Possibly the most important aspect of your sales process is your sales pitch. It combines your business persona, mission statement, brand identity, and business card into a succinct, professional presentation.
Delivering a successful sales pitch that truly connects is no easy task, especially since you only have a short amount of time to make a good first impression and hold your prospect’s interest through to the end.
Pitching to sell is essentially a dialogue between you and your potential buyers. In addition to helping you get from Point A to Point B in your sales process, it ought to teach you more about your prospects and how you can benefit their companies.
Anyone creating their own pitch should be required to study examples from the best of the best.
Why?
There has never been a harder time coming up with a persuasive sales pitch. Only 24.3% of 400 sales reps surveyed in a recent report by sales expert Marc Wayshak exceeded quotas in the previous year. 61% think that selling a product or service is more difficult than it was five years ago.
Prospects anticipate highly personalized sales pitches as well. However, the rise of automation tools has made sales more of a “numbers game” than ever, making it seem impossible to personalize a pitch.
Of course, every sales rep has a set of guidelines for what constitutes a successful sales pitch.
In this article, we will extensively discuss the fundamental elements of sales pitches and everything sales reps need to stay abreast of before pitching to a prospective buyer.
What is sales pitch?
A persuasive sales presentation that has been packaged is called a sales pitch. A salesperson typically has less than two minutes to describe how their company will help the prospect.
It is also known as an elevator pitch in some situations because you only have a brief amount of time to convince a potential client to work with you during your pitching. People’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter in this tech-driven world. As a result, salespeople are no longer able to afford the luxury of giving an hour-long presentation designed to sell a particular good or service.
Long sales pitches are no longer worth the listener’s time. Whenever you find yourself giving an hour-long sales pitch, you must restrategize.
A successful sales pitch must succinctly and persuasively communicate the intended message. If the sales pitch is effective, you are headed in the right direction for successful transactions.
The first few minutes of a business conversation set the tone for the remainder of the exchange. Use this sales pitch to try and persuade the potential customer of the superiority of the service you are providing.
A good pitch is your opportunity, if you’re selling a product or service, to challenge a prospect’s perception of the item. Now is the time to reassure them of the advantages they will experience if they purchase the product or service you are selling.
Elements of a successful sales pitch
So what does a perfect sales pitch entail? What ought to be contained (and omitted)? Here are seven components of a winning sales pitch that will enable you to forge strong connections each time you attend a sales demo.
1. Well-investigated facts on the prospective clients
Only 13% of customers say salespeople genuinely comprehend their needs. That’s a pretty depressing statistic; if you can’t comprehend your customers’ issues, there’s no way you can help them find a solution.
Case studies and buyer personas are only useful to a point. In order to connect with the buyer and build rapport, you must also show them that you understand their problems and provide a solution.
Effective sales pitches should take into account the needs of your potential customers rather than following a rigid script. Smart salespeople know how to adjust their approach based on the prospect’s organization, priorities, and ultimate objectives.
Research is the only way to accomplish this. You need to know your audience before you say a single word. What are your knowledge of their business and sector? Who do they serve as clients? What problems do they have that your business could solve for them?
This step is crucial, especially if you’re speaking with an unfamiliar person about your business or yourself. You’ll have to work even harder to establish your credibility if you don’t have brand trust to rely on.
By demonstrating in advance that you have some knowledge of your potential customer and their needs, you can convince them to pay attention to you and let them know that they are more to you than just another sale.
2. Strong opening line
Before you even finish saying your name, most potential clients can smell a product pitch coming on. There’s a good chance they’ll tune out the entire pitch you worked so hard to make if you can’t immediately grab their attention.
Start with them to get their attention, then step aside for the time being. You could, for instance, inquire about a topic that is particular to their business and unrelated to your own priorities, like an award they recently received or a new client they recently secured.
You should pique people’s interest in your introduction. Show that you are interested in getting to know them, not in educating them about something you believe they should buy.
However, if you ask them questions, they will probably respond positively and pay you the respect you deserve.
Keep in mind that a great sales pitch is a dialogue, not monologue, so engage the potential customer on a personal level and speak to the customer’s problems.
3. Communicated value proposition
Your potential customer is paying attention to you and wants to know that their time is being well spent. So, what do you intend to contribute?
A compelling value proposition is a crucial component of a great sales pitch because it can convince others to share your convictions. It emphasizes advantages over features. The issues you resolve that are pertinent to the prospect are discussed. It highlights the kind of clientele you deal with and gives your assistance to them more substance.
4. Excellent storytelling
All Time Design
Data demonstrates that stories are remembered by prospects at a rate of about 63%, which explains why storytelling is a major component of most effective sales pitches.
