LOUIS NICHOLE MUSIC

1. You control them constantly with questions.
We’ve discussed these techniques in detail in chapter 3.
Giving a powerful presentation or a deft demonstration should never be your purpose in and of itself—you’re not there to win an award, you’re there to close the sale. The only purpose for presenting or demonstrating is to get the prospect ready to approve the purchase. Except for its value as a training exercise, there’s absolutely no point in giving a splendid presentation unless it results in a sale.
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 result should be the same: the implanting in their minds of the conviction that you are their best source for the benefits they want.
Let’s go through the tactics or methodology of presentation and demonstration:
2. You don’t lose to objections, you win by handling objections.
On almost every product or service, any active salesperson will discover most of the built-in objections within the first month. A built-in objection is one that the prospect will give you nearly every time. After a few months in the business, the salespeople will say, “I always get hit with that objection.”
If you think that, why not also say to yourself, “I’m lucky because I know in advance what objections I’m going to be hit with, so I can prepare to handle them before I go into my presentation.”
One of our Champions told me a story that’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about. Scott Sparks was a high flyer in real estate sales at the time this happened. A builder he knew was having no luck at all closing out Selling
the last few houses in a large subdivision. All the other homes had sold so quickly—some even before they were built—_that the developer hadn’t worried much about the eighteen houses that backed up on the railroad tracks until several weeks passed without action on any of them. Then the builder discovered that he couldn’t give those houses away. He ran ads. He lowered the total investment and cut the initial investment, and then he threw in some extra landscaping. Nothing worked. People walked in, looked at the tracks, and walked out, Of course it didn’t help that there were several other new subdivisions selling against him in the area.
Scott Sparks heard about these eighteen houses that wouldn’t sell and drove over to take a look at them. Then he went to see the builder and said, “If you’d like to market those houses in thirty days, give me an exclusive and I’ll do it for you.”
“I can’t drop the price any lower,” the builder said. “I’m already losing money on them.”
“Don’t lower the price,” Scotty said. “Raise it enough to include a color TV and I’ll move them right out for you.”
The builder didn’t really believe him. But Scott was the first agent in weeks who’d been willing to say he could sell the houses, so he decided very quickly to give him the go-ahead. The next day, up went a sign in front of the models that read, “Shown only at 2, 4, and 6 P.M.” Why?
Because that’s when the trains came by.
Before each showing, Scott Sparks would get all the prospects together and tell them, “These homes have an advantage that few homes have, and I’d like to show it to you right now.” He’d lead them into the living room, turn the TV on, and say, “All eighteen of these homes come with this beautiful color TV set. You know why? Because we want this TV set to overcome something that might be a problem for you. I’d like you all to take a look out that back window.”
The people would look and see the railroad tracks. Then Scotty would go on, “Your children will get the opportunity to see the famous iron horse up close. Aren’t they going to love it? But some of you may be irritated by the sound, so I’d like you all to do me a small favor. Let’s be real quiet and listen, because a train’s coming through in a few minutes.”
Scott Sparks would time this so that there’d be four or five minutes before the train would come. The TV, of course, would be playing—not too loud, but loud enough to be heard. Pretty soon the people would be watching it, not saying much, and the train could be heard coming.
So it would come and go, and most of the people would glance at it and keep on watching the TV. Then Scotty would say, “You see? Thirty-eight seconds of sound, and that’s it, We wanted you to hear it so you’d know what you’d have to put up with for the color TV. What do you think-_is it worth It?”
Scott Sparks sold those homes in thirty days. Do you see why? He didn’t hide the objection and hope they wouldn’t see the railroad tracks-_he bragged about the problem.
Another of our Champions is always on the lookout for problem things that no one else can market, I won’t use his name because some of his clients might not be happy to realize that they bought something from him that practically no one else could sell. This man finds items that inspire objects, and then he figures out ways to brag about those objections.
I don’t know about you, but that’s too rough for me. Yet it’s just a question of degree, because there isn’t a product or a service on the market that doesn’t have some built-in objections and at least a few minor problem You believe in your product or service. Then believe in its minor problemi and built-in objections too. Brag about them. If you do that, you’ll find that it’s never as bad as your prospects will think it’ll be if they discover the difficulties themselves. In many cases, you’ll be able to turn problems and objections into advantages if you’ll just take the trouble to find crisp ways to accent them.
I’m not suggesting that you should set your potential clients down and, in an undertaker’s voice, tell them, “This is why you’re going to have big trouble with our product.” Scotty Sparks didn’t do that. He pointed out the problem, demonstrated that it wasn’t all that much of a problem — and then went on to show that the advantage offered outweighed the disadvantage involved. Usually, if you plan how to bring up the major objection before your prospect hits you with it, you’ll be able to settle that objection quickly.
3. You say it in words they want to hear.
All of us come equipped with a filtering device — we all have the ability to filter out unwanted sound. This device is indispensable; it allows us to mull over our inner thoughts in peace whenever people are pounding our ears with anything less interesting than our own brain waves.
Everyone you’ll ever try to sell has an effective filter of this kind that can be switched on instantaneously because we all develop it in childhood. This means that you have to learn how to prevent the filter from being switched on. Otherwise, you’ll make most of your terrific sales arguments to switched off, unhearing minds behind deaf ears. Let’s face it — you can’t make any money talking to yourself.
The basic problem here is that most salespeople sound exactly alike. Same ideas. Even the same words. And they’re all tired, overused, and boring words.
In this, as in all things relating to sales, the Champion is different. The Champion has a view of the world that’s new with every dawn, and he expresses his newly born ideas with phrases that have verve. He understands and respects the value of words, and is keenly aware of and interested in them. He constantly develops his ear for the beauty, power, and endless variety of the English language. He is forever trying new phrases, allusions, and words to expand the effective range of his vocabulary. He takes delight in spoken wit and sensitive expression.

