What Makes a Great Sales Pitch Not Salsey?
Practice, Practice, Practice
Photo from Wikipedia
“Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles (12 km) south of Chichester in West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea.”
We have to admit; our profession is not among the most admired. A more recent Gallup poll ranks Car Salespeople and Business Executives right there among Lawyers and Telemarketers as some of the least trusted professions. Other polls add Salespeople, Marketers, and Advertising Practitioners to the same list.
And there is even a term, salesy, to describe a person or an approach to selling in an unaware, aggressive, and superficial manner. There is no equivalent term that I am aware of for nurses, doctors, or firefighters.
So, as I think about what makes a sales pitch great, I would argue that by their very nature, every sales pitch is salesy.
Gabe Larsen instructs that “ your sales pitch should be short and have a clear message. In your pitch, you should explain your customers (e.g., what they do and who they are), the problem they’re facing, a plan for how your product will help them, and what their success will look like as a result of using your product.”
And if you follow this framework on how to build your pitch, it is bound to be:
- Delivered to someone in the wrong state of awareness. The very nature of a pitch is to be delivered upon the question, “what do you do?” and “what does your company do?” There is no room for questions to clarify and understand your audience first.
- It is superficial … most issues cannot be reduced to a black and white, 30-second soundbite, as much as marketers would like to make us believe.
- And it has to be aggressive … to stand out from the many other pitches. It is aggressive through the choice of words, that long string of buzzwords spiced with superlatives.
Can this be overcome? Can you develop a sales pitch that is not salesy? Let me give it a try by starting with a framework used by many others and putting my own spin on it:
1. Problem: Start with a statement or question about the problem you solve and share why it is important. A catchy statistic perhaps, like “only 3% of people rate a salesperson as honest.”
Or tell it as a story, either about yourself or someone or something well-known: “Back in 2015, I was working at Volkswagen dealership in NY trying to sell diesel cars …”
The hardest part? Make sure the problem and the why is relevant to the person you speak with. If they do not relate, either safe your breath, or ask questions to determine at least one common denominator first as a starting point for the conversation: “When was the last time you purchased a car? Did you do it in a dealership?”
At a trade show or other in-person event where people wear a badge, lead the conversation by asking, “what do you do at x company?” before pitching. Or when you know the audience is 80% homogeneous, tailor it to the 80% and state it, e.g., “As a salesperson, you have a trust issue.”
The common starting point, in my opinion, is the most important step. Without it, the rest is worthless. With it, you have a real chance to avoid being salsey.
2. Value Statement: Share a very clear, concise statement of the value you, your product, or your service delivers. Focus the value on the outcome, how it solves the problem.
The hardest part? Avoid using jargon and buzzwords. They (1) make you sound less genuine, (2) make you sound like anyone else, and (3) make you lose the share of the audience less familiar with those terms.
3. How We Do It: What is unique, what differentiates, what ensures success? Here is a place for catchy phrases that paint a picture through analogy. My favorite to this day is trying to explain a search engine for chemicals: “Google for chemists.”
4. Proof Points: Provide clear reference examples and list recognizable achievements. Share industry validation and awards.
5. Customer Stories: As soon as you have them, share customer examples and successes. To make them real and relatable, use emotional and personalized customer stories. If the customer agrees to it, use his name. This referral is priceless.
6. Engaging Question: Close the pitch with an open-ended question or ask. Is there something you would like to know from your conversation partner? Or something you would like them to do? The obvious goal here is to move beyond the pitch to the next step. If you were successful in Step 1. and did establish the common ground first, your chances are pretty good that your question will not come across as salsey.
And then… practice, practice, practice. This brings me back to the original question: Does a sales pitch always have to be salsey? While I maintain my earlier statement that they inherently are, you can take steps to break the mold. One part of that is practice. Eventually, with practice, the pitch will become empathetic, personalized, relevant, meaningful, and a success.
Contact us to find out how an interim or fractional sales leader can help.
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Gallup — Nurses Again Outpace Other Professions for Honesty, Ethics
Gabe Larsen — 5 Sales Pitch Examples Too Good to Ignore
Aja Frost — Only 3% of People Think Salespeople Possess This Crucial Trait
Originally published at https://www.vendux.org on July 12, 2020.
