Introduction
The technological revolution has changed a lot of things in the world of sales.
Nonetheless, there is one staple that continues to confound and wow both salespeople and marketers alike: the ubiquitous sales pitch.
Whether business leaders have a solid business or happen to be representatives of a startup looking to find new clients, it’s crucial that they are able to follow some guidelines and specific steps to succeed when it comes to creating a successful sales pitch.
By reading this detailed advertising article, marketing leaders will be well-equipped to find out how to start a sales pitch and create an effective sales pitch that is definitely going to reap rewards.
How to Write a Great Sales Pitch
1. Set it Up
Companies may have the best sales speech and know how to pitch a product.
Nonetheless, a pitch must be able to set a specific problem up.
The company’s product?
It’s actually going to come about as the salvaging angel, solving the problem the marketing leader has mentioned right from the get-go.
This means that - as soon as they start to think about creating a PPTX presentation that will be a near-perfect sales pitch - they need to think about the problem their service is going to help solve.
How to set it all up?
First and foremost, business pros must be able to do some out-of-body research.
They should think about the end-user.
Who are these people?
What are they looking for in a product?
What are their pain points?
What is the main problem they face on a daily basis?
Once marketers have been able to dive into the minds of the target audience, they’ll be ready to think about the ultimate problem they’re facing.
This allows them to showcase that they know what the end-user is going through, they know about the amount of unbearable suffering users have to experience, and they are ready to provide the panacea for the user’s many troubles.
This means that a marketer’s first slides must be able to focus on the problem, showing that it is something which affects many different companies which are similar to the business they are trying to persuade.
Let’s pretend marketing experts are trying to sell a cleaning solution.
What is the problem a buyer may have with their current detergent?
It might be that it is too costly, or has an intense bleach smell, or causes skin rashes, etc.
What is the problem a miracle detergent could solve?
The fact that most detergents have an acrid smell, cause rashes, and are too expensive.
Talking about the problem is the basic first step of any successful sales pitch.
The fact that some companies simply jump to the solution their product provides is mind-boggling.
Why?
Because, at the end of the day, buyers purchase products in order to solve a specific problem they’re facing.
Without a problem, the presentation can become a meaningless vortex of interesting ideas without any connective tissue to link them.
2. Provide Visual Facts
One of the most common mistakes of PPTX presentations is the following: too many written statements, and not a lot of precisely fine-tuned visual imagery.
The best pitch ever would be nothing without images.
Images work.
Graphs, charts, and statistics filled with enlightening numbers work.
Why?
Because there is a part of the human brain that responds to hard data.
People may make purely emotional decisions when they shop at a grocery store or when they are looking for their next car.
However, in a sales context, that is rarely the case.
That’s why numbers aren’t a whimsical alternative but a necessity.
What to do?
Marketers should make sure to include statistics, graphs, charts, and numbers that showcase:
- How most customers of sector A or B feel about cleaning products
- What makes customers reject a cleaning product with percentages for each reason
- What are the 3 key reasons why customers select cleaning product Y or Z
Once marketing specialists have been able to provide concrete mathematical evidence and verified, thoroughly effective research, they’ll be effectively creating a path for the sale.
This stage is crucial.
It may not mean that they will get the sale, but it definitely assures the target audience that they’ve done the homework, know exactly what most of the people who belong to the target audience feel, and can provide a solution.
In addition, it’s a solution that not only answers their pain points but takes credible data and hard evidence into account.
This makes the customer feel like they are not alone.
There are other groups and concerned people out there and guess what?
Due to concrete data and a perfect pitch presentation that takes both rational and emotional triggers into account, those customers have also gotten the same solution intelligent marketers are now trying to sell the client.
Marketing professionals should take advantage of factual data and effective numbers immediately after they mention the problem they are solving.
It helps frame that issue in a data-driven context, allowing the target audience to get even more reasons to listen attentively to what marketing kings have to say.
3. The Power of Testimonials
Now, marketers have shown the target audience that they understand their main pain points and that they have the comfortable solution at hand.
