What Is a Sales Pitch & How To Write a Perfect One?

A sales pitch is what makes a deal successful. That’s why it’s essential to come prepared and nail it down before meeting with your customer. A solid sales pitch makes a great first impression and makes the best sales reps in the field stand out.

In this article, we provide you with sales pitch examples and tips that will make your next deal go smoothly. So, if you want to know how to write a perfect sales pitch, keep reading!

What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch is a short presentation where a salesperson describes the business and its benefits. It should last up to two minutes, and that’s why it’s often called an elevator pitch–so you can deliver it during the elevator ride.

A good salesperson should convey their message compellingly and concisely. If you can nail your sales pitch, you’ll have more time to talk down the line.

A pitch is a condensed sales presentation – it should include all the essential details regarding the product using a compelling narrative.

Sales pitch vs. product pitch

If you wonder how a product pitch differs from a sales pitch we have an anwser for you. A product pitch specifically focuses on a product or service. You’ll describe more in-depth how your product works, how it will solve customers’ problems, and the specific benefits it will bring them.

A sales pitch can be broadly focused, for example, if you’re a strategy consulting firm that offers a wide range of services. Or take a marketing tool – you’re selling the business as a whole rather than a specific product or service, such as go-to marketing strategy.

What a sales pitch should include

There are several components that will make your sales pitch a bit easier to craft. If you include them in your pitch, you can be sure that it will make a difference. There are three main components to every pitch; let’s look at them now.

Hook

A hook is a statement or question that grabs your buyer’s attention. The hook’s purpose is to pique their interest, so they want to know more about the product.

Apart from questions, a hook can be:

• A data point (“Did you know that 60% of CEOs…”)
• A shared connection (“Saw that you were also a fan of…”)
• Cut to the chase (“I won’t waste your time — just wanted to share…”)
• A mention of a recent interaction (“It was great connecting with you at…”)

Value proposition

After you capture the buyer’s attention, you should quickly explain what your product can do for them. Presenting your value proposition, you should keep things short and sweet – try to avoid industry jargon. Remember, you know all about the product, but your recipient knows nearly nothing.

Give them an example of a case study or data to illustrate what your product or service can do for them. A value proposition should also include the benefits the product can bring the buyer.

Call to action

Every sales pitch should end with a call to action (CTA) when you encourage the buyer to take action – as the name suggests. At this point, your role is to help the buyer with the next steps, i.e., calling you back or responding with availability. You can ask the following questions:

• Would you be open to chatting to hear more?
• Do you have any availability next Tuesday for a quick call?
• How would 15 minutes next week sound?

How to start a pitch

Beginnings are always the hardest. Right at the start, you have to grab your prospect’s attention. They need to want to hear your product’s value and how it can help their business.

You’ll want to include the following elements when starting your pitch.

Start with the problem. The foundation of a sales pitch is starting with the problem. Untill you present them with a real problem they face, they won’t be open to hearing about the solution which is your product.

Tailor the pitch to their vertical. A vertical is what industry the business caters to. Researching a prospect’s verticle is important because no one wants to hear a general pitch that would apply to any business. Instead, it makes the pitch more personalized.

Show them the stakes. Show them exactly what do they have to lose if they don’t solve the problem using your solution. Describe the risks at the start of your pitch can help you secure buy-in straightaway.

How to Make a Successful Sales Pitch

To craft a successful sales pitch, you’ll need to focus on creating a narrative, timing your delivery well, empathizing with your audience, and being creative. In addition, every sales pitch needs to pique the prospect’s interest and entice them to take action.

Now that you know what a pitch should include and how to start your presentation, we’ll go over our best tips for making a winning sales pitch.

Understand the customer’s needs

You can’t make a personalized sales pitch if you don’t know your audience.

Consider the picture you’ll paint in your pitch and who’s buying your product or service. Be clear about who will be interested in your product and why they should care about it. Be sure to include it in your sales plan at the begining of creating your pitch.

In your initial sales pitch, you should showcase your knowledge of the prospect’s company, industry, and unique challenges. Make sure to take time to do some research on the prospective buyer in advance. Even 15 minutes of research on Google News and LinkedIn will go a long way toward relating to your customer.

Tell a story

A sales pitch is all about storytelling.

To keep your listeners engaged, tell them a short story. For example, it could be about the company or how a customer succeeded because of your product or service.

Remember to create a narrative that your prospect can follow and understand. The best way to do this is by using relatable examples.

For example, if you’re selling a CRM system, you could tell the story of how your company’s sales team used the CRM system to increase sales by 20% in just one quarter.

Your prospect will understand how your product can help them if you tell a story they can visualize and see themselves in

Highlight the pain

In the section on how to start a sales pitch, we stressed how important showcasing a problem is. It’s sales 101 – if you don’t show them the problem, they don’t want your solution. So lay out a problem they consistently face. For example, if you’re pitching accounting software, you could discuss how hard it is to bookkeep with Excel. And explaining what is likely to happen if your prospect continues down the same road will inspire them to take action.

A great way to highlight the pain is to create an enemy and paint your prospect as a hero who will battle against it. However, each hero needs superpowers, and that’s where your product comes into play.

An enemy should represent old ways of doing things, legacy systems, and circumstances that prevent prospects from getting the desired result. Instead, your product or service should be positioned as a more optimized, effective way of doing things.

Benefits over features

When you’ve presented your prospects’ problems, you now need to give them a solution. A solution is something your product offers them, not the product itself. So, be careful how you choose your words. People don’t want to hear what makes your product great, they want to know what it can do for them. For example, if you sell project management software, you don’t want to say that it has visualization boards but can help them track project progress.

When you focus on benefits, you’re no longer selling a product or service – you’re selling an outcome. You promise your prospect that they’ll get a certain result if they use your product. And that’s exactly what they want to hear.

Appeal to emotions

We don’t remember the words; we remember the emotions they made us feel. So, if you want your sales pitch to be remembered, you need to evoke emotions in your prospects. To do that, you need killer examples to illustrate your point.

For example, let’s say you want to pitch a new project management software to a company. In your pitch, you could tell the story of how another company had problems with communication between employees, which caused tensions and stress. As a result, they used your software to increase efficiency and communication, which led to a decrease in project errors by 30%.

By using relatable examples, you can connect with prospects on an emotional level and increase the chances that they’ll remember your pitch long after you’ve left the room.

Create the fear of missing out

A very specific kind of feeling you can evoke and use to your advantage is isolation, commonly known as FOMO. The fear of missing out makes people want to get ahead of their regrets, and you can use it in your sales pitches. FOMO can create a great sense of urgency and motivate prospects to act. Your prospects can be dazzled by your sales pitch but procrastinate long enough for that feeling to fade. With FOMO, you can convince them to take action right away.

Conclusion

Sales pitches can be difficult because they involve a complex human behavior and cognition process. To make your pitch more effective, tap into how your customer’s brain works at different purchasing or lead funnel stages. Highlighting the pain is an important part of any sales pitch, showcasing the benefits of using your product over other options. Additionally, appealing to emotions can help increase the chances that your prospect remembers your pitch long after you’ve left the room. FOMO (the fear of missing out) can also create a sense of urgency and convince prospects to take action immediately.

Let us know if our tips helped you craft a perfect sales pitch, and don’t forget to sign up for the course “How to Sell Anything to Anyone” on Udemy!