Test Your Power Knowledge (answers are below)

1. Explain what it means to deliver value to your customer.
2. What is the best rule of thumb for dressing for a sales presentation?
3. List three dos and three don’ts for giving a PowerPoint presentation.
4. Explain the 10/20/30 rule for a PowerPoint presentation.
5. What are the benefits of using samples or demonstrations in your presentation?
6. List the four components of SPIN selling.
7. Give an example of a closed-ended question.
8. Give an example of an open-ended question.
9. What should you always do before making a specific benefit statement?
10. When should you deliver the proposal in a sales presentation and why?

Power (Role) Play

Now it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice. Following are two roles that are involved in the same selling situation—one role is the customer, and the other is the salesperson. This will give you the opportunity to think about this selling situation from the point of view of both the customer and the salesperson.

Read each role carefully along with the discussion questions. Then, be prepared to play either of the roles in class using the concepts covered in this chapter. You may be asked to discuss the roles and do a role-play in groups or individually.

In the Driver’s Seat

Role: Customer at a high-end car dealership

You are considering a new car. You want performance, but you still need some space for passengers. You want the latest and greatest, yet still be comfortable and be able to transport people and things easily. You are willing to pay for what you want, but given the current economic environment, you are concerned about paying too much.

• What type of presentation would you expect to get at the car dealership?
• What questions will you have for the salesperson about the car?
• What questions will you have for the salesperson about the financing for the car?

Role: Salesperson at car dealership

You want to be able to put this customer in the car he wants, but first you need to identify some things. If he has a family and needs space, you have just the car for him. And you have a price reduction for this week only since it’s the last week of the month (and you want to make your quota). But you’re not sure what is more important to him—luxury appointments, passenger space, gas mileage, status, or price. You want to use SPIN selling to understand exactly what he needs.

• How will you prepare for the presentation?
• How will you start the presentation?
• What questions will you ask in each of the areas of SPIN?
• How will you learn about the prospect’s objections (if there are any)?
• How will you trial close?

Put Your Power to Work: Selling U Activities

1. Draft a list of the projects you have worked on for which you have samples that could showcase your work. Make a separate folder on your computer where you can save any of these files for use during your interview.
2. Use the list of popular interview questions and guidelines to generate answers that you can deliver during your interview. Write these answers down and save them somewhere where you will be able to review them before going to a job interview.
3. Visit your campus career center and learn about the opportunity to participate in mock interviews. Prepare for the mock interview and dress for success.

Test Your Power Knowledge Answers

1. Delivering value means asking questions, listening to your customer, and defining value in customer terms.
2. Dress one step above what you would wear if you worked at the organization. When in doubt, dress up.

3. Dos include the following:

   • Do make your slides easy to read.
   • Do replace descriptive headlines with headlines that sell.
   • Do use the 10/20/30 rule.
   • Do remember that that PowerPoint is only an aid.

   Don’ts include the following:

   • Don’t turn down the lights.
   • Don’t go overboard with technological gimmicks.
   • Don’t hide behind your computer screen when using PowerPoint.
   • Don’t fill your slides with words.
   • Don’t bore your audience with visual sameness.
4. Make sure you limit your slides to 10 or fewer. Give yourself 20 minutes to go through your 10 slides. And use only 30-point or larger font size so that your audience can clearly read what you’ve written.
5. Samples and demonstrations bring the product to life and help your prospect to see your solution as part of her story. Samples and demos also educate the prospect, prove the performance of your product, and get the prospect involved.
6. Opening, investigation, demonstrating capability, and obtaining commitment.
7. A closed-ended question requires a yes or no answer, such as “Do you currently use a recycling service?”
8. An open-ended question engages the customer in conversation, such as “How do you currently process invoices?”
9. Check for understanding.
10. Proposals should only come after your prospect has clearly made a connection to your product. Presenting specifics like pricing early on can create objections and prevent your prospect from making an emotional connection to the product.