Olivia: The single most powerful word in sales isn't 'deal,' 'discount,' or 'guarantee.' It's 'you.' And today, we're exploring why almost every sales pitch gets that disastrously wrong, turning potential wins into awkward goodbyes. Jackson: I can feel the collective shudder from every salesperson listening. That word, 'you,' sounds so simple, but I’ve sat through enough presentations where I felt completely invisible. The speaker might as well have been talking to a wall. A wall with a wallet, maybe. Olivia: Exactly. And that's the core diagnosis in the book we're diving into today: Make It All About Them by Nadine Keller. She argues that most sales presentations are just 'murder by PowerPoint.' Jackson: A fittingly dramatic phrase. And Keller is fascinating. She's not some theorist in an ivory tower; she built a 7-figure sales coaching business, Precision Sales Coaching, by focusing on what she calls the 'softer side of sales'—empathy, connection. She's in the trenches. Olivia: She is. And her whole philosophy starts with a brutal truth: in a world where every product and service feels the same, the only thing you can truly use to stand out is the experience you create for your client. Jackson: Okay, I hear the word 'experience,' and my marketing buzzword alarm starts to go off. It sounds a little… fluffy. What does that actually mean in a real-world sales meeting? Olivia: That is the perfect question, and Keller answers it with some incredible stories. It’s about moving from just delivering information to staging a memorable event.

Olivia: For example, Keller talks about one of her clients, Linda Knox at Prudential Retirement. They were facing that exact problem: their products were becoming commoditized. So, what did they do? Jackson: Let me guess. Lower prices? Add more features? Olivia: They did something far more radical. Linda led a team that renovated 1,200 square feet of their Hartford office and turned it into a home. Jackson: A home? Like, with a kitchen and a living room? For a retirement services company? Olivia: Precisely. A front door with a doorbell, a living room, a kitchen with a message on the blackboard, even ice cream in the freezer. Every single sensory detail was meticulously designed. When clients came for a meeting, they weren't walking into a sterile corporate office; they were being welcomed into a warm, contemporary space. Jackson: Wow. Okay, that’s definitely not just a PowerPoint presentation. But that sounds incredibly expensive and, frankly, a little theatrical for a financial company. Olivia: It is theatrical! That's the point. Keller cites the book The Experience Economy, which argues that while goods are tangible and services are intangible, experiences are memorable. Prudential understood that the feeling clients had in that space—the feeling of being cared for, of being at home—was their ultimate differentiator. It communicated their brand promise without saying a word. Jackson: I can see that. You’re not just hearing about how they’ll take care of your future; you’re physically feeling it in the present moment. The medium becomes the message. Olivia: Exactly! And this applies even if you don't have a multi-million dollar renovation budget. Think about Al Gore. For years, he was talking about global warming. He had the facts, the data, the 'what.' But nobody was really listening. Jackson: Right, I remember that time. He was seen as a bit of a dry, academic politician. The message just wasn't landing. Olivia: Then, after the 2000 election, he decided to change 'how' he delivered the message. He hired a presentation firm, and they turned his data into a compelling story, a powerful slideshow. That presentation became the film An Inconvenient Truth. Jackson: And suddenly, he was a rock star. The film won an Academy Award, he won a Nobel Peace Prize. It was a global phenomenon. Olivia: And the facts hadn't changed! The 'what' was the same. But the 'how'—the experience of watching that story unfold—was completely different. He created an emotional journey for the audience. The book points to neuromarketing research that proves this out: we make decisions with our emotions and justify them with logic later. Al Gore finally gave people an emotional reason to care. Jackson: That’s a powerful way to put it. The experience is the delivery mechanism for emotion. You can't just email someone a list of facts and expect them to change their life, or their business. You have to make them feel something. Olivia: You have to make them feel that you understand them, that you're on their side, and that you're there to solve their problems. You have to make it all about them.

