How to End a Sales Presentation Like Steve Jobs

Want to close out your sales presentations with a bang? Use Steve Jobs as your inspiration. Jobs was famous for “ending” his keynote speeches, then turning around and saying, “One more thing … ”

His next announcement was usually the most exciting one of the night -- and the crowd would eat it up.

To get your buyers amped up and ready to buy, use the same technique. Below you’ll find five different ways to finish your presentation on a high note, Jobs-style.

1) Finish an Earlier Story

Reps can make presentations memorable by giving the buyer a “surprise ending” to a story they told earlier. For instance, say the salesperson begins the call by referencing a local hotel who started using their company's bookings platform to reduce unsold rooms by 20%.

After sharing this customer story, the rep moves on to other topics. But when the call is wrapping up, they add, “Oh, and you know Lighthouse Inn? The boost in reservations was so profitable they just opened up their second location in Fairbanks, and now both hotels are on our system.”

Talk about ending on a high note. If you want to use this technique, pick a customer story with multiple good outcomes. At the end of the conversation, reveal the metaphorical cherry on top.

2) Provide a Jaw-Dropping Statistic

Finishing with an unbelievable but true fact will keep your conversation on the prospect’s mind all day long. For example, you could say, “One last thing: Have you heard the average employee spends 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings?”

Make sure this statistic is connected to your product, or this strategy won't work. The meetings factoid is great if you provide meeting management software -- but it’ll come from out of left field if you sell, say, customer engagement software.

3) Give Them a Freebie

As psychologist Dan Ariely has proven, people become irrationally excited about free stuff. And when you make the buyer think they almost didn’t get the freebie, their enthusiasm ramps up even more.

Here’s what the last-minute freebie might look like in action:

Oh, I almost forgot -- it seems like Engage’s events tool will really help your team communicate with attendees. But I’m sure you guys are eager to try it out yourself, especially since you’ve got a conference coming up. Good news: My manager just let me know you can use Engage for a month free of charge.”

If a free trial isn't possible, try giving away a piece of content or a limited version of your services.

4) Ask Them a Question

You should be asking the prospect questions throughout the presentation. However, save your most thought-provoking or impactful one for last. If you introduce it right before the presentation ends, you’ll have them pondering their answer for the rest of the day.

Any of these powerful open-ended questions will work well:

• Imagine six months have passed. How has your company evolved?
• Imagine you’ve just gotten a promotion. What did you do to earn it?
• If you don’t overcome [challenge], how will that affect [business name]?
• You said before [challenge] was costing you [X amount per year]. Can you afford to leave the issue alone?
• Would you say your competitors are dealing with or have solved [challenge]? How would overcoming this problem affect your competitive relationship?

5) Get Personal

If the prospect likes and trusts you, they're more likely to hear what you have to say -- and eventually buy from you. However, getting them to like and trust you is easier said than done.

If you’re looking for a way to gain the prospect’s trust, consider explaining why the company’s mission is meaningful at the end of a presentation. 

Here’s an example:

I actually decided to join Pepper because I was in construction, like you. But without a central platform for the team’s notes, documentation, and so on, we kept going over deadline and budget. My company ended up folding after two years. So I understand some of your challenges.”

Alternatively, you could explain why the founders decided to start the company.

From what you’ve told me, you’ve got a ton of people applying to work for you, but very few of them are qualified. That’s the exact reason Chip and Joanna -- our founders -- decided to start HireSmart. They were actually running a marketing agency at the time, but they just couldn’t find good employees. So they sold the agency and developed the platform.”

You might not be pulling back the curtain on the new iPhone 10 -- but with these five strategies, you can definitely still make an impression on your audience.

How do you like to end a sales presentation? Let us know in the comments!