site as an extranet or intranet, providing a secured place where only people with an access code can enter and find your entire presentation online.

Your Computer

Developing your own power-packed multimedia sales process begins with obtaining the right tools. Today' s laptop manufacturers, including Dell, IBM, Toshiba and Gateway 2000, are producing machines that are faster, smarter, less expensive and more powerful than those on the market just six months ago. These portable machines are the key tools that will help you produce and present an attention-getting sales pitch.

So what should you look for in one of these presentation machines? At least 32 MB RAM, which is standard these days, Windows 95 or 98, a 2.5 GB hard drive, a CD-ROM player, a large (at least 14.1" diagonal) screen and a decent sound card. This will enable you to show just about any multimedia presentation that you could develop.

Examining the Options

The following is an overview of the most popular multimedia options that you can integrate into your sales process:

The Web

A Web site is a perfect tool for selling your product or services. If you are speaking with a prospective client on the phone, you can direct them as you speak to your Web site, providing them instant access to your company's offerings. Two good examples of companies that are effectively using the Web as a sales tool are Black Bean Studios and Power Design. Both firms have professionally designed their sites and spent considerable time and resources on writing copy to present a cohesive and striking Web presence. If you plan on developing a Web site to attract potential clients, consider hiring a Web design firm who can create a complete image. The money spent up front will be well worth it if your Web presence opens up doors for new business. Simply transferring your printed brochure to the Web won't do the trick: The Web is a medium that is most effective when both content and design are given equal importance.

CD-ROM

CD-ROMs are a great option for companies that have a small sales staff or don't need to have sales representatives visit clients because their products speak for themselves. It is also a great way to get your foot in the door and showcase your abilities before you follow up in person with a sales call.

Most designers can produce a CD that is readable by both Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers with the capability of dialing out through your client's modem to a secured 1-800 number, Web site or fax machine. CDs are relatively inexpensive to produce; pressing can run as low as $0.85 per disk (including printed wrappers), and mailing a 1,000-page catalog placed on CD can cost only pennies. And there's even more good news: CDs can be updated to include new products or promotional offers in a matter of hours, or they can be personalized for a special client or presentation.

Dave Halpin, operations manager at Just Pretend, a Manchester, N.H.-based doll manufacturer, is in the process of developing a CD-ROM catalog of the company's dolls and new line of children's toys. Halpin went outside of his team to develop the CD. "We have a lot of talented designers on staff including a savvy Web Master, but we needed to take the project to the next level by getting professional design help." So he turned to a Boston-based multimedia design firm because of their extensive background in producing electronic, interactive catalogs.

Halpin says the CDs will be bundled with other types of media, such as magazines, and may also be included with new purchases. "They will allow more eyes to see our product, and virtually everyone today has a computer with a CD player," states Halpin.

Halpin's advice in searching for a design studio? Check out the trade journals first. Magazines such as InterActive and 3D Animation usually have reviews of designers and ads in the back from reputable design studios.

Extranets and Intranets

Posting your sales and promotional materials on extranets can allow you to broaden your marketing reach if you have a small sales staff, and to reduce time wasted repeatedly answering basic frequently asked questions and lessen your sales staff's traveling and mailing costs. Furthermore, these private networks that run over the Internet can help potential customers evaluate your offerings conveniently using their own PCs. Once clients have had a chance to familiarize themselves with your products and services, you can follow up with a personal call or visit to entice them to make a purchase.

Posting existing materials on an extranet is generally very inexpensive. Depending on the quantity of information being posted, the cost could run anywhere from several hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars. Most business owners find that the time and money they save using extranets is well worth their investment.

"Extranets hold considerable appeal since they have the ability to improve how companies function, such as with customer service. You've got your sales force, your support people you call center all on the extranet to support your customer," says Chris Selland, research director of the Yankee Group in Boston. "Companies are turning more to the extranet as a means of supporting their customers.

Companies that deploy extranets are jumping to the next evolutionary level of Electronic Commerce for corporations. Extranets provide the benefits of Electronic Data Imaging (EDI) and collaboration in a secure, open and interactive way over the Net.

They also provide dramatic business advantages for companies that need to work closely with business partners, suppliers or customers. Extranets let companies integrate business processes with partners around the country and all over the world.

According to Seri Spieler, a research analyst at the Gartner Group, as much as 40 percent of business-to-business e-commerce applications will be replaced by extranets by the year 2002.

One company that has ridden the extranet wave successfully is Chicago-based Click Interactive. Click is a pacesetter in the electronic business field. Founded in 1994 by 31-year-old Michael Ferro, a computer industry entrepreneur and former division president at the Pettibone Corp. The company's leading extranet product, Click Commerce, provides customers with order status, inventory inquiry and supply management over the Internet. The wonder of this product is that multiple users from around the globe can view the same live document in their native language.

Extranets may be used to allow inventory database searches, for example, or to transmit information on the status of an order. They are being used by businesses of all types. Investment banks such as J.P. Morgan & Co. take their places alongside companies such as Access Graphics, a Boulder, Colo., company specializing in channel sales and support of UNIX-based distributed computing solutions.

Intranets work similarly to extranets, but they are typically private networks that only select people, such as your sales and customer service staff, can view using a password. Using such a network, you can keep your staff posted on information about new promotions, products and services, provide ongoing sales training, post sales quotas, and offer performance feedback.

If you have a technical specialist on staff, the cost of developing an extranet or intranet will include only his or her time. If you work with an outside vendor, expect to spend several thousand dollars on development.

The security of your extranet or intranet shouldn't be a concern, since many of the security solutions being developed can be applied to protect your private information from hackers. So you can be assured that only the people you want to see your information will have access to it.

If you decide to integrate technology into your sales presentation, regardless of which medium you use, design and write it professionally. No one should be able to look at your Web site or sales presentation and say, "Oh, they're a small business." The beauty of technology is, if it is used correctly, it makes size irrelevant and enables many small businesses to compete on a grander scale.