Business Presentation Skills for In-Home Sales

Professional Development Training to Increase Success in Sales

Jun 2, 2009 Angela Schnaubelt

The in-home demonstration requires good interpersonal skills and strong presentation skills. Sales training for these skills is critical for a successful career in sales.

Presentation skills facilitate both personal development and professional development, as self-confidence is raised by practice and polish. Ongoing training for experienced sales people is just as critical as for newer sales persons starting in the profession, especially when it comes to the steps to a sale, and fine-tuning interpersonal skills.

Here are some great suggestions for resources and tools for training to develop interpersonal skills and improve presentation skills.

How to Win Friends and Influence People an Excellent Book for Interpersonal Sales Training

Dale Carnegie's timeless classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People (Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1936.) is considered by many top performers and experienced sales people the "Salesman's Bible." Some re-read the book every year to refresh on basic interpersonal skills.

The book's language is somewhat colloquial, as it was written in the 1930's, but the advice is still pertinent to today's business relationships. The book is an easy, enjoyable read, as it breaks up Dale Carnegie's advice into short chapters revolving around personal, powerful stories and anecdotes illustrating each interpersonal "lesson."

Lessons are subtle, yet powerful. Here are a few examples:

Importance of a person's name
Never argue, you will always lose
Power of true listening
Talk in terms of the other person's interests
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking

Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive Full of Interpersonal Skills Wisdom and Advice

While there are thousands of books on topics such as sales skills, business communication skills, closing skills, and selling, one more book stands out as a classic specifically for interpersonal skills in business: Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey Mackay. (Ballantine Books, 1988.) Swim with the Sharks is an intense, but easy read, also following the format of short lessons containing anecdotes of years of personal selling experience by the envelope magnate.

Strong Presentation Skills Necessary for Credibility, Control, and Self-Confidence

Confidence in the field comes with practice, but so does consciously refining the presentation itself. It is important to have polished vocabulary during the entire demonstration and presentation.

Polished vocabulary is important for several reasons:

The message is not diluted by filler words or crutch words (e.g. "um," "ah," "you know.").
Industry-related knowledge is communicated clearly to establish credibility.
The prospects do not get confused with technical terms and thus lose interest.

Great Resources for Polishing Presentation Skills and Communication Skills

The Dale Carnegie Institute and Toastmasters both provide a platform for practicing, honing, and fine tuning presentation skills. Neither is a book or manual to be checked out of the library, but rather interactive, participatory programs to develop better speaking and listening skills.

The Dale Carnegie Institute provides intensive courses with a finite duration. Graduates receive certification and recognition. The advantage to the Dale Carnegie Institute is that there are dozens of classes to choose from, all tailored specifically to business communication, some specifically designed for improving communication for salespeople.

Toastmasters International provides a self-paced program with supportive peer evaluations. As the structure of the organization is ongoing non-profit clubs, there is no set graduation time-frame, but there is recognition of achievements. The advantage to joining a Toastmasters club is that the monetary investment is negligible. The slight downside to the Toastmasters programs is that they encompass more than just business communication and sales skills.

Presentation skills and interpersonal skills are important in any industry, but can be especially critical for salespeople in the home improvement industry who conduct in-home demonstrations on a daily basis. Face-to-face interaction with homeowners for 30 minutes to over two hours calls for a highly polished, confident salesperson to garner enough credibility and respect to close the sale.

In addition to developing these business communication skills, closers, top performers, and sales people should develop and fine tune a defined sales process for increased success in closing.

The copyright of the article Business Presentation Skills for In-Home Sales in Marketing/PR is owned by Angela Schnaubelt. Permission to republish Business Presentation Skills for In-Home Sales in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

training books for interpersonal and sales skills