Recipe: Adding Tangibility to Your Sales Conversations

Services are intangible; they can’t be seen or touched like a product can. Consider supporting your talking points with some presentation visuals. In person, topics outlined on a flipchart or laptop screen, or diagrams, illustrations, and photographs can help give what you have to say more weight. When having a sales conversation by phone, the same material can be displayed on the Web or e-mailed to your prospect in advance, so the two of you can review it together.

Another solution is to provide a portfolio of your best work. Artists, designers, and other professionals who create tangible objects routinely do this, but in fact, anyone can. Your portfolio could be available online, or you can bring a portfolio with you to an in-person meeting. You might include samples of your writing, reports you have prepared, program outlines, photos of your past projects, or a video of you at work. Going through your portfolio with a prospect, or flipping to a certain page as questions arise, can further establish your expertise.

While a portfolio is something you and a prospect often review together, the purpose of a leave-behind is to give your prospects a sample of your work they can hang on to or a gift to remember you by. A leave-behind that serves as a sample could be a case study, special report, before-and-after photos, demonstration DVD, or a collection of testimonials. Gift leave-behinds include books, CDs, DVDs, promotional products with your logo (coffee cups or notepads, for example), or even candy. You can also mail or e-mail your leave-behind after a sales conversation by phone. The idea is to give your prospect a present they will use or refer to, and therefore continue to think of you.