I recently delivered a seminar for a client of ours, during which I talked the audience through before and after slides and an explanation of why we’d changed them. They asked us to record the slides, so I thought I’d also record a copy to share with you! The presentation slides focus on the modernisation of HR, and how 3 separate areas are key to driving this.

This is how I helped Ceridian move away from using bullet points and start using audience-focused, effective visual slides.

Almost every time I sit to write a sales presentation for a new client, somebody wants to talk about their pricing. Rarely have I heard a convincing argument for cost being a value proposition.

“We are cheap”

I have two issues with this. The first is you have to be absolutely sure that you are the cheapest. If they have three quotes and you are not the cheapest then their conclusion is going to be that you are either lying (not good) or don’t know your market (possibly worst.) Either way, you’re making the case for them to actually choose the cheapest option. You lose!

Second, you are moving the conversation away from the value you offer to the cost of delivery, which breaks the fundamental principals of negotiation:

You cannot discuss cost until you have determined value.

“How Much?” is a buying sign. You don’t ask this unless you see some value in the product or service you are talking about. Waiting until they ask gives you a clear indication of interest.

How you price vs what you price.

Even when they ask, I’d be tempted to describe the pricing model rather than the absolute cost of the deal—and I would always tie it to the outcomes. For example, m62 STAT is a fixed price engagement to help clients win big pitch presentations. Before we tell the client our price, we ask how much the deal is we are pitching for. I’m working on four at the moment and each is worth in excess of $500 million, even at outsourcing margins (2-3%), the price we are going to charge for a 78% win rate is immaterial.

Cost of doing vs. the cost of not.

In fact, my usual response isn’t about the cost of our services, but the cost of losing. All four pitches will have bidding budgets of close to $1 million, making our fee irrelevant. Winning is the only thing that matters. For our clients, the question is always the same–what’s the cost of getting it wrong, or the value of getting it right?

So when do you talk cost?

Simple. You have to get the client to ask for the price, then you put a value (to them) on the service (a big number compared to your fee) then you share the price (a small number compared to the value).

“I believe we can help you” isn’t a good sales line.

My belief that I can help you isn’t persuasive; you would expect me to believe that whatever I’m selling works (I hope). If the most common sales mistake is not articulating the reasons to buy, next is assuming that because you have identified ways to drive value for your client, so have they.

Prove it!

Step 1

The search for Proof is more likely to be successful if you know what you are looking for. Often marketing teams search in vain for relevant case studies because they don’t know what they are trying to prove. The client likes us isn’t a good qualification criteria. Lewis Caroll wrote, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” So, start with a specific proof point. For my business, I have to prove that clients improve their sales win rates when they work with my team. If I ask my marketing department to provide me with statistics on that proof, it’s a much easier directive than “please create some compelling case studies.”

Step 2

Look in these four areas:

1. Testimonials: 1st person (using your own data and personal experience), 2nd Person (profile the success of a client with similar issues as the prospect), 3rd Person (a credible, independent verification of value, not capability) 3rd person testimonials from a trusted source are the most persuasive, but quoting Private Eye in the UK or National Enquirer in the US don’t qualify, and 2nd person is probably better than 1st. On the whole, testimonials are only as powerful as the source and only if they are relevant!
2. Processes: list the steps involved in driving value and compare your process to the competitors (or their lack of process.)
3. Technology: whether it’s online systems, hardware, a methodology or Intellectual Property – just try and avoid making it about people. Any sales person with a modicum of passion about their company can wax poetic about how much smarter, faster and more talented their people are than the competition.
4. Logical arguments: if in doubt, create a deductive chain starting from a known fact and ending with value for the client.

Step 3

Look for stories that tie in multiple types of proofs. This may include a case study profiling a 3rd party that recognizes the value driven from a process derived from a unique bit of your intellectual property. Now that is compelling.

Step 4

Draw the slides, and then get somebody who has the time and the skills to put them into PowerPoint.

Step 5

Practice.

Step 6

Win!

Simple really – good luck!

Lewis Carole had it wrong: “begin at the beginning” said the King to Alice.

Writing 3000 sales presentations and critiquing the same number has taught me a lot, but if there is one thing that I know for certain it’s that most people start off wrong.

Don’t write the first slide of your presentation first.

Regardless of what the presentation is about, it’s best to start with the end.  In a sales pitch, that needs some careful thinking. Most sales people think the desired outcome is simple, (TO WIN!) – but in my experience that’s usually unrealistic. While it might be a good outcome from the whole sales process, it may not be a SMART goal from the presentation  (SMART being Specific, Measurable, Action orientated, Realistic and Timed.)

Some of the questions it prompts me to ask are:

• Who is the decision maker?
• Are they in the room?
• Can they make a decision in the meeting?
• Do they need to see anything else before they can make their decision?

So, tip #1 is to make sure you have a question to ask at the end of the presentation – your “close” – is SMART. Then you can start building a pitch.

In searching for a value proposition, do not ask “What?” but “Why?” Why would the prospect give you the order for business? Most people believe that this is easy to articulate; right up to the moment their mouths open to do so and then they realise that what seemed obvious isn’t so. Rigour, challenge and persistence is my advice, keep asking “So What?” until you hear something that sounds like a good argument for action.

Then collect tangible proof that you can deliver this value to the client.

