The sales pitch: definition and tips for using this powerful sales lever
To ensure growth and increase sales, a company can use a variety of sales tools and techniques. All of them have qualities that are particularly interesting to learn about in order to improve sales performance. However, if used properly, the sales pitch can become one of the most powerful levers in your prospecting strategy. But do you really know how to design a sales pitch that's both effective and relevant?
That's what we're going to tell you today, in the rest of this article.
What is a sales pitch?
The sales pitch is a sales pitch generally used to present a commercial offer or a company. Short and to the point, it's based on short sentences and simple vocabulary, and is designed to arouse the desire to find out more.
Often used by sales teams in front of a prospect or customer, the pitch can significantly improve a company's sales performance, transformation rate, sales volume and turnover.
The concept of the sales pitch is directly inspired by theelevator pitch. This involves convincing an interviewer in a very short space of time, similar to an elevator ride in the United States. In other words, the elevator pitch is based on convincing an interlocutor in just a few minutes face-to-face. To be effective, this sales action requires the development of a structured, targeted sales pitch.
What are the objectives of the sales pitch?
A key element of the prospecting action plan, a sales pitch has several objectives:
- Clearly present your company and/or your offer: this type of sales pitch enables your sales and technical teams to promote your company, your products and your services, thanks to simple and effective argumentation. It also offers the opportunity to highlight certain competitive advantages, benefits and interests of your offer to your prospect.
- arouse your listener's interest: arousing your interlocutor's curiosity is the second objective of a sales pitch. Indeed, if your technical and sales teams manage to deliver a coherent, well-constructed pitch, prospects should be able to identify the problem your offer addresses, the added value of your proposal and your competitive advantages.
- develop your business: the sales pitch enables you to introduce the sales process and significantly improve your sales efficiency and conversion rate. What's more, if your prospecting team manages to make the pitch their own over the long term, it should become an integral part of your sales action plan and a highly relevant growth lever, helping you to achieve your sales targets.
The essential elements of a sales pitch
To be effective and impactful, a sales pitch must be prepared in advance. It must include various sales prospecting elements that can help you convince your future customer to book an appointment with your sales teams. These include
This is the first sentence spoken. It must directly capture the attention of the future customer.
The hook
The promise
The promise groups together the various benefits that your service or product can bring to new customers.
It must differentiate you from your competitors and solve a problem identified by the customer.
The unique offer
The proposal
This phase is designed to encourage your B2B sales representative to continue the conversation. It's necessary to initiate the appointment-setting and closing phases.
6 steps to an effective sales pitch
To build an effective sales pitch, we recommend you follow these 6 essential steps:
1. creating the link
This stage is necessary to set the scene and put your contact in the right situation. It allows you to create a bond with the prospect by starting to work on the customer relationship, and to set the stage for the rest of the sales process.
2. highlighting the obstacle in the sales pitch
The aim here is to highlight the problem faced by potential customers, and to which your company can provide a solution. It's essential to identify this obstacle in advance, so as to better deal with objections and better understand what to say during this phase of the sales pitch.
It's essential to use psychology during this phase of the sales interview, and to take a sincere interest in the future customer's obstacles in order to move on to the next stage of the sales conquest.
3. vision presentation
This phase of the sales pitch is designed to show your listener that there's another life once they've overcome their obstacle. The key here is to present them with an ideal vision of their situation without their obstacle. Make sure that what you say is inspiring and motivating enough to encourage the listener to look for a real solution to their problem, and thus trigger a move to action.
4. presentation of different options
This stage marks the beginning of the solution presentation. At this stage, it's a good idea to present the prospect with two options for achieving his objective: one will be complex and time-consuming to implement, the other simpler and more effective. Your solution is, of course, part of the second option.
For Option A, we recommend, for example, highlighting the path taken by people who have the same problem as the prospect, but who don't use your solution, or who have chosen the competition. Subtly highlight the disadvantages of these choices and their path, as well as the results.
For Option B, we suggest that you look at the experience of customers who have already tried your solution, the benefits they derive from it, and the results obtained, to make a fair and rational comparison with Option A.
5. demonstration in the sales pitch
At this stage of the process, option B (yours) must appear to the future customer as the ideal solution. Now it's time to demonstrate that your company can provide this option, and why it's the right one.
This proof is necessary to establish your legitimacy and show the auditor that your company has a concrete plan to help them. To do this, don't hesitate to highlight the resources your company possesses or offers (expertise, team, technology, etc.), as well as your previous successes (satisfied customers, key figures, case studies, etc.).
6. work on projection in the sales pitch
Once all the stages of the project have been detailed, your solution must appear concrete and effective to your listener. If your salesperson still has a few tricks up his or her sleeve, now's the time to pull them out to finish convincing the prospect and encourage him or her to conclude a sales meeting with you!
Need help developing your sales pitch? Get in touch with us!
Our business development experts will be delighted to help you.
