5 proven methods to improve presentation of your samples

A potential client will often decide very quickly whether they like you and – perhaps more importantly – your sample products. The rest of your sales meeting they will spend attempting to confirm this first impression in his or her head.

Whilst harsh, this is, in fact, a widely reported phenomenon known as confirmation bias.

Laslo Bock, in an article for The Wire, defines this as “the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s beliefs. More than 99% of your meeting could be spent trying to confirm whatever impression they formed in the first 10 seconds”.

Whilst it is possible to mitigate this by being professional, smart, friendly and engaging – the traits that make a successful sales person in the first place – the same “confirmation bias” effect can frequently be seen with your products too.

As such, it is vitally important that you make first impressions count.

How?

Through professionally presenting your samples.

Whilst sample cases will give you a head start both in your presentation and potentially over your competitors, combining these with foam inserts can really take your presentation to the next level.

Designed to work seamlessly with your chosen sample case, it can allow much-improved presentation of your samples by holding them in place within the case.

This can allow you to showcase your entire range (or the most important products) in one go, allows you to stand the case up to act as a visual aid when presenting, and keeps everything neatly organised too.

As a result, you and / or your sales team will see a noticeable improvement in how well the presentation flows and the visual impact that a case with foam can create – just a couple of the added benefits of product sample cases.

And as with the outer sample case that you use, your foam insert can be designed and manufactured in the colours of your brand for a consistent appearance.

You may have noticed that points one and two both mention consistent branding. This is for good reason.

Think of any iconic brand. Chances are they are associated with a specific colour, logo or even typeface. Coca Cola will always be red. Facebook uses a distinct shade of blue. Cadburys’ even attempted to trademark its’ association with a specific colour of purple.

The point is, building up a consistent brand appearance can aid recall, drive awareness and even foster loyalty.

This why it is essential to ensure your sample cases with foam inserts are “on brand”. Colours, correct use of logos and even how “premium” everything feels are all crucial.

There is a wide range of ways to brand and print samples cases, so there is no excuse to not do this.

However, it is important you do not stop there.

When in your presentation, ensure that your supporting brochures and literature are correctly branded. That this matches your business cards. Your Powerpoint presentation – if you use one – must also be consistent. Even the colour of your tie or shirt could help with subliminal branding.

Basically, the more consistent your branding and overall approach is the more professional and memorable it becomes.

Despite the importance of consistent branding, this alone will not lead to a successful sales meeting.

In fact, whilst it may help your audience remember you and your company, this memory may be negative if the rest of your pitch wasn’t up to scratch.

It is therefore important to fully engage the audience when presenting your samples.

Whilst there are many articles available on ways to achieve this (this is a particularly good one), one of the commonly overlooked ways of engaging an audience is to let them touch, feel and even use your sample products.

Most people react incredibly well to the tactile nature of being able to get to grips with a product, gauge its weight, how well built or manufactured it feels, and to see it from all angles.

This then ties back into points one and two. A well thought out sample case with foam can allow you to quickly and easily retrieve the samples your potential customer shows the most interest in.

A note of caution must be raised on this point, however, and that is that is important not to overwhelm your audience with a huge number of samples or options. Too much choice can often be counter-intuitive to getting them to make a decision.

Instead, research your audiences likely needs and requirements in advance, come up with a plan and present the samples that are most likely to gain the sale.

So you have impressed the meeting attendees with the professional presentation of your samples, your consistent branding ensures they will remember you, and you successfully engaged them when extolling the benefits they could realise by using your products.

But they want some more time to ponder their decision.

Fair enough. But make sure that you are continually reminding them of you and your company after the meeting has finished. It is important to be “first in mind” once your sales pitch has ended.

As such, it is important to have some literature or information that you can leave behind after your meeting. This may simply be a company brochure and your business card (consistently branded of course).

Even better (depending on the value of your items), would be to leave their favoured sample with them. If this isn’t possible, a branded “freebie” that will sit on their office desk will be a constant reminder of the value your products could bring to their company.

This freebie could even be incorporated into your sample case (so you always have one on hand at every important meeting).

Another benefit of a sample case with foam is that will also highlight of you have left a sample with a customer (there will be a clearly visible gap in your case that will remind you to get another product from your offices before your next meeting).

And finally, don’t forget to follow up with an email thanking your audience for their time once you are back in the office. And all the better if – you guessed it – this email is consistent with the branding you have been exposing them to from the moment you first started presenting.

Whilst this article focuses on the importance of how you present your samples, and the consistency of your branding and approach, this is only one aspect of a successful sales pitch.

For further information covering everything from conquering nerves, how to speak clearly, a successful follow-up process and even arranging a meeting in the first place, why not refer to the articles below.

blog.hubspot.com/sales/anatomy-of-a-perfect-sales-presentation-infographic

www.salesforce.com/blog/sales-presentation-tips-gp/

blog.hubspot.com/sales/persuasive-sales-presentation-structure

There are literally thousands of similar and related articles available online. So whether you feel you need to brush up your technique, are looking for fresh ideas or simply want to help a junior member of your team, there is a wealth of relevant information available.

How you actually present your samples at sales meetings can be frequently overlooked.

However, by using sample cases with foam, ensuring these are branded and that in turn, this creates a consistent experience, you can begin to cement in your target customers mind the value that you can bring to their company.

Done correctly, using sample cases with foam can take the presentation of your samples to the next level – ultimately helping you and / or your sales team in those make or break pitches.

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