Stories not only help prospects remember information, but they also put them in the action. A story demonstrates to your potential customer how they might use your product or service to enhance what they are already doing, as opposed to simply explaining how it works. Storytelling gives abstract concepts a concrete form.
Prospects move from passive observers to active participants. Additionally, they can visualize themselves taking pleasure in the happy ending when they can recognize themselves in the storyline.
For instance, a prospect might be unclear about what an average 35% increase in hiring efficiency means, but they can probably picture the effects that $150 per new hire savings and a two-week reduction in onboarding time might have.
5. Contains social proof and facts
Just talking about what you can do is insufficient. Your potential buyers want evidence, or at the very least, assurances that you can deliver on your promises.
You can persuade them to believe you in a few effective ways.
One example is describing how your existing customers are using your product and the results they have experienced using storytelling. Mention how they were operating before you arrived and how you assisted them in becoming better. Your case studies will be easier to understand if you summarize them to highlight the key points.
Testimonials are also useful resources because they are provided by pleased clients who will discuss why they enjoy doing business with you, how you’ve benefited them, and even recommend you.
In order to show your confidence in what you’re selling, you should also provide your own guarantee. They may be more likely to say “yes” if you offer them a free trial, free shipping, a money-back guarantee, or another incentive.
6. Provide unanticipated benefits
Discovering the issues your prospects face and determining how your solution can be of assistance is a part of your job as a sales representative. Most salespeople stop there, but what if there are still other, more significant problems to be learned—even ones the prospect may not be aware of?
You must do more than simply reiterate their problems and offer them solutions they may already be aware of. Instead, go a step further by bringing up an unexpected need or value that will lead the prospect into uncharted territory.
Don’t inform them of information they already know. Only when there is a degree of uncertainty does persuasion take place.
Your prospect is more likely to be receptive to how you can help if they have partially or completely overlooked, neglected, or underestimated something.
7. Provokes an action to happen
Your sales pitch began by concentrating on your potential customer.
You’ve already solved their problems, proven your worth, give them concepts they might not have thought of, and supported your assertions with evidence.
You’ve now reached the main goal of your sales pitch: the action you want the customer to take.
Your product pitch should conclude with a call to action. Make it simple for them to complete the next step from the previous point and provide them with clear instructions. The worst thing you can do is leave it to chance after all the work you’ve put into developing your prospect.
Unexpectedly, 85% of salespeople never make a formal request for a sale. Some people fear being rejected. Others believe they have sufficiently communicated what they want the customer to do. It’s a problem when salespeople don’t know how to advance the conversation to this point.
You must continue your sales pitch all the way to the end because 90% of clients won’t buy unless you ask them to. If you’ve been diligent thus far, there’s no reason to let fear hold you back at this point.
How to make winning sales pitches
Here are some best practices to follow to make sure your sales pitch is outstanding before we get into specific examples:
Keep it brief
You are requesting your prospect’s time, one of their most prized possessions. You are in competition with all of the things they have going on at the same time, including their emails, meetings, clients, and other activities.
In addition to saving you time, keeping your sales pitch brief demonstrates to the customer that you value their time. When you don’t give a 10-minute monologue during your pitch, you will probably advance further. Check out the detailed guide about sales prospecting.
Simple is best
Words that sound awkward or difficult to understand can turn off your prospect. As they try to understand what you just said, they stop paying attention to you. Once lost, they might decide not to try to catch up.
Avoid information overload and speak in straightforward, conversational language. If you can say the same thing more succinctly without losing any of its force, do so.
Develop your delivery
You want to sound confident and trustworthy, not worn out or overly prepared. To ensure that your sales pitch flows smoothly and you are not stumbling over your words, practice it thoroughly.
If you’re sending a cold email pitch, read your message aloud to check for length, complexity, or clarity issues.
Expect questions
You should leave room for the conversation to continue after your sales pitch.
For sales representatives, this is the most tedious part because it’s where you start deviating from the script.
You never know where the conversation will go next, and sales representatives frequently lose control of the conversation.
Be proactive in anticipating any queries or concerns your prospects may have and be prepared to address them.
Keep in mind that if they raise an objection, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not interested or won’t purchase; in fact, it might suggest the opposite.
Follow up
After your sales pitch, the conversation continues. Follow up with them to stay in their thoughts and to keep the relationship growing if you weren’t able to convert them there and then. According to studies, 92% of sales representatives give up after the first “no,” but four out of five prospects will decline three times before accepting.
7 sales pitch examples we love
Sales pitch examples – 1 – Tell a story
Create a story that demonstrates how your product helps your customers if you have a little more time for your pitch or if you’re getting ready for a product demo.
The “About Us” slide that some people still include in their pitch decks is not this one.
Your prospect is not interested in the history of your company’s founding or the location of your offices.