Proof Points

I like proof to be:

• A testimonial
• A process
• A technology
• An argument
• Preferably visual, short and ideally poignant

Once you have this, you pretty much have your presentation. You can write the introduction last, introducing the information the audience will need to understand. The arguments that follow should rapidly (less than 3 mins) establish empathy with the prospect and credibility for the presenter, organisation and solution.

Clearly I could write a book about this (oh.. I have!) but that’s the 300 word summary.

A question can tell you more about the questioner than they realise: be careful what you ask!

I’m helping a bid team prepare for a major RFP and eventual presentation. It’s for outsourced global business services to one of the largest companies in the world, and the team has an opportunity to ask clarification questions tomorrow. Today our conversation focused on what information is needed to improve the RFP response–a good thought process only one side of the equation.

What impression do you want to leave the prospect with?

Every meeting is an opportunity to sell and if we are not careful an opportunity to lose the deal as much as win it.

Imagine a three-way conversation about anything–let’s say a sport. Two people are discussing the merits of a coaching strategy, when the third person asks what kind of ball is used in the game. What do you think the two strategists now think about the third?

What you ask, tells people what you are thinking, what you understand and more importantly what you don’t.

Open and closed case.

When we are teaching teachers, we actively encourage them to listen for “open” or “closed” questions. Closed questions signify that the student is seeking confirmation or clarification of their understanding of the material. Open questions are often a signal for a lack in comprehension. Look at the difference between the next two questions (both asked of me last week when running a sailing course) and think about what you might infer about the questioners:

So I push the tiller the opposite way I want the boat to go? (closed)

What happens if I pull it towards me? (open)

In sales, questions can indicate potential pain: “Could your solution help me identify costs I could eliminate?” Or, they can be an attempt to gain control of the conversation: “Yes, that’s great – but I want to know how you would eliminate costs.”

For the seasoned salespeople, this is standard stuff and there are lots of resources around how you, as a presenter (teacher or salesperson) should respond to a question. But what about asking questions?

Strategic questions

If you are familiar with SPIN selling, you know that we don’t always ask questions in the sales cycle because we want to know the answer. More often, we are asking questions to prompt the prospect to consider an issue and realise they have a problem – naturally one that we can help them solve.

So questions like, “If we could improve the product while reducing the total cost by 10%, would that drive the kind of value your shareholders are looking for?” isn’t about gaining insight into the customers world as much as making them evaluate the impact of your solution.

Telling people they should buy your solution and making it clear you believe its the right thing for them isn’t a good way of selling. Asking questions that make them realise they cant l’ve without you is much smarter approach.

But then I guess the most important question “So, when can we start?” is inappropriate tomorrow!

Several people have asked me lately which is more difficult – developing a wining pitch presentation for the incumbent already delivering the service, or for the competition attempting to unseat them. As with all things, there is both a short and a long answer.

In Short, No.

There should be an advantage to being in place already, but in reality there is no difference. We have completed 36 sales presentations over the last 2 years with a win rate of 78%.  The ones lost are split fairly evenly between incumbent and competition. So I would say that your chances of winning with us are at least 2 out of 3 regardless of whether you are rebidding for existing business or pitching for new work.

It should make a difference; there are real advantages to being the incumbent but in my experience organisations rarely capitalize on this advantage.

Clearly, as we are developing the pitch strategy for a client we are keen to know:

• Who currently deliver’s the services?
• How is the current performance?
• How are the relationships?
• Why is the contract out for renewal?

Since these answers help us paint a picture of the prospect’s drivers.

For example, a company has been providing the scope of services for 39 years to their client, who is extremely happy with the service. But, it is a public intuition in New England and they have to prove to the ‘Public’ that they are paying market value for the services. If I were advising my client’s competition I would tell them to NO Bid as it’s a blatant price comparison exercise and the client has no real desire to change. If an new bidder comes in at a better price or a new service offering it is extremely likely that the organisation will feel obliged to offer the deal to my client on the condition the new price or service is delivered.

The first rule of thumb is to understand the prospect’s attitude to change. We have won deals where the incumbent has been underperforming by promising ‘change with out the risk of transition’ equally we have won deals as a new business pitch by promising ‘transition is the only route to real change’.

Ultimately it comes down to your ability to present an argument, the advantage we give clients is that their arguments resound clearer with our help and so they win more often. Give me the underdog with a good pitch presentation than the top player with bullet points any day!

The Long Answer: It Should!

Where the real advantage lies is in the ability to find compelling proof for the value proposition if you are the incumbent.  We once helped a client win a hospital construction project by spending a day on-site surveying staff and using the information to argue that our solution was better based on this “research”.

For a decision maker struggling with a difficult choice between two equally good candidates, the one that provides relevant, research-based proof points is likely to win. It’s tough to ignore stats, quotes or video evidence that document your stakeholders wanting something and very compelling that the candidate took the time to listen.

I am working on a deal for the same client as above, we are 12 months out from a ‘potential RFP’ but we are agreeing on the value proposition now and building a series of interactions to uncover proof that they can deliver it. By the time we get to the pitch, we should have already won the deal…

It is straight out of Sun Tzu:

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”

Which in reality, is the reason that this isn’t reflected in the stats, that a good job thinking through the value proposition – a year out – ends up with clients avoiding a formal RFP process and not actually having to re-bid. Which, with hindsight, is good for them but really isn’t good for business for me!  fewer presentations to coach!