I spent a day working on sales messages and presentation of those messages with a sales force, except the sales force was divided in two—half were an outside field force, and half were inside sales.
We discovered that it was very difficult for the inside sales force to deliver a complete presentation because they were used to connecting with prospects through conversation by phone.
They seemed to rely on the give and take of a phone call, including the small talk, and were accustomed to the random bouncing around from topic to topic depending on the questions and concerns of the customer.
They struggled to prepare a formal presentation with a compelling introduction, a logical sequence of ideas, and a summary conclusion, and of course, not being accustomed to face-to-face presenting, they were nervous.
The outside sales people had less trouble with the sustained monologue of a formal presentation, and were able to craft some very effective, persuasive approaches to an audience.
Dialogue vs. monologue. Talking vs. listening. Sending signals vs.receiving signals. Throwing vs. catching. Giving vs. taking.
It’s important to be fluent in both kinds of selling.