Learning to Talk Again: 5 Tips to Help Improve Your Dems

Greetings,
            Running a Dem for your products is a huge part of any Direct Salesperson’s job. Some companies call them parties, but we know the truth. They can be fairly stressful ordeals. Their unpredictable nature has sent more than one Direct Salesperson back to their day job. There are so many things that are simply out of our control: the Host/Hostess, the Guests, the weather, the strange odor coming from the couch in the corner, etc. There is, however, one specific thing that we CAN control: the quality of our Sales Presentation during the Dem. Below you will see 5 tips on how to make sure your presentation is top notch and pull in more sales.

1. Ask questions and listen to the answers. In general we all arrive early to set everything up. During that time it’s a great idea to chat it up with the Host/Hostess. Ask them about who is coming (You’ll notice I didn’t say how many people… but Who… people like professionals who are less focused on numbers than on the people behind them) and what they are like. Listen to the answers and take them to heart. If the Hostess mentions that she invited some real party animals you can expect a pretty loud bunch and you can prepare yourself for that.
2. Mirror your audience. You want the guests to feel comfortable and at home. If they are relatively quiet and you shout out half of your presentation it might go poorly. Humor is a good example. Prim and proper church ladies might not really want to know ALL of the uses for that non toxic Almond lotion ya know? Watch how they act initially and feed off of that. Sometimes people can be tough to read, but its better to miss an opportunity at a good joke than push away a room full of credit cards.
3. Be Animated. No matter what group of people you are with no one wants to buy from a monotone robot that stands still arms to their sides every time they speak to a small group of people. Smile. Even if you aren’t feeling particularly cheerful that day: SMILE. That will help set the tone for the discussion. Making eye contact with different people in the room will also help keep you moving. You’ll be making a lasting impression on the guests. The goal is to make sure that they remember a vibrant and confidant sales person as opposed to a cold and mechanical robot.
4. Be careful with your body language and make sure it is conveying the right message. You don’t want to appear too rigid or too relaxed for your environment and the guests. Your actual words only account for approximately 40% of what you are saying, the rest is all non verbal and body language is a major part of that.
5. Pace yourself carefully. You should know how long your Dems should last. Pace your speaking so that you don’t fill it ALL up with just you speaking. You definitely want to give people a chance to ask their own questions and (even better) add their own positive feedback regarding the product. They will have several decisions to make by the end, and you want to make sure they have time to soak up all the information they need to make an informed decision.

     I know I’m not the only one with advice on this topic. Do any of you folks on the front lines have any suggestions/thoughts/ideas to share?

Stay Savvy,

Stephen Duetzmann

www.thesavvysolution.net

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