Sales Presentation Skills: How to Evaluate Salespeople

If your salespeople aren’t effective presenters, they’ll never achieve their full potential, even if they’re already good at selling. Which is why it’s critical that you understand and monitor this vital skill.

Here’s how to measure and evaluate sales presentation skills, whether you’re trying to motivate an underperforming rep, increase already decent close rates, or evaluate potential sales candidates before hiring.

What Makes for an Effective Sales Presentation?

Before you can evaluate presentation skills, you need to understand what makes for a good presentation.

You may have an intuitive feel for what works and what doesn’t, but if you’re going to measure performance quantitatively, you need a method for scoring presentations numerically. Keep the following “7Cs” in mind:

1. Congeniality: Is the salesperson creating a friendly, positive environment?
2. Clarity: Are ideas presented clearly? Is there unnecessary filler content?
3. Customization: How well is the presentation tailored to the prospect’s needs?
4. Comprehension: Is the presentation given in easily understandable language?
5. Compellingness: Are the arguments being made persuasive? Are appropriate emotional appeals being used?
6. Confidence: People want to work with those they perceive as being self-assured. How effectively is the salesperson at conveying this impression?
7. Collaboration: When the conversation becomes a two-way discussion rather than a one-way presentation, according to Peak Selling, message retention doubles to 40%.