Repetition is the mother of learning, yet the average salesperson doesn’t like repetition. For one thing, he has used his material so many times that it’s stale to him. In many cases, he’s begun to think that anyone who doesn’t get what he’s saying the first time he says it is stupid. All too often, the non-Champion has gone worse than stale on his presentation and feels it would be better off buried. The Champion, on the other hand, never tires of phrases that work, ploys that sell, and ideas that make sense to his buyers and money for him. The Champion discards things in his presentation when they stop working, and not before. And the Champion never forgets that he’s working with people who don’t know his specialty as well as he does:
he’s always courteous and deferential about his superior knowledge in the narrow area of his expertise. So the Champion works happily with lines he’s said ten thousand times. He is forever finding slight variations of phrasing and timing that enhance their effectiveness. He revels in the fact that he knows his lines so well that he doesn’t have to think about them, but can concentrate wholly on his customers and the unique aspects of the situation he’s working with at the moment. There’s no question about it, one of the keys to the Champion’s greter skill at presenting or demonstrating lies in his ability and willingness,/to use repetition effectively to reinforce every point. He doesn’t mind repeating the sales points because he knows it leads to repeated sales to the same type of clientele.
So think in terms of tell, tell, tell. Please highlight this statement:
Repetition is the seed of selling.
When you prepare to make a presentation or give a demonstration, there’s one point that should be foremost in your mind. I suggest that you also highlight this concept:

