What REALLY Makes A Great Presentation Part 1

Well, YOU, of course.

Your Attitude, Your Professionalism, Your Thoroughness, Your Attention To Detail.

All that’s true, no doubt about it.

But today, I want to point out one thing you can do to move beyond a good presentation to what makes a REALLY great presentation.

Here’s the first part…

You have to absolutely, without fail, make sure your prospect knows that

‘You Get It!’

That’s it, they have to know that you clearly understand their cleaning problems, how they feel about it, what they want fixed, … everything!

It’s tempting for a cleaning contractor to think he or she has made a good presentation if they simply and politely deliver a professional looking proposal, review the various parts of the bid…and answers any questions the prospect may have.

That may be enough for most people, but it shouldn’t be enough for someone who wants to be the best – like you and me!

And it certainly isn’t enough for any of the really great salespeople. No, not only is it not enough, it’s actually just the beginning.

That’s right, the real pros know that their job is much more than simply being the delivery man for the bid.
They know it’s their job to let that prospect know – they GET IT.

And how do they do that?

By listening and explaining, and then listening and explaining some more until the two of you… your prospect and you both KNOW you’re on exactly the ‘same page’.

Let’s take a look at what that would look like:

“Mr. Jones, I once had a prospective customer tell me “He felt like he should be on the cleaning company’s payroll… because he felt forced to practically act as the onsite cleaning supervisor!”

I think I heard you saying something similar when you mentioned that with the new projects you’re in the middle of you won’t have time to be dealing with cleaning issues on a daily basis.

Am I understanding that right?”

or

“In our first meeting, you made a brief comment about two problems you were having.

1. Smear marks on the walls in the restrooms from mopping, as well as…

2. Areas of the building where the tile wasn’t as shiny as you’d like to see.

So, when I went through to measure the building I noted bathrooms where I spotted the smear marks you were talking about, as well as, three areas where I did see the uneven appearance and shine of the tile.”

Now, by the way, in the second example regarding the smear marks and dull tile appearance, I am NOT talking about putting down the current cleaning company.

Not at all. We don’t need to tear down the competition in an attempt to make us look better. You don’t want or need to play that game.

What I’m talking about is something different.

Instead, I am trying to give you a couple practical examples of how you can take your presentation to the “next level” by showing your clear knowledge of:

-Their history and experience with cleaning companies
-Their challenges, complaints and issues with cleaning companies
-What they would like the relationship with their cleaning company to look like
-What they need to be done different this time
-The list goes can go on and on…

Again, when it’s all said and done, they need to know that “You Get It”. And that’s the guy they will most likely want cleaning their building.

No doubt about it, it takes more effort to carefully listen, and then structure a presentation in such as way that the customer realizes you, maybe more
than anyone else, paid close attention to what they are looking for.

But the rewards that come in the form of new sales make it well worth the extra effort!

You Can Do This, You Really Can!
Dan