Perfecting your pitch

The sales pitch of a product or service can make or break a prospective sale. An effective sales process is essential to any business.

When planning a pitch to a potential client, don’t treat the meeting as if you have already made the sale. Instead, take a moment to focus on the client and what you can do for them, how you can actually help them and how to convey this through your pitch.

Remove agendas:

Prospects can often identify when a sales pitch is running off an agenda. The seller can come across as pushy, they don’t match the prospect’s concerns with the product or service on offer, and they don’t give the prospect much time to talk. This approach can appear insincere and impersonal, thereby creating the opposite effect and driving the prospect away.

What do they want?

Approach the potential client with questions about what their desires, concerns and challenges are. Find out what is important to them and what their expectations are. You can then go on to demonstrate how your product or service is suitable by clearly outlining their advantages. Benefits, such as saving time, money or effort, can help to demonstrate why you are best equipped to help them.

Highlight value:

Value is a critical factor in a prospect’s purchasing behaviour. Using value-based selling can be helpful at generating more sales as it focuses on addressing the prospect’s problems by showing them the benefits of your product/service. An emotional appeal in your campaigns also helps to better connect with your customers and ultimately drive sales. If your products or services aren’t a solution for them, provide alternatives or come to a compromise to ensure that both parties are happy.

Give evidence:

Sharing positive feedback from existing customers is a great way to demonstrate credibility and gain the trust of prospective customers. Asking for a referral or feedback, or using customer satisfaction surveys can help to boost your business’ reputation and also provide insight into what’s working and what needs to be improved. Creating a referral program where the referring customer gains a discount or reward is a good way to boost your word-of-mouth marketing. Not only do you benefit from the new customer but it gives your existing customer an incentive to spread the word.