Have your sales presentation been falling short lately? Do your prospects cut you off part way through? Is your conversion rate less than something to celebrate?

Before you make your next sales presentation, ask yourself this important question. Do you fall into the “features” trap? Too many entrepreneurs and business owners make the mistake of simply laying out the features of the product or service they’re offering. Unfortunately, this technical approach doesn’t usually yield the best conversion rate.

If you’re searching for ways to increase the effectiveness of your sales presentation, then consider the following: What’s the one question that every prospect asks themselves when they’re being sold something?

 “What’s in it for me?”

Naturally, when people are being sold, they have their own best interests in mind. To improve the likelihood that you’ll hear a “Yes” or at least a “Tell me more”, switch your focus from selling your prospects features to selling them benefits.

What exactly is the difference?

Features are practical, technical facts about the product or service you’re offering. It’s important to keep in minds that, on their own, features don’t tell your prospects how exactly they’ll benefit from your product or service.

If an entrepreneur was presenting the features of a fitness training program, he might note the length of the training course, the class size and the types of cardio and muscle training being featured. While informative, these features don’t in and of themselves articulate how the prospect would benefit from the fitness program. And that’s a problem.

The consummate sales professional frames their presentation in a way that highlights the benefits of the product of service. When you sell the benefits, you set yourself up to yield a much higher conversion rate of prospects into customers.

Now let’s replace that “feature-based” fitness program presentation with one focused on selling real benefits.

In order to “sell benefits”, you have to ask your prospect the right questions. What are your prospect’s health, fitness and weight loss goals? If your prospect is a new mom, you can bet that she’ll want a cardio and toning program that will accelerate the loss of her post-pregnancy baby weight. If your prospect is a competitive athlete interested in building strength and body mass, you’ll want to speak about the benefits of an entirely different group of advanced exercises offered in your training program. When you show your prospect these benefits, you’re effectively speaking their language and sharing things about your service that will enable them reach their goals.

The benefits that you relay should be tailored to your unique prospect. Once again, asking the right questions will get you the information you need to customize your presentation. The more information you have about your prospect’s lifestyle, preferences, wants, needs, likes and dislikes – the better!

A well-thought out “benefits-based” presentation is much more effective than a technical-sounding “feature-based” presentation. This is true of fitness training programs and essentially any other product or service you offer.

Another strategy you can use to improve your benefits-based presentation is to share more stories. Describe real-life situations in which the product or service you’re selling will benefit your prospect. If you really listen to your prospect’s needs, you’ll be better able to tell a story that will touch the emotions of your prospect (thereby increasing the likelihood of piquing their interest). To further strengthen your presentation, use pictures when relevant in order to present your selling points. Visual tools help make ideas easier to grasp and ultimately more compelling.

To learn how to move away from the features-based approach and master the benefits-based approach, contact Celeste Giordano Coaching today. We’d love to learn more about your unique business model and teach you the strategies, sales tools and mindset necessary to “Double Plus” your income THIS year.