Obviously, the Champion closes a far higher percentage of the people he presents to than the non-Champion is able to close.
Not more than a fourth of this difference is accounted for by the Champion’s greater skill and confidence in presenting or demonstrating. By far the greatest part of the difference between the Champion and the average salesperson lies in the Champion’s attention to and ability at planning sales, at selecting and qualifying the right people to sell to, at overcoming objections and closing, and at deserving and obtaining referrals.
Techniques for becoming more effective in these areas are discussed in other chapters. All are vital—you must be competent in all major areas of selling before you can realize your full potential and become a Champion. So, as we discuss the techniques of presenting and demonstrating, keep in mind that, important as this part of selling is (and it’s very important), if you do it with the wrong people because you didn’t qualify properly, it’s all for nothing. If you’re working with the right people, but you let their objections beat you because you haven’t prepared properly, it’s all for nothing. And if you have no capability in closing, you’re working for nothing. If you can’t close, many sales you could and should make will go to the next competitor who comes along because you built the structure for the sale but couldn’t close the door before he got there. You have to be a strong presenter or demonstrator to sell strongly. You also have to qualify strongly, handle objections strongly, and close strongly.
Before discussing how a Champion presents or demonstrates, let’s draw an analogy to illustrate the basic concept. If you want to make a half-hour speech, you really should write a ten-minute speech. Here’s why. If you’re going to get your points across to your audience, you have to follow these steps:
1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. This is your introduction.
2. Tell them what you’re there to tell them. This is your presentation.
3. Tell them what you just told them. This is your summary.
That’s the outline of all successful speeches, presentations, and demonstrations. In other words, we use repetition. We don’t say exactly the same thing three times, of course. In the first ten minutes, we’re introducing our new ideas. In the second ten minutes, we’re covering our points in depth and relating them to our listeners’ interests and needs. In the last ten minutes, we’re drawing conclusions from our points and indicating the direction that things should take.

Now we’re getting into the area you probably enjoy most: working face
to face with buyers. Unless I miss on two guesses, you’re good at this—and
you spend too much of your time doing it.
Let me explain. Our research indicates that most salespeople put in eighty to ninety percent of their time presenting and demonstrating, leaving only ten to twenty percent for other things. The Champion, on the other hand, spends only forty percent of his time presenting or demonstrating; not more than ten percent prospecting (some Champions spend no time at all prospecting because referrals keep them busy); and about fifty percent of their time goes into the vital areas of qualifying and planning. These percentages apply to net selling time, that is, to the total amount of working time remaining after the trade shows and company meetings are attended, the routine paperwork is done, and the old accounts are serviced.
When we at Champions Unlimited say that someone is a Champion, we mean that they are in the top ten percent in their sales force in terms of income and production, and also that they’ve made our training and techniques an important part of their success.
Let’s look at the figures given above one more time. The Champion spends half as much time demonstrating or presenting as the average salesperson does, yet the Champion still manages to turn in at least twice the volume. Actually, most Champions do far better than that: they bring in between four and ten times as much business as the average salesperson will. It’s not uncommon for a single Champion to outsell the entire bottom half of the sales force, and keep on doing it month after month, year after year. This drives sales managers crazy. If they could only get each of the people in the bottom half to sell a third of what the Champion does, their total volume would boom off the chart.

While your prospect is working his way through this benefit calculation folder of yours, have another copy in front of you so that you can guide him every inch of the way. Where do you wind up at? The close. And your prospect is ready to make a favorable decision because he understands what he’ll be getting for his money, and he’s grateful to you for making him feel smart and Keogh seem simple.
Earlier in this chapter we talked about salespeople who try to overwhelm their prospects with amazing demonstrations—and succeed only in boring them. You may not worry about that because you’re troubled by the opposite problem: the prospects you demonstrate to aren’t amazed at the show you put on, and they’re too active, not too passive. They elbow you aside to get at the machine, pester you with questions, and demand instant answers. Your demonstrations remind you of a flock of seagulls scrapping over one fish. If you can hold your temper, you can make enough sales to keep going.
If that’s a rough description of your usual demonstration, rejoice:
you’re only a few easy jumps from perfecting a very successful mode of demonstrating. All you need do is organize the steps so that you keep control and they keep the machine you’re selling. In the next section I’ll tell you how to do that.

