‘Sales pitch’ – these are two simple words that tend to elicit an unnecessary cringe factor in those tasked with delivering one and also the people whom they’re targeted for.
But the reality is, every business revolves around sales, and whether you recognise it or not there’s a pitch involved.
So how can you gain confidence in your sales pitch and articulate it with ease?
Well it takes a little practise and the simple realisation that selling, including a sales pitch, is nothing more than a conversation.
It’s about solving a problem
When we think of the words ‘sales pitch’ there’s often a misconception it involves forcing a product or service upon an unwitting victim.
That’s the furthest thing from the truth. At its core, selling involves solving a problem that your ideal client has. And there’s two key parts to that sentence:
- Ideal client
- Solving a problem
Long before you engage with a potential client to ‘pitch your services’ you need to get to know them and identify whether these are the actual people who will benefit from your products or services.
In other words, you need to ensure these are the people your product or service will actually assist by solving an inherent problem that they have.
When you understand this and target your efforts accordingly, it’s not about delivering a ‘sales pitch’ but instead involves a conversation about how your product or service will benefit them and solve their problem better than anyone else.
A sales pitch is a conversation
Anyone can have a conversation. And it’s important to remember that’s all any sales pitch is.
When it comes to having a conversation that results in a sale, you must first understand two critical things:
- what do you actually deliver?
- who will benefit from that product/service?
It’s also important to remember, should you discover that a prospect (as in someone with whom you are having a conversation about solving a problem) is not someone you can help, this is as good an outcome as discovering that you can assist them.
Discovering you can help them then introduces the need for further skill.
At this point it’s about delivering the information required to have the prospect ‘see’ the result as their solution, rather than delivering the information in a way that creates uncertainty in the mind of the prospect and therefore no desire to work with you.
But with that in mind how do you deliver that information in a way that’s confident and articulate?
Know your customer
Long before you limber up and start spouting off your ‘sales pitch’, you should have an acute understanding of exactly the person your product or service is likely to assist.
That will partly be due to the substantial work you have undertaken in identifying your ideal client, but also due to the fact any ‘conversation’, including a sales pitch, involves listening as much, if not more, than you speak.
Ask yourself, what cues does this person provide about who they are and what they seek? Are they likely to really benefit from the products or services you have on offer?
If not, that’s a valuable piece of information to identify early. If so, it’s about delivering the information that helps them make their own decision about whether your product or service suits their needs.
Know your product
To assist the client in determining whether or not your product or service suits their needs, you need to know that product or service inside out.
How does it work? What are its limitations? What are its strengths, compared to the competition? What will it cost?
In other words, position yourself in a potential client’s shoes and consider the questions they may have about this product or service and how it will benefit them.
It takes practise
Conversations and indeed ‘sales pitches’ take practise. Why? Because practise puts us at ease. In fact, practise is required to master any skill.
It allows us to envisage the conversation and how it might unfold, enabling us to formulate suitable replies to any questions or objections the client might have.
As part of this practise, give yourself permission to fail, in the knowledge few skills are mastered on their first attempt. As the old saying goes, practise makes perfect or at least reduces the nerves.
Deliver with pride
Belief in the product you are selling or the service you represent makes all the difference when communicating with a potential client.
To attain this belief, you should intimately understand the product/service’s benefits and how it can assist your ideal client with a genuine problem they have.
Utilise body language
As the old saying goes, people won’t remember what you said, but rather how you made them feel, and this is where body language comes into play.
When delivering your sales pitch, ensure your body language is warm, friendly, respectful, yet confident.
When you are at ease, your prospects will be at ease, and that makes it a whole lot easier for them to say ‘yes’.
The final word
Too often the word sales takes on a negative connotation that’s not deserved. It’s a key part of business and indeed everyday life. In fact, the real art of sales is not selling at all. It’s having the right conversation at the right time with people who will benefit from your product or services.
