A sales presentation is very much like this article. I’m conveying information to you and you’re listening to me. It involves my point of view, my expertise—and potentially you nodding your head now and again—but we aren’t really interacting. You can’t do anything more with these words right now than read them and react.

That same concept has been the basic model for sales presentations for years. If I were presenting a new product to you, you’d be listening to me and my expertise and potentially nodding your head now and again, but we wouldn’t really be interacting until (typically) at the very end for Q&A and discussion. Traditionally, the two key tools in a professional salesperson’s toolbox are a sales presentation and a brochure or a sell sheet. The printed brochure or sell sheet provides the high-level overview and value story while a presentation is typically tailored to the unique customer’s strategic and business needs. And that presentation can typically last approximately 30 minutes or so, building the case for the advantage over the competition substantiated with features, data, research, charts, images, numbers, data, and more charts. But a 30-minute presentation can sometimes feels like it’s 25 minutes too long.

Wikipedia defines a presentation as the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. If you sit and listen to a presentation, the assumption is that you’ll probably learn something about that particular product or offering and that you will walk away with some very good information about it. But, unless the presenter has charisma and ways to keep you engaged as does Salman Khan or even the most excellent presenter Steve Jobs, chances are it will just be one more presentation that you have to get through.

The new presentation is interactive.

But in 2010, the iPad was launched. What was called a giant iPod Touch with a funny name managed to quietly revolutionize the sales process over the last few years. A 10″ thin slate managed to turn the sales process on its head by giving back a salesperson what has been missing: interaction. And why is interaction so important? It provides a personal connection with the content and the person you’re talking with, creating a more memorable, valuable experience that will have far more impact than watching a presentation for 30 minutes.

There is a caveat, though. Presenting interactively means thinking about your presentation content and your audience differently. For example, can you present to a smaller group of decision makers instead of a big room? Can any of the content in the presentation be made interactive? Can you incorporate the audience into the presentation and transform the experience? If you can adjust any of these, then using a web app as an innovative presentation tool is a great idea for a new, dynamic sales force.

What’s a web app?

A web app is a means to deliver content in a dynamic app-like experience through a modern web browser. A web app allows you to add dynamic elements such as functional interactive information graphics, audio, video, and much more dynamic interactivity into a presentation that’s delivered in a consistent experience through a modern web browser, over any operating system: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Blackberry, and more.

Matt Bassett, Executive Producer at One Hundred Robots, an app development company and partner agency with Adventure House, says “a web app is a web-based rather than software-based application that is designed to accomplish specific tasks through a web browser using available web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, Java and Javascript.”

That means if some or all of your sales force are using tablets as a sales tool, you can simply distribute a URL with a link to the web app. The sales force can present interactively one-on-one or through a projector to a larger group.

The five best reasons to incorporate a web app into your sales force.

1. “Wow” factor and differentiation. Content can be dramatically swiped though, charts and graphics are highly dynamic, touch for audio, click for video, and have full control over the interactive experience. You will stand apart from the traditional PowerPoint presenter.

2. Flexibility over many platforms and systems. Access the presentation content online or locally via a web link and use it over any modern web browser that supports HTML5. From desktop browsers on Mac and Windows to tablet browsers running iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry, and more, you will create a consistent brand experience.

3. Easy to distribute. Just send a web link to your sales force. Really, that’s it.

4. Easy to update. Add a CMS (Content Management System) component and easily update your content on the fly.

5. Deliver over the web and through local desktop access. If you know your presentation location will be in a remote neck of the woods with spotty 3G or 4G service, you can provide files to your team to present locally.

Are you taking advantage of this technology to differentiate yourself? Please let us know if you’ve used a web app or platform-specific app to aid in your sales process and what the experience has been for both the presenter as well as the audience.