How To Support Your Sales Proposal with Solid Evidence | Sales Presentation Skills Training

When selling to key decision influencers, you will help the buyers to minimize risk when you can support your proposal with solid evidence for each of your claims.

Comparing Your Services

For example, when your prospect is mentally comparing his present service provider with your service, you may make a complete comparison of the two. List the advantages and disadvantages of working with each firm. In fact, you can get the prospect to do this for you by asking the right questions and leading her through the analysis.

When making a service comparison, you want to be overly fair to your competitor so you don’t appear to be heaping negativity on the other firm in a biased way. But, you certainly want to get your prospect to talk about and amplify the reasons for changing firms. By getting the prospect to articulate the reasons for the change, you will be able to help him remember those reasons and perhaps remind his associates of those reasons.

The Costs of Delayed Decisions

Many people have an aversion to change and may need some help in overcoming this fear.

You could demonstrate the cost of delaying. Many businesses use professionals for many years after the business has outgrown the usefulness of the professional. But they are reluctant to change. By reviewing the lost profits or lost satisfaction or hassle factor, you can support your proposal with solid financial reasons to make a change to you. However, you want to focus on nonfinancial (qualitative) as well as financial reasons for clients working with you.

Types of Evidence

By relating a case history or showing a testimonial letter, you offer solid evidence of a good result. You should develop several good stories around successful client applications of your service. Better yet, ask your client to call the prospect and relay the story in his own words.

A guarantee often removes resistance by reassuring the prospect that the engagement will not result in a loss. Guarantees must be meaningful and must provide for recourse on the part of the customer if the service does not live up to the guarantee.

Conclusion

Buyers make decisions on emotion, then justify the decisions with logic. By providing solid evidence, your claims will stand the test of logic.