Here
are some thoughts from Dan Kennedy's 'Your Million Dollar Sales
Presentations':
”Many
"modern" sales trainers and experts are very critical
of "canned" ie. memorized presentations. I don't quite
understand this.
Personally,
I have a "Million Dollar Sales Presentation" (that
sells over a million dollars of my products each year from the
platform) and I want to deliver it perfectly every time - word
for word, inflection for inflection. So I have it memorized
AND I practice. To me, it seems it would be stupid not to.
In
person to person selling, which I do only a little of anymore;
mostly on the phone or in meetings with clients; I have perfectly
honed, memorized and practiced "vignettes" of material
that can be linked together or used cafeteria style as needed.
I have a "pat" way to describe how my fees work. I
can't imagine ad-libbing all that.
So,
I am an advocate of the polished, practiced presentation. I
believe it gives you confidence, reduces stress and worry, frees
you to listen to responses, and, of course, insures that you
say what you have to say in the most persuasive and convincing
way possible.
Conversely,
I really wonder about the person who's constantly changing his
presentation. Does this mean he hasn't yet gotten it right?
The
smartest strategy is to deliver the very best, most complete
sales presentation possible - every time."
So
how does this apply to you as a marketer of lawn care or landscaping
services?
Quite
simply, it means you should have a prepared sales message that
you deliver EVERYTIME you speak with a prospect. I know it might
sound quite silly, but putting together a carefully planned and
thoroughly prepared will give you a significant leg up on your
competition.
To
make this work for you, get out a piece of paper and begin writing
out a draft of your sales presentation. Don't worry if it's not
perfect the first time. Believe me, it won't be. Just start writing,
making sure to list all the reasons why your prospect should hire
you to provide their lawn care services. Again, when writing these
reasons remember to stress benefits, benefits, and more benefits.
After
you have a rough draft of this sales message, go back through
and cut out any unnecessary or extraneous material. You want it
to be 'lean and mean', using convincing language and containing
only the most powerful of reasons why they should hire you.
Once
you have this rough draft, take what you've written out and start
practicing it out loud. Yes, that's right, OUT LOUD. Do it in
front of your bathroom mirror. Have your spouse or significant
other play the role of Mr. or Mrs. Prospect. It will probably
feel awkward at first, but do it anyway.
The
more you practice it, the more comfortable you will feel delivering
it, and the more effective you will be in presenting it when standing
face to face with your next potential client.
Having
taking the time to prepare and plan out your sales message ahead
of time will give you the confidence you need to make a powerful
pitch for business, it frees you to listen to your prospects responses,
and finally, it insures that you say what you need to say in the
most persuasive and convincing way possible.
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Chestin Salisbury is President of LawnCareMarketingMagic,
a direct response marketing consultancy located in Charlotte,
NC that focuses on the lawncare and landscaping industry. He has
been helping small businesses grow for 5+ years by creating marketing
systems that use time-tested direct response marketing principles.
LawnCareMarketingMagic has access to 100+ years of experience
and is capable of creating a marketing plan that grows YOUR business.
Chestin is also the chief-editor of 'The LawncareMarketingMagic
Minute', a weekly e-newsletter that focuses on helping your grow
your business. You can obtain a free lifetime subscription by
sending a blank email to: easytips@lawncaremarketingmagic.com
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