This weekend I was looking over some notes from an old sales meeting, and I found the following statistics. People comprehend and remember:
- 11% of what they hear
- 32% of what they see
- 73% of what they see & hear
- 90% of what they see, hear & discuss
My personal experience has shown this to be true. Whenever you use different presentation modalities so that your prospects hear, see, and discuss what you are presenting, the more effective the presentation will be. In short, YOU WILL CLOSE MORE SALES! Selling is not telling! You must engage your prospects on multiple levels once you enter the presentation mode of the sale process.
I did not have a source for these statistics so I googled them, and found the exact statistics in several articles, all without attribution. Hence, they may be antidotal, but the percentages don’t really matter; the fact remains that closing rates go up with a combination of sales techniques, especially when you match the techniques to your client’s preferred mode of learning, AND the prospect is involved and engaged with your presentation. An excellent way to MAKE CERTAIN they are involved and engaged is to ask questions throughout the presentation, such as:
- Which benefit can you SEE as being most important to you?
- Why do you FEEL that way?
- Is there anything that you have seen or heard that causes you concern?
Once again, make certain that even as you enter the presentation phase of the sales call that the presentation is a dialog that helps your prospect understand why your offering will solve their problem, and provide worthwhile benefits. Engage them in every sensory manner to improve your success rate.
Good selling!
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