“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” David Ogilvy
It’s an age-old debate. Are good sales reps born, or are they made? People often think the best sales reps are extroverted and have no problem sparking up conversations with others, seeing them as “smooth talkers”, confident people who easily become the focal point in any social environment.
Being someone who speaks easily has its perks, easing conversation and helping establish a relationship. But is being a smooth talker a viable part of an effective sales pitch? Doesn’t being more concise and saying less with more focus ultimately win over being a speech artist?
Top performing sales reps aren’t often born sellers; rather they are the ones who have learned how to properly listen and understand the prospect, and that help them win in the end win. The real trick, however, is coupling a quality pitch with creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. And when you can do that, you’re selling on a whole new level.
Winding down before a client meeting
Sales reps hit a creativity slump when they have too much on their plate, when they’re stressed or when are simply thinking too hard. When you have an efficient work process, you have more time to relax – and when you’re relaxed, your creativity starts flowing. An effective way to harness this creativity is to give yourself some prep time before a sales call. When preparing for a client meeting, try to distract yourself from the fact that you’re about to give a sales pitch. Maybe listen to some music in the car, or grab a latte. Whatever it is you do to unwind, give yourself some time to do it before you have that face-time with the client.
Capturing the moment
Once you’ve got the meat and bones of your presentation down pat and you’ve freed your mind from any clutter, try to stay in the moment when you really feel like an empty vessel. Start jotting down any ideas that come into your mind, maybe some clever lines or a funny anecdote. And take advantage of going back to your CRM, which should house all the conversations that have taken place with the customer throughout their sales journey. Go over these comments and make a point to remember the details. When you’re in that moment of complete freedom from your thoughts, that’s when you’ll remember the details that matter most. Being in the moment and coupling it with some good, solid customer data will make for a creative presentation.
The best sales pitches are the creative ones, where your brain isn’t running a mile a minute or trying to compute a given situation. It is when our minds are empty, free from thought, that our creative juices kick in.
How creative do you get with your presentations? What’s the creativity/customer data ratio to your sales pitches?