The most useful skill I've learned in terms of technical sales is to answer the "So what?" question as quickly as possible. It's invariably the one you get asked if you've presented some kind of feature or functionality, without any associated value. It can happen when you're explaining anything, even if it's whilst talking to your mum (or anyone else outside of your industry) about what you do and how you help your customers.

Customer's view of your product? You highlight certain areas, and leave others undisclosed. They end up with a partial understanding and are often forced to connect the dots and figure out the potential value themselves. I took this photo at Geneva … — Customer's view of your product? You highlight certain areas, and leave others undisclosed. They end up with a partial understanding and are often forced to connect the dots and figure out the potential value themselves. I took this photo at Geneva Central Station, Switzerland.

Invariably, you'll have asked yourself "So what?" in your head so many times when you've seen presentations, commercials or demonstrations. Do any of these sound familiar :

We can display the data like this or like that (So what?).

We've added this feature that let's you load data direct from an ASCII file (So what?)

It's got two engines - one electric and one petrol (So what?)

Answering "So what?" means to state the value of your product or service. It's up to you to make it clear to your customer how you are going to make their lives better; their costs lower; their efficiency greater; and ultimately how much money you can save or make for them! Don't make the classic mistake of assuming that it is obvious where the value lies - all sorts of things are obvious once you know them. Your goal in pointing it out specifically is to make it as easy as possible for your customer to justify buying from you. Knowing what value you can add is critical to your sale. Of course, it helps to have some idea of who you are talking to as well - but that's a totally different topic. Suffice to say that the value you can bring and how you present that, depends to some extent on the company, persona and personality you are talking to.

A simple way to improve your sales presentation techniques is by asking yourself "So what?" repeatedly as you slowly work through your talk as part of your preparation. If you can't answer that clearly and concisely then you still have some important work to do before you're ready to talk to your customers!