We completed day one of Mastering Boardroom Presentations, in Raleigh.  As I’ve said before, the presentation always seems to be the weak link in the sales call.  If you want to increase sales, perfect your message, and become the best at presenting in!  Some the key take aways from today’s participants were:

1. “Focus on assets, not products – this is what drives budgets”

2. “The most powerful objection handling technique is a customer success story.  Creating a great story takes some work and practice, but once mastered, will become one of the most valuable tools you have  to close business.  I don’t know why other sales courses don’t make more use of this.”

3. “I’ve never been through a sales training class that gives practical instruction on the mechanics of presenting to decision makers; how to present, where to stand, how to demonstrate confidence, etc.  This will change the way I sell and deliver proposals and recommendations.”

4. The most important thing I learned today was how to meet someone – how to leverage an introduction in a way that moves to a meeting.  I can see it takes practice, but I also see the tremendous potential in answering the question “What do you do?” with something other than, “I’m in sales”.

5. “I learned more in one day than I did in a week of Vendor sponsored training.”