Share our capabilities

Having an opportunity to present our capabilities to a prospect is the ultimate objective. Remember, as many as 80 percent of buying decisions are made during the first capabilities meeting. This is the sole reason why we spend so much energy perfecting the story.

The capabilities presentation takes about an hour—around forty minutes of presenting and twenty minutes of discussion. You, as the master of ceremonies, should be able to run through a standard capabilities deck in fifteen minutes or two hours—depending on the audience, available time, and the intent of the session.

Practice your content and you’ll become a much better speaker. The better your delivery and more natural the story, the more effective it becomes.

Capability sessions generally fall into the following categories:

• A follow-up capabilities session for the actual buyer (if initial contact is with an influencer)
• A follow-up capabilities session with a group of influencers if the buyer wants to create buy-in and alignment (e.g., the CIO wants direct reports to be excited about a partnership versus being told to work with us)
• A workshop (if the above steps have been completed once or twice)

The outcome of a capabilities presentation depends on the maturity of the buyer and the need at the time. Knowing that the workshop is the ultimate objective, consider slipping questions into the capabilities presentation so that there is an opportunity to discuss the challenges that the prospect is experiencing. The more informed you are, the more accurately you will be able to pursue opportunities and the more effective your sense of urgency will be.

Re-capabilities is a thing. Not everyone saw the initial presentation, our services change over time. Do it again.