Say less
Sometimes those writing sales decks peru telephone code say too much. Stand in a room in any company and ask them to answer ‘Why us?’. You’ll get dozens of answers. Everyone thinks their thing is important, and a presentation by committee can be an unruly thing. The problem – aside from the obvious one that a lack of conciseness can be boring and hard to remember – is that buyers hate to hear about things they don’t want. Talking about things that are weak or irrelevant just provides prospects with a reason not to buy. Are they paying for features they don’t care about?
Pre-empt objections
Prospects will usually have an idea of what their ideal, or perfect solution will look like, but it’s very rare that you’ll have the absolute perfect solution, ready-made for a prospect. Usually, buying involves some sort of compromise for the prospect, and that compromise will usually come with objections. It makes sense for you to think about the common objections that you hear, anticipate them, and address them in your presentation. So when the prospect comes out with those common objections you’ll be ready. This builds trust, saves time, and allows you to get your messaging right.
Admit to gaps
Not every product does everything. That’s OK. If certain functionality is absolutely essential to a prospect, they’ll notice your gap eventually. If you come clean about the gap that you have, you are more likely to sell to buyers who don’t see the gap as a big deal, but who are struggling to make a decision.
Limit choice
There’s a reason so many SaaS companies offer three options, with neat feature comparisons running down the screen. They’ve tested their checkout processes to the nth degree and understand that less choice means more sales. There are well-known experiments away from software too. For example, in a study supermarkets offering free samples of 24 flavours of jam had 60% of visitors stop for a sample, but only 3% of the 60% actually bought any jam, so only 2% of all shoppers. When they reduced the flavours to six, only 40% of visitors took a sample, but 30% of those sampling bought jam. That’s a much higher 13% of all shoppers.