Whether you’re exhibiting at a trade show, presenting via Zoom or picking up the phone, your sales pitch matters. It’s the only chance your sales team have to turn a lead into a customer so it’s important to get it right.
In this article, we’ll help you perfect your sales pitch. We’ll be sure to include some sales pitch examples along the way so that you can see these strategies in action.
Sales and marketing go hand in hand so before you gloss over this guide ask yourself this question:
Do you want to make more sales? Read on to find out how.
NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO IMPROVE YOUR SALES PITCH
It’s great to get back to live events. The atmosphere fills the venue when industry leaders come to town. Hot leads falling on your lap. Sales representative shoving promotional literature in your bag. Even the food truck lunches that you claim as a company expense.
Of course, hybrid events will remain important to combat travel restrictions and local lockdowns.
So we’ve all got used to virtual meetings. And from a sales perspective, we can’t rely on those face-to-face conversations that are crucial to closing deals. Our sales pitch must be perfect to get that all-important virtual handshake.
WHAT IS A PERFECT SALES PITCH?
A sales pitch is your opportunity to persuade someone that your product is right for them. Once you’ve captured the lead, you construct the perfect presentation and then you close the deal.
A perfect sales pitch should explain the problem that your product solves, therefore, letting the prospect know why they should choose you over your competitors. Of course, a winning pitch will be more than that. And hopefully, it will ensure you get the business every time.
WHEN DO YOU NEED A SALES PITCH?
The first port of call is to gather leads. Our preferred method for this is (obviously) exhibiting at a trade show. But you have options.
Exhibiting is the best way to generate highly-targeted, relevant leads. They have demonstrated an interest in your business just by attending the event. You also have a chance to talk to them and start building a relationship before your sales pitch.
You could try email or social media marketing to generate leads. Many businesses successfully generate custom through their website and digital marketing strategy. This can be more cost-effective as leads come to you, however, you don’t get the opportunity to have that initial face-to-face conversation.
This is crucial to perfecting your sales pitch. Keep reading to find out why.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF A PERFECT SALES PITCH
Perfect sales pitches take time to create. You’ll rarely get it right first time. What usually happens is you design your pitch and continue to make adjustments and little tweaks until you have it just right. Practice makes perfect so they say.
There are six basic principles that sales experts live by when creating their perfect pitch. These are the rules you should follow:
- Make it short.
- Make it obvious.
- Describe your customers.
- Explain their problems.
- Explain how your product can solve it.
- Describe what success looks like as a result of using your product.
Once you have that, you have the skeleton of your sales pitch. Everything else we are going to cover will tell you how to perfect it.
5 TIPS FOR CRAFTING A PERFECT SALES PITCH
You know the basics, now it’s time to add the little tweaks that make your sales pitch-perfect. Generating leads is pointless if you can’t convert them. Use some of these sales pitch ideas to get the yes that we all want from our prospects.
GET PERSONAL
Do you remember earlier in this guide when we glossed over the importance of that initial face-to-face conversation? That is the base chat that you need to have to perfect your sales pitch.
By referencing past conversations or shared experiences, you remind the lead that you can be trusted. The foundations of your relationship are there so now you are building upon that. Already you have a competitive advantage.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FOMO
FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out and everyone suffers from it. If you followed the six principles of creating a sales pitch then you are ready to take advantage of FOMO.
What problem is your product solving? And how have other companies successfully avoided this problem altogether by using your product? Bonus points if you can use your sales pitch to highlight a competitor of theirs that you’ve worked with.
CREATE A WOW MOMENT
There comes a time in every sales pitch where your prospect decides whether they are going to work with you or not. A WOW moment is the easiest way to help them make this decision.
Most people won’t be interested in the ins and outs of what you do. They care about solving their own problems. And they want to know how your product can do that. Take the selling part out of your sales pitch and give your prospect your WOW moment.
Use images, video, statistics and client testimonials to WOW your prospects and make sure they choose you.
TELL A STORY
Storytelling is a skill in itself. But to have someone hooked on every word of your sales pitch is what makes it perfect. When your audience is that engaged, they are absorbing everything you say. Your perfect sales pitch needs to tell a story… don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds.
Start with your main character. It could be your lead. Or, if you were paying attention above, it could be their direct competitor. Every story needs a protagonist and in this particular story, it is going to be your competitor. Plot twist – something goes wrong. Happy ending – your product saves the day. Sales pitch made simple.
Make it light, easy to follow and engaging. A bit of humour will work wonders.
ALWAYS GIVE EVIDENCE
You could be selling the greatest product in the world. If you don’t offer your prospect evidence of that then you’re just another sales representative trying to make someone buy something.
Don’t just tell your buyer why they need your product. Show them. Use facts and statistics to back up every point that you make. Doing so will establish trust and give your prospect even more reasons to choose you.
Think back to your college days and remember to PEE:
- Point
- Evidence
- Explain
STORYTELLING SALES PITCH EXAMPLE
Do you know what oxytocin is? Informally, it is known as the ‘cuddle hormone’ but scientists have discovered that our brains release oxytocin when we are engaged in a story.
That is why you need to tell a story with a sales pitch. It makes your future buyer feel happy.
IMPLEMENT THESE TACTICS TO INCREASE CONVERSIONS
Perfecting your sales pitch will help you grow your business. Currently, most businesses are experiencing a bit of downtime. Take advantage! Improve your selling strategy, train your sales team and increase conversions.
The tactics we have covered in this guide will help you do just that. In doing so, you’ll increase your lead generation ROI.
If exhibiting is your go-to marketing strategy, follow it up with a perfect personalised sales pitch. If you use your website to capture leads, tap into their FOMO. Always have a WOW moment and remember to PEE! Finally, make your prospects happy by telling engaging stories. A perfect sales pitch doesn’t have to be all sales.
Practice makes perfect so play around with a few of these strategies to see what works for you. The sales pitch examples show how the strategies can be utilised across different platforms including face-to-face meetings, phone calls and emails.
Don’t be a one-trick pony. To really increase conversions you are going to have to put your chosen sales pitch technique to the test. Try different platforms and different approaches until you’re certain you have the model that works for you.
PERFECTING YOUR SALES PITCH: SUMMARY
There is not much left to say. You know why a sales pitch is important and when you need to start thinking about pitching to a prospect. We’ve covered the basics of a sales pitch so that you’ve got a good foundation to work with.
Finally, we went into detail about specific methods and gave some sales pitch examples to make sure you fully understood the effect. These methods have been proven to increase conversions, increasing the ROI of your lead generation strategy.
What are you waiting for? Give us a call and try to sell us something…