Jackson: Okay, I'm sold on the 'why.' A big, grand 'experience' makes sense for Al Gore or a huge company like Prudential. But how does a regular salesperson, you know, in a boring conference room with bad coffee, create an 'experience'? It still sounds a bit abstract for the everyday grind. Olivia: This is my favorite part of the book, because this is where Keller gets brilliantly, almost obsessively, specific. She includes a section called 'Twenty-three Elements of the Experience.' It's a checklist that proves creating an experience isn't some vague, fluffy goal. It's the sum of a thousand tiny, intentional acts. Jackson: A checklist of obsession. I love that. Give me some examples. What's on this list? Olivia: Some of them are things you’d expect, like how you open the presentation or the energy of your team. But others are so subtle you’d never even think about them. For instance, Element #2: 'How You and Your Team Members Enter the Building and the Room.' Jackson: How you enter a room? Come on. Surely that doesn't matter. Olivia: Keller tells a story about watching a team arrive, juggling beat-up cardboard boxes, dropping papers, fumbling with their briefcases. And she asks, what message does that send before you've even said hello? It doesn't exactly scream, 'We really have our act together.' Jackson: That’s a fair point. It’s an instant credibility killer. You’re communicating chaos before you’ve even opened your mouth. Okay, what else? Surprise me. Olivia: How about the giveaways? She tells a story about coaching a sales team that was presenting to a major American car company. They had planned to give out these really nice, fancy pens as a thank-you gift. Jackson: A classic move. What’s wrong with a nice pen? Olivia: Nothing, except the pens came in boxes with a tiny label on the bottom: 'Made in Japan.' Jackson: Oh no. To an American car company. That is… not a good look. That’s a deal-killer hiding in plain sight. Olivia: Exactly! It’s a tiny detail, but it sends a huge, unintentional message. It shows a lack of awareness, a lack of being 'all about them.' They ended up taking the pens out of the boxes, but it was a near miss that illustrates how every single detail contributes to the client’s experience. Jackson: That's incredible. It reframes the whole idea of preparation. You’re not just preparing your pitch; you’re auditing every single point of contact for potential missteps. But what about things you can't control? Things that go wrong? Olivia: That’s maybe the most powerful element of all. Element #17: 'How You Handle the Unexpected.' This is where character is truly revealed. Keller shares a fantastic story about a colleague of hers. She's about ten minutes into a huge, important sales presentation. And then the fire alarm goes off. Jackson: You have got to be kidding me. That’s the ultimate nightmare scenario. Olivia: The entire building has to evacuate. They’re all standing outside for over an hour. By the time they get back to the conference room, her presentation time is almost up, and her competitor is literally waiting in the lobby to present next. Jackson: What did she do? Did she try to speed-talk her way through the last 20 minutes? Olivia: She did something much smarter. She looked at the clients, smiled, and said, "Look, this has been a crazy morning for all of us. The last thing you need is for me to rush through this. Why don't we reschedule for a time that's more convenient for you? Your time is what's most important here." Jackson: Wow. That takes guts. She just gave up her slot. Olivia: The client was, in her words, 'enormously grateful.' And she won the business. Jackson: Of course she did! That’s amazing. She turned a disaster into the ultimate proof of her character. In that moment, she wasn't selling a service anymore; she was selling 'I'm the person you want on your side when things go wrong.' Olivia: That’s it! That’s the whole philosophy in a nutshell. Her response to the fire alarm was more powerful than any slide in her deck could ever be. It was the most authentic and compelling part of her 'presentation.'

Jackson: It’s all clicking into place. The real presentation isn't the PowerPoint. The real presentation is your behavior. It’s how you enter the room, the thought you put into a gift, and especially how you react under pressure. The whole interaction becomes a story that proves your value. Olivia: That's the deep insight of Keller's work. The experience isn't one big, flashy thing. It's the sum of a thousand tiny, intentional details that, when woven together, tell a story about who you are and how much you care about the person right in front of you. It’s about proving your client-focus through your actions, not just your words. Jackson: It’s a fundamental shift in mindset. You stop asking, "What do I need to say to close this deal?" and you start asking, "What can I do to make this person's experience of this meeting valuable, respectful, and memorable, regardless of the outcome?" Olivia: And that approach, ironically, is what closes the deal. So, for anyone listening, Keller would suggest a very practical action. Before your next important meeting, don't just rehearse your slides. Rehearse your entrance. Think about the questions you'll ask. Audit your materials. And most importantly, think about the one small, unexpected thing you can do to show you're all about them. Jackson: I love that. And we'd love to hear from our listeners. What's the most memorable sales experience you've ever had—either amazing or awful? The stories are always so revealing. Let us know on our socials. It's fascinating to see this in the wild. Olivia: It truly is. Because in the end, we're all in the business of selling—our ideas, our skills, ourselves. And learning to make it all about them is the most powerful tool we have. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.