Comms Dealer, in association with Sales Acceleration guru Gary May, has launched a joint sales accelerating initiative that includes many new sales tips and pearls of advice from one of the UK's top sales experts. Here, May reveals how to turn a ‘sales' meeting into a ‘buying' meeting with his fantastic ‘Presenting without the presentation' strategy.

Before I reveal my ‘Presenting without the presentation' strategy, think about the advantages of being able to sell your products or services in an environment that isn't within the traditional framework of a sales meeting. Let me give you an example: I'm sure you'll agree that the discussions you have with your prospects outside of the ‘meeting environment' (such as the potential customer's boardroom) are very different from those that take place within it. Without doubt, they tend to be more relaxed, informal, conversational and less guarded. Plus they cover a different range of topics.

But this all changes once your pitch has started because your prospect has an inbuilt resistance to sales people, upsetting the status quo and making a wrong decision.

This is why we need a technique that overcomes a prospect's scepticism, one that allows you to present your company when they are most receptive (ie, outside of the pitch meeting) and not working on their own strategy to get you out the door without having made a purchasing decision. Shortly, I'll reveal my strategy for doing just this, which enables you to talk to your prospect in a manner that is perceived as ‘apart' from the main pitch, dramatically reducing their resistance to being sold to.

Look at the difference a few lines can make: If you say to your prospects, ‘Now, let's get down to business,' whatever follows will be considered part of the main meeting, raising the barriers and resistance to being sold to. Similarly, if you say, ‘I just need to ask a couple of questions,' most prospects will assume your pitch - the sales process, if you like - has begun and up go the barriers. But if you say, ‘Now, let's just get this out of the way before we begin,' whatever follows is always perceived as apart from the main meeting, and resistance is bypassed.

Ok, let's talk strategy: I guess you're waiting for me to deliver my ‘Presenting without the presentation' strategy now? Actually, I already have, but you weren't aware that I was making my ‘pitch' and sub-consciously teaching you the technique in the above examples because I kept saying things like, ‘Before I begin', thus you'd assumed my pitch was yet to start.

The result? Your resistance and scepticism were reduced and you approached what was written above with a receptive and open mind. The key point is that this strategy works in the sales and telemarketing arenas.

Here are just a couple of examples of how I use this technique to ‘present' outside of the traditional ‘sales pitch' environment: ‘Before we begin I would just like to have a quick look round to see how you are set up and find out who does what'. As this request is not considered part of your sales pitch there is no resistance to it. Then while looking around it enables you to deliver your presentation outside of the boardroom sales structure where all barriers will be up. Here's another: ‘Before we get started am I the first you have had in?'.

You'll be utterly amazed with the amount of information you will gain, and the honesty with which it is delivered, when you ask this simple question. Again, this is seen as outside of your pitch because you are all still in the chit-chat mode, where conversation is less guarded and answers more free.

So that's the lesson for this technique finished - actually, no it isn't. But by telling your prospect that your presentation's over, their resistance relaxes again, giving you the opportunity to sell some more by asking questions such as, ‘Now we've finished, have you got any questions before I leave?'; or, ‘Ok, all done, so what do you think?'. Like most I think you'll agree that pressure and intensity selling is a thing of the past because by using these simple strategies you can turn a ‘sales' meeting into a ‘buying' meeting, putting you and your customers at ease.

These techniques are what are known in psychology as Omega Strategies which are not only largely unknown, but enable the lowering of a customers' resistance by taking away the ‘no' responses, whereas traditional sales methods rely heavily on Alpha strategies which all add to an original offering in an attempt to get a ‘yes', and often create more anxiety and pressure. For example, a discount, alternative or Churchill close to name but a few.
For more examples of strategies to help you win valuable sales please visit www.garymay.net/commsdealer