4 best types of Sales Aids in sales PRESENTATIONS

An eye catching skull for medical
demonstration from a course delegate

Sales aids and demonstrations


The use of sales aids must be planned along with the content of each of your sales presentations. Sales aids are not a substitute for a well-structured verbal presentation - they are a complement to it.

There are four main categories of sales aid with four different objectives


Different types of sales aids

1. Interest stimulation




which engage one of the client’s other senses (i.e. apart from hearing), an aid which brings in sight, smell, touch or taste can be an excellent ‘attention getter’.

2. Confidence builders such as testimonial letters, newspaper articles or independent test reports will lessen any doubts a prospect may feel about the wisdom and safety of purchasing from you.

3. Information clarifiers such as diagrams, photographs or advertisements help to communicate facts or explanations, and add variety to the presentation.

4.  Laptops, notebook PCs, Tablets help you make your whole presentation logical, complete and well ordered; for example, a well structured PowerPoint presentation, with ‘on screen’ you appeal, combined with good graphics, can be very persuasive.









Your own sales literature may encompass some or all of these aids or may simply be a summary or a reference document to leave with your client.

In all cases remember not to provide a client with your brochure until the stage in the presentation where the objective of the brochure is the same as the next objective in the presentation.


Demonstrations

Sometimes the best sales aid will be the product (or occasionally the service) itself.
The different objectives of demonstrations can be:


• explanation of what the product is or does
• proof that it works and is effective
• motivation of the prospect to want it after seeing it in action or using it
• practice in advance somewhere where mistakes do not matter
• prepare carefully giving yourself time to rectify any problems
• placing of the demonstration can make all the difference; if possible arrange to demonstrate in a typical “user location”; if not, check in advance what facilities are available and gear your demonstration accordingly
• pace it so that you explain adequately what is happening without being so slow as to be boring
• professionalism means presenting in a way that has impact and is memorable, but ensuring that your “showmanship” is subtle and not glib or “flashy”
• participation by your prospect(s) in the demonstration makes an enormous difference; plan how to achieve involvement without losing control of the demonstration


Some general rules

Remember the principles which underline all demonstrations


Sales aids and samples must be kept clean and in good order. If you are using them regularly you may not notice their deterioration but your clients will.

During your presentation you must keep control of all aids or they may become a distraction from you rather than an advantage to you. 

For example, if you are using a brochure make sure that you are turning the pages as and when you want them turned rather than allowing your client to flick over the pages while you are talking about something different. However if the clients leans across to take hold of the brochure let them do so but pause in your speaking. 

Then observe how your client looks at the brochure and what areas catch their eye. You can be in control of your brochure if you can direct your client to particular pages ( you need to know the pages numbers).After a while you can take back to holding and presenting from your brochure yourself.

Design and use each aid for a specific objective. Once that objective is attained get the aid away from your client and out of sight.