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As a sales presentation coach I often hear the following objection from sales professionals “I don’t deliver sales presentations – I just have conversations with my prospects.” But you can deliver a sales presentation within your sales conversation and, as a result, significantly improve your chance to close that sale.

Here are three steps to help you do just that.

First, just as you do for a formal presentation, you should prepare an outline for your sales conversation. What three key persuasive points do you want to cover with the prospect that will put you in a position to close the sale? Then make certain you have evidence to support each of those points. This can include statistics, anecdotes or case studies and quotes from customers or well known business experts.

Next, practice delivering your persuasive points. Just as with a formal presentation, you’ll be astounded at how smooth and comfortable your delivery is if you simply rehearse your conversation points in advance and whenever possible practice delivering your points out loud. This extra effort will significantly improve your delivery as well as give you an opportunity to critique your own answers and how they will sound to the prospect.

Finally, practice responses to anticipated objections. Abraham Lincoln said “when I prepare to meet with a man I spend one third of my time thinking about what I’m going to say and two thirds of my time thinking about what he’s going to say.” If you’ve been selling in a particular industry for any length of time you’ve likely heard most of the objections you ever will. Sales coaching legend Brian Tracy says that each industry will have no more than six objections that sales people will hear over and over again. That being the case, spend some time thinking about what objections you expect you’ll hear and then craft and practice a response for each one.

Earlier in this article I promised three steps, but here’s a bonus step that could make all the difference in you being successful with your next sales opportunity, be sure to plan and practice your closing question so that when the time is right you can smoothly transition right into your close.

If you use the steps above to plan and practice for your next sales opportunity you’ll be able to deliver your sales presentation as well – and the prospect will think it was just a great conversation.

Often when we think of negotiating and influencing, what comes to mind is the slick car salesman who is churning out every trick in the book to sell you a mediocre yet overpriced car. As much as we realize that we may be being taken for a ride, the passionate spins of the salesman can be very persuasive. But is there more to negotiating and influencing than just charisma and rhetoric? The answer is a resounding YES! Understanding basic human psychology is essential to this and in this article we are going to look at some key distinctions and advantages of differentiating between influencing and negotiating.

Negotiating Skills

Negotiating begins with listening to the needs of your listener. Often the temptation for the negotiator is to speak before he or she can listen but this results in missing out on hearing the important needs of the customer or client. The negotiator cannot make an intelligent offer without first knowing the expectations of the other party. This makes for effective negotiating. This of course entails that all the parties involved must make a conscious effort to see things from the other party’s perspective. This of course begins with establishing trust. Coming to an agreement that is mutual is hard if either party is wary of the other. This entails knowing when to make concessions or compromise. Body language also plays an important part in communicating openness and establishing mutual respect and trust. When it comes to negotiating, it is also crucially important to establish common ground – areas where multiple parties do see eye to eye. It is easier to work through areas of differences knowing that the parties involved start from a mutual place of agreement. Negotiation skills is something that can be honed effectively with awareness and sensitivity.

Influencing Skills

Influencing begins by developing a reasoned line of argument that is backed by logic and rationale. In this situation people need to be moved more by facts and practical benefits than by emotional or rhetorical sentiments. This also involves tactfully disagreeing with people’s views without making them feel defensive or judged. This could entail carefully showing flaws in the other person’s views while highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of your own position. This also entails using positive language but also emphasizing the positive aspects of one’s arguments. Influencing is just as much about getting one’s agenda across in a calm and persuasive manner as much as it is about the cold hard facts of the argument itself. When making one’s case it is important to positive arguments in a calm and assertive manner than simply disagreeing or asserting one’s perspectives over and above those of your opinions.

Negotiation Skills Training is an important aspect of equipping employees with the right tools and skills to be persuasive influencers, in promoting the services or products offered by the company. The better employees are at helping people to see from their perspectives and buy their agenda, the more successful they are likely to be in completing a service or transaction.