Sales pitch examples -2- Keep it conversational, and not formal
You should practice your elevator pitch, but it shouldn’t be a monologue.
Just because someone has inquired about what you do doesn’t mean they need to know everything.
So, to get them interested, start by giving them just a brief overview of what you do.
If they verbally or nonverbally express interest, that’s your cue to keep talking.
This is what Brian Walter refers to as the WOW, HOW, NOW framework, and it works as follows:
- WOWSay something succinct and intriguing that will cause the other person to exclaim, “Wow!”As long as this statement isn’t just industry speak, it might even be a little bit confusing.
- HOWIf you correctly completed the first part, you should have received a “huh?” or an eyebrow raise.This is your chance to add a little more detail.
- NOWFinish by citing an exact instance of how you practice what you preach.
Here’s an illustration
Prospect: “So, what do you do?”
“I help sales reps turn into the fly on the wall,” I said.
Prospect: “Huh?”
How does that make sense?
Me: “I sell a platform that enables salespeople to track the responses their prospects give to the proposals they send.”
Best sales pitch examples -3- Create your sales pitch on data
Your potential clients are exposed to many claims from your competitors.
After a while, those claims begin to sound shady, particularly if your prospect has made investments that didn’t pan out.
As a result, your pitch should be supported by unambiguous data from reliable sources.
Here is a slide from Tien Tzuo’s sales pitch for Zoura, one of the key players in the subscription economy.
In his sales pitch, Tzuo didn’t just state that the subscription economy is the way of the future; rather, he provided his audience with credible, concrete data points that they could use to come to their own conclusions.
Here’s another illustration.
Which do you think is stronger?
“Today’s sales leaders clearly prioritize optimizing sales content for desktop use.”
Or
“Desktop, not mobile, accounts for almost 85% of visits to sales collateral.”
Relevant specificity reigns supreme in data.
A great way to demonstrate the prevalence and importance of the issue your product addresses is to condense the exposition and focus on presenting quantitative evidence.
This is crucial in getting your prospect’s attention and creating the right conditions for an effective sales pitch.
Best sales pitch examples -4- Benefits over product features
You probably hear this one a lot, but how do you put it into practice?
Here is an illustration from G2Crowd:
“G2Crowd is the user-voice platform that allows people to express their own opinions about software without having to rely on the advice of analysts, non-users, or your best clients”.
You are conversing with people who actually use the product and hearing directly from the user. This pitch appeals to me because despite being brief, it makes it abundantly clear how users benefit from G2Crowd.
The representative could have mentioned that G2Crowd gathers written, video, and star ratings as well as can verify whether reviewers are current users.
He could have explained to us how G2Crowd’s review classification system makes it simple to contrast various software solutions.
But even if he did say all that, the advantage still remains that we are getting the data from actual users! Information is more relevant to a prospect or customer when the benefit is the main focus.
The first five to ten minutes of a conversation about your SaaS product demo are crucial. You will then be able to inquire about the prospect’s main objectives and difficulties.
Once these issues are identified, you can modify the demo to highlight the features that the prospect would find most valuable. It might be tempting to go through every feature in your feature set. Although you might recognize the value in every aspect of your solution, your prospect might not.
By doing this, you can directly link your product’s features and solutions to what clients are trying to accomplish.
Use sentences like “by using [FEATURE], you’ll be able to achieve [OUTCOME] and solve [PAIN POINTS]” as you summarize each feature.
Sales pitch examples -5- Reference past conversations
Don’t begin your pitch by talking about yourself, your product, or your company if you’ve already spoken with the prospect. Check out the detailed guide about understanding customer pain points.
Use the rapport you’ve already established! To demonstrate to the prospect that you remember them and that you are aware of their issue, bring up previous conversations. Your last conversation should have included good discovery questions, such as these:
- What issue are you attempting to resolve?
- How are you dealing with that issue right now?
- How are your revenue goals being measured?
Always begin your elevator pitch by summarizing the most crucial information you have already learned about the prospect and their problems.
Here’s an illustration slide:
All Time Design
Sales pitch examples -6- Begin with thought-provoking questions
The majority of inexperienced sales teams will reply something along the lines of:
“I’m Greg and I work for ACME Corporation when asked for their elevator pitch or simply when asked what they do. We create, manufacture, and supply complex and harmful tools to coyotes that hunt roadrunners.”
Those facts might be accurate, but a good sales pitch doesn’t just rest on facts!
What other response would Greg’s prospect have to that statement besides “Oh, that’s interesting”?
A winning sales pitch opens a conversation. Instead of opening with a line that is all about you, try posing a query.