Moreover, they went ahead and created a meteor shower of irresistible facts.
However, how does the target audience know their product does what it claims to do?
Is there any evidence they can show?
Yes!
Testimonials!
Testimonials are an easy way for marketing mavens to provide social proof that the product they are trying to sell effectively works and solves perennial issues.
Everyone loves testimonials because they allow us to bring our buying barriers down.
In fact, there are other people out there who have faced the same problems and found the solution - the product educated marketers want to sell - to be the perfect cure.
They have used and tested the company’s product, and all that business representatives have to do is call them and ask them to write a short sentence that effectively gives social validation.
How to create a sales pitch that gets testimonials right?
How to make sure brands can get a testimonial that hits all the right notes?
Simple.
Here’s what to do:
Business leaders should ask a happy customer to write only one sentence.
It has to be one sentence.
Why?
More than that and the testimonial will lose its enticing potential in a PPTX presentation.
Then, they should also ask the customer to write that sentence focused on the pain points.
What did the product help solve?
What was the solution provided?
What was the reason to opt for that product and not for another?
Last but not least, the testimonial should also focus on the company’s amazing customer support.
Why is that?
Because - sooner or later - clients will want to ask questions, clear any doubts, etc.
By making sure the testimonials give a taste of the customer support, marketers get to do two things:
- Address the qualms of suspicious buyers who may fear that the customer support is going to fail them when the time comes
- Show that they care about the full customer journey, and are always ready to help
Here’s how a pitch-perfect testimonial should look like, in terms of structure:
- Pain-points solved
- Solution provided
- Reason why the customer opted for the product
- Customer support
Here’s an example of a possible testimonial for a cleaning product:
“Super Clean has allowed me to stop smelling like chloroform, doesn’t cause skin rashes, is the most cost-effective solution in the market, and has a dedicated customer support that answers all my questions in less than 24 hours!”
This allows readers to see how simple it is to come up with a script that empowers testimonials.
By giving the testimonial-writing customers a structure, marketing leaders can help them provide a text that is filled with the most important information.
How many testimonials should be inserted?
One testimonial is not enough since the prospective client may feel that the company only has one satisfied customer.
Five customer testimonials may be too many, it being that it’s hard to fit all that writing into one PPTX slide.
What’s the magic number?
Three info-packed testimonials that clear any doubts, provide the reasons why the product is king, and mention a great customer support.
Business owners should make sure that they provide photos of their happy customers as well as their names and job positions.
They should also ensure that the three customers come from different worlds, so as to guarantee the product appears to satisfy an array of clients from diverse sectors, businesses, social classes, ages, regions, etc.
4. Get the Clincher Right
Now that marketers know the problem they are trying to solve, have provided hard data, and have even shown how other customers have benefited from the product’s miraculous powers, they must be able to create the clincher moment.
This is the hook that all the best sales pitches have in common.
Indeed, it will sharpen the senses of the target audience, allowing them to feel how amazing their life would be if only they had the product/service.
How to get the clincher right?
Simple!
Marketers should make sure that the hook connects with the needs of buyers.
They have to try to create a catch-all sentence that encapsulates what is wrong with the world the client is living in.
Let’s continue to think about the cleaning solution.
How could the clincher predispose the most suspiciously cynic buyer to purchase?
By being a sentence that’s filled with pain points that marketing representatives will address as well as the mirror of those pain points: the benefits the product will provide.
Example: “Have had enough of acrid-smelling detergents which cause skin rashes and are just too expensive? Ready for a solution that’s scientifically proven, doesn’t cause skin rashes, and is cheaper than any other competitor in the market?”
This is the seduction part.
With these words, marketers have just used powerful persuasive marketing and intense psychological trickery to create a wonderful realm where the clients find the immediate value given.
The main value is the cost, but the benefits?
The fact that it’s the end of skin rashes for their dedicated cleaning personnel, as well as the disgusting smell coming from most of the solutions available in the market?
That sells it outright.
