Seven Tips To Simplify Your Sales Pitch

If you sell complex technology products and services, you likely face myriad communication challenges. It takes a lot of work to get your prospect to comprehend your unique value proposition. Getting your point across is like swimming upstream in a white-rapids river.

Wait--see what we just did there? We used an analogy--a comparison of our complex idea to an everyday image connected by the word "like" to break through the noise and get you to nod your head in agreement. Analogies can be powerful tools in sales presentations.

Technical presentations are complicated enough, especially when a decision-maker is facing a new concept that requires a great deal of explanation. In these cases, an analogy can help score a direct hit to the buyer's mind. For example, we recently went through an elaborate description of Web services and service-oriented architecture for a Fortune 500 prospect. We delivered a lengthy explanation on how the software enables integration between heterogeneous systems using Web protocols until we had said everything that we had been told to say by our company. We were absolutely certain that the guy we were pitching had no idea what we were talking about.

Finally, we said, "SOA is like a dial tone between your applications. If two software programs need to talk, the SOA makes it a lot easier than conventional integration technologies." The dial-tone analogy quickly took us to the all-important "a-ha!" moment with the prospect.

Analogies tie two concepts together using a form of logical inference. They're based on the assumption that if two things are known to be alike in some respect, they must be alike in others. In other words, an analogy is like putting together a winning poker hand using words instead of cards. See, another analogy.

Similarly, look at some common technology terms that have analogies embedded right into their names. What is a "firewall"? That box full of chips and software doesn't actually prevent fires. It just prevents your system from "melting down" from attacks. Actually, the firewall got its name from the real-world equivalent of the wall between abutting buildings that prevents fires from spreading between structures. The subnet "mask" isn't a mask like your kid's plastic Halloween Superman face. Rather, it masks IP addresses, keeping certain users out of a network segment. The people who invented these terms were clever--they put the selling analogy right into the product.

Scientific research also provides some good proof on the value of analogies in communicating complex ideas. The study, "The Effects Of The Use Of Analogy On Attitude Change And Source Credibility," by James C. McCroskey and Walter H. Combs, concluded that the use of analogies results in a 40 percent increase in the audience's perception of the presenter's credibility. That's like getting all your popcorn kernels to pop, hitting a triple in the majors, landing a 20-pound trout and quitting smoking in one day.

Sales engineers, in particular, are tasked with presenting innovative and unfamiliar concepts to customers every day. It doesn't matter if you represent the best product in the market; there's always somebody that's going to find something wrong with it. In many cases, you may feel frustrated because even though you're convinced that your product is the absolute best for the customer, they end up buying from your competition. More often than not, this is because of a communication breakdown.

NEXT: How to develop analogies that sell.

1. MAKE IT INTELLIGENT
Gauge the customer's experience with the type of product you are presenting. You don't want to sound condescending with baby talk. That would be like offering chewing gum to a chicken.

2. MAKE SENSE
What's the point you want to make? What should your analogy convey to the client? For example, what do you get when you cross a lawyer with a mobster? You get someone who makes you an offer you can't understand.

3. MAKE IT FAMILIAR
How familiar is your audience with the comparison component of your analogy? We could compare a product feature to our childhood in Cuba or in a Jewish area of New York, but most likely the audience won't understand the relationship if they haven't lived there and can't relate to the comparison. Trust us; you don't want to be saying, "This router is like a cup of cold borscht in August in the Catskills." You're much better off with, "ERP software is like a nine iron when you're deep in the sand."

4. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Before using an analogy in a presentation, run it by someone else to see if your message has negative connotations that you haven't picked up on.

5. BORROW FROM FRIENDS
Ask your colleagues if they have analogies they use in their presentations and what their results are. Their pieces of wisdom are like flowers you can arrange in your own analogy bouquet.

6. MAKE IT OUTRAGEOUS
Basic analogies work, but spicing them up can also help. If you want to say, "Installing this product is like plugging in your toaster," it might be more effective to try, "A trained chimp could install this product."

7. MAKE IT HUMOROUS (WHEN PRACTICAL)
Analogies don't have to be funny, but a little humor sometimes helps. Remember, though, that being funny can be a double-edged sword, so if you like to stay on the side of caution, we understand. For example, you might find a hilarious connection between your product and hemorrhoid cream, but you should probably keep that one to yourself.

The question that should now be popping up in your mind: "Why aren't we using analogies in customer presentations?" If you do your job correctly, your customers will have an "a-ha!" moment and your competition won't stand a chance.

Ariel Coro is the president of The Aptive Group, an information security and compliance-consulting firm. Hugh Taylor is vice president of marketing for SOA Software, a provider of management and security solutions for enterprise SOA, and co-author of "Understanding Enterprise SOA" and "The Joy of SOX."