The need-satisfaction presentation

Disciplines > Sales > The sales presentation > The need-satisfaction presentation

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Identification

Before the presentation, discuss the customer's situation with them, seeking to identify the needs that they have that can be addressed with your product.

Stimulation

Prod the customer into realizing that they have this need.

Show how they are having problems.
Get them to think about what will happen if the problem goes unresolved.
Make them dissatisfied with this situation.
Get them to think about how much better things could be than they are now.

You know you have them hooked when they start asking for answers to the problem they now realize they have.

Closure

Move to closure using an aligned benefits demonstration:

Show how the product will meet the need.
Show how it will resolve problems.
Show the additional benefits that will be gained from having the product.

If you have stimulated them well, they will bite your hand off to get to your product.

Example

A salesperson visits a major insurance company. In conversation, it emerges that the company has not changed its market segments for some time, mostly because they do not know any better.

In the presentation, the salesperson shows data on a competing firm which has used microsegmentation to eat away at this company's customer base. When the customer starts getting worried, the salesperson talks about the need for fine details and rapid analysis. When they then start asking about how this can be achieved, the salesperson introduces the CRM system being sold.

Discussion

Need-satisfaction selling can be very effective and is the basis for the common SPIN Selling approach. It does assume that the salesperson can find an appropriate problem that the customer has not yet noticed and that there is a path

This approach is quite skilled and not all salespeople will find it easy. It requires analysis and questioning ability that dynamically leads the customer in the right direction.