This fantasyland or dream world is quite powerful because it already allows the target consumer to fully realize how sweet life would be if they just bought the product.
That’s why the clincher is a must-have for any product pitch presentation.
5. Deliver a Simple Solution
Now that we’ve taken care of the clincher and have provided a remarkable alternative to the product customers are used to, business pros must be able to ease the customer’s mind.
Yes, they may already have showcased how terrific their product is.
It does what the others don’t, it’s cheaper, and it’s definitely the very best choice available, according to other satisfied customers.
So what’s missing?
Easy: marketers must offer a solution which is simple to get.
This really is something they have to bear in mind when they prepare a sales presentation for a product or service.
Even though they may have the best product of all time, that might not be enough.
Will the client have to pay shipping costs?
How long will clients have to wait to get the first package?
Is the plastic in the containers recyclable?
These questions will all come about.
How to get ready for them?
By providing a solution that answers essential customer needs and allows the customers to take that extra step in order to be fully convinced.
How to do it?
Marketers have to make sure to include a slide that answers the customer’s possible questions and soothes their unexpected apprehensions.
Example: “This product comes with FREE shipping! The plastic is completely recyclable and the packaging follows international sustainability guidelines. Moreover, you can get the first batch of cleaning products with a 50% discount!”
This allows businesses to conquer every single person in the room.
They have been able to understand what the problem was, they have provided a solution for that problem, and they’ve set aside any qualms or doubts the target audience could have about how easily they’ll get the product.
6. It’s Selling Time
The room is quiet with excitement.
The first slides were all about understanding the problem.
The marketing pro has provided statistical facts, addressed any issues the prospective buyers may have had, and they have even included an important slide with sales-perfect testimonials.
Now, what?
It’s finally time to ask for the sale.
What is this part all about?
Addressing a question the prospective customer has been asking since they read the testimonials of satisfied clients: “How do I buy this?”
How to create a slide that asks for the sale?
All marketing mavens have to do is follow some simple steps.
First, the slide should provide the action that is required from the customer.
It can be a phone call, an email, a credit card payment, etc.
The slide should clearly showcase what the client must do to get the product.
The sale slide should also include a phone number.
It helps the customer understand that the company is providing a safety net and reminds them of the testimonial-proven customer support.
In case the future customer wants to clear any doubts, they can call and solve any issues they might have.
This is it.
A clear Call-to-Action showcasing what the client must do and a phone number to provide any solutions they need.
Marketing-savvy leaders can also include an address with a map to make sure the customer is fully assured, knowing the business headquarters are nearby and - in case the customer support fails them - the business is easy to access.
7. The Email Follow-Up
There are many different studies about successful sales pitches that can get results.
But the world of data seems to be quite clear about one fact: after the step-by-step sales pitch, everyone must follow-up with a powerful email.
This email is the second round of the clincher moment.
Let’s say the customer appeared to be fully convinced during the presentation but somehow failed to make the phone call that would allow the business to sell more cleaning products.
What to do?
Marketing officials should send a special email showcasing - once again - just how awesome the product is.
This time, they can give an even better discount than before, just to ensure they get the sale they need.
Sending emails is a cliche tactic because it works.
It not only proves the commitment to the product but also showcases that businesses care about that particular customer.
Business pros want to make the customer’s life easier and that’s why they are sending an email to jump right back into their mind.
What can’t marketing pros forget to do?
They must insert the reasons why their product is the best as well as the CTA that directs the user to the product’s page.
Conclusion
Now that we have learned about sales pitch ideas, it’s time to put some of them into practice.
From the perfect set of qualities a product has to offer, to the statistics that are all-important in a world filled with data and numbers, a memorable pitch must be able to cause a sensational impact.
By showcasing testimonials and providing a simple way to actually get the product, interested marketers can master the sales pitch and make sure that their product jumps off the shelves faster than ever before.
A flawless sales pitch may be impossible to create but this article provided a step-by-step solution that promises to help readers deliver something they can be proud of, getting the sales volume they know their product deserves.