A qualified prospect may respond “yes” to the following inquiries:
- Have you ever observed…
- You are capable of…
- I’ll always remember when…
- Doesn’t it appear to be…
You can do the opposite of this. Your prospect may be on guard and wary of being pressured into saying “yes” if they know you’ll try to sell them something.
You could therefore assume they don’t have the issue rather than asking them to admit it. You might say, “You’re probably paying below 19% in taxes each year, right?” as an example. They are not a good prospect if they are! If they’re not, they’ll tell you right away, and you can explain how you’ve assisted people just like them.
Effective sales pitch ideas -7- Keep it straight to the point
In your initial pitch, you don’t have to tell the prospect everything you can do for them. A great sales pitch should, in fact, leave the potential customer wanting more.
You should be able to make your pitch in one brief sentence if you’ve done a good job of pinpointing your prospect’s pain points and truly comprehending how your product or service helps to alleviate them.
Check out a great example from the landing page of Shultz Photo School:
You’ll note that they make no mention of lenses, lighting, angles, or composition.
The fact that they assist parents in taking better pictures is not even mentioned! They’ve merely named a particular target market—parents—and claimed that they can address an issue that the group faces.
Although this is an extreme example and a pitch this brief might not be appropriate in all situations, it highlights an important idea: short pitches are straightforward. It’s simple to understand pitches. Additionally, it is simpler to communicate with a prospect when they comprehend you quickly.
Advice on how to create a convincing sales presentation
One challenge is coming up with the material for your sales pitch. However, it takes practice to be able to deliver it in a confident and clear manner, especially for new salespeople.
Managers should think about including the advice in this section of their training manual.
You can use this as a crystal-clear checklist for SDRs and sales reps to hone your verbal selling abilities and confidently present your pitches in a quick call.
Become more familiar with your prospect
Make sure to do as much research as you can on your prospect before making the call.
This comprises:
- Visiting their website to find out more about their target market and value proposition
- To get a sense of the organizational structure, look at the company’s LinkedIn profile.
- Viewing the prospect’s LinkedIn profile to discover more about their professional experience
By doing this preparation ahead of time, you’ll be better able to connect with the prospect when you call or meet them in person.
Before launching into your sales pitch, it will also assist you in formulating the proper questions.
Practice, practice, and practice
Save time and avoid stumbling over your words or pausing to “um” in your sentences. This is where practicing with a colleague can be helpful because they’ll let you know when you’re veering off the pitch’s main point.
You should work on speaking more quietly and slowly. Talk more slowly because it conveys that you are more composed and assured and gives your prospect more time to process what you are saying; talk less because it has been demonstrated that salespeople who let their prospects do more of the talking and the listening have higher closing rates.
Use confident body language when speaking
Presenting your plan in person? While you practice your pitch, make sure to use powerful body language. You’ll appear and feel more confident as a result of this.
Here are some fundamental techniques for enhancing your body language:
- People often say that the eyes are the window to the soul. Keeping eye contact with people demonstrates your interest in them and commitment to what they have to say.
- Straighten your spine and pull your shoulders back. it’s simple to project confidence by doing so.
- Avert your eyes from the ground, instead focus on the prospect’s faces. Try to maintain a straight posture while facing forward.
- To make a good first impression, make sure to extend a firm handshake. A lack of confidence is evident in a shaky handshake.
Final words
One of the most crucial tasks you’ll undertake in your sales organization is developing a sales pitch. It not only distinguishes you from your competition but also lays out the framework for a fruitful, successful two-way conversation that facilitates the development of stronger connections with even more clients
Remember that finding what works may require some testing and modification. Pay attention to how people react and keep track of it so you can build success that is predictable and repeatable, preventing errors and enabling home runs.
A strong sales narrative convinces your ideal prospects to join you on the journey in addition to keeping them interested. It’s more likely that you’ll win them over as a lifelong customer if they share your beliefs and you can convince them of a better way to do things.
But in order for this to succeed, the entire organization must support this narrative. Indeed, your marketing, customer service procedures, and the solution itself should all include this narrative and the “reason why.”
Share a better method of doing things and demonstrate to your prospects how they can use the superpowers you can give them to produce results. This is the secret to creating an impressive sales pitch.
FAQ
What is the meaning of sale pitch?
The dictionary of Britannica defines sales pitch as a speech that is given for the purpose of influencing people into buying anything. It makes it easy for clients to hear customer stories.
What is a good selling pitch?
A good sales presentation will identify an obstacle or problem for prospects and acknowledge it by offering an alternative solution using the selling product and supporting the claim in evidence. The pitch should show the importance and the quality of a product with eye catchy sales decks.
Why is sales pitch used?
A successful pitch provides an opportunity for the sales rep or sales team to explain the benefits of an item to the customer.
Sales presentations help improve sales processes by helping convince people to purchase your product from you.