It poses a worthy challenge to your determination and willingness to grow. Overcome that challenge and you’ll reap the rewards that go only to those who rise above the competition.
Of course, I can’t tell you exactly how to do this with your offering because I don’t have your expert knowledge of it. But the principle is simple and can readily be adapted to selling anything—services or products. One example will indicate the direction you should take.
Let’s suppose that you sell life insurance and annuities to self- employed people by helping them set up Keogh retirement plans to fund the insurance and other investments. When you call on a prospect, you could sit there and blow tax and insurance technicalities at him until his eyes glaze over and he’s desperate to be rid of you. You could load his desk down with charts and visual selling aids that you flip, point at, and are generally active with while he sits there watching. (As long as this approach isn’t your main thrust, it’s effective. I urge you to incorporate all the visual aids you can to support, but not make, your main arguments). You could do either of those two things, or you could show him how to calculate the advantages that you’re offering. When he does that, he’s actively learning why he should invest in your plan and your insurance. You’ll lose control if you try to do this by talking while he’s supposed to work it all out on a blank pad of paper. (If you’re working on large transactions, prepare a prospectus for each client that clarifies all the formulas and simplifies all questions.) In the repetitive sales situations that most of us work with, have a packet of forms typed and run off on a copying machine. Keep them simple. Triple-spaced. Wide margins all around. Limit yourself to ten lines of information on each page, with no more than three blank spaces for the prospect to fill in.
Don’t slow the process down with details. You can get things like social security numbers during the close or after the sale is made. For now, stick to the bare essentials, and urge the prospect to use the estimates and round numbers.

Operating their mouths at high speed, some salespeople put on amazing demonstrations. They flip levers, punch buttons, zip stuff around. And out of the machines they’re demonstrating come a flood of perfect parts, data, copies, or whatever. But they don’t sell much with these superb performances.
Why not?
Because apathy rushes in where involvement fails to tread. Buying is action. It can’t take place unless there are decisions, and decisions require a switched-on mind. Watching instead of doing is a switch-off. The longer your prospects are switched off, the harder it’ll be to switch them back on again when you want the paperwork approved at the end of your demonstration.
The Champion avoids the long switch-off’s low sales, and demonstrates by encouraging the client to enter the data, thread the needle, or feed the parts. Of course, the client won’t do these things as well or as fast as a practiced salesperson can, but if he’s doing them instead of watching, he’s thinking about your product instead of wondering why his gums hurt and his horse ran last. In fact, he’s doing more than merely thinking about your product—he’s experiencing it. That means he’s emotionally involved with what you’re selling.
However great or small this emotional involvement may be, it’s certainly going to be far greater than if your prospect just sits there while you sing your number. Owning is a very intimate form of involvement, don’t you agree? Then doesn’t it follow that the buying necessary for owning won’t take place unless there’s prior involvement?
If you accept that, you’ll want to find as many reasonable and positive ways as you can to involve your prospects in your product. One of the best methods I know of is the client-participation technique that we’ve been discussing. If you’ve been switching your prospects off with I’m-the-star performances, you’ll need to completely overhaul your demonstration to successfully convert it—and yourself—to the client-participation method. And you’ll find that giving up I’m-the-star technique is like giving up smoking: you can’t do it unless you really want to. Understand yourself here. Many of us—and I’m in this group—place a high value on applause, on appreciation, on being in the limelight. That’s good—unless it leads you into making bad business decisions like sticking with I’m-the-star demonstrations when you’re not selling.
But the truth is that you’re the star twice when you master the client participation demonstration: first when you have your prospects happily Z’IIIflg
involved in your demonstration and product, second when you walk out with the endorsed file copies of an order.
The difference is small but vital. You win your oh’s and ah’s by showing your prospects how to do amazing things on your demonstrator not by doing amazing things on it yourself. To fan their interest into a fire hot enough to melt their built-in sales resistance, you get them to chip rust, solve problems, or boil water with your device. That’s always more fun than watching you run the game. With good products, familiarity breeds confidence and scatters fear.
And fun sells better than frustration. Remember that your prospects aren’t used to your machine’s peculiarities; keep your steps simple and your attitude encouraging.