Just imagine how many sales pitches are being given around the world right now.
People everywhere are talking to prospects, hoping to persuade them to try a service, book a demo or buy a product. And they do this every day – so you might assume they would have mastered the art of the sales pitch by now. But in reality, most of these salespeople are making a fatal error: they are using the same pitch over and over, no matter who they’re talking to. Which might explain why Ring Lead has found a whopping 85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience.
What is going on with the sales pitch?
There are plenty of industry gurus and best-selling books that claim they can teach you to craft the ultimate sales pitch: in 30 seconds flat, you’ll be able to impress someone so much they drop to their knees in awe and sign right there on the spot.
Yeah right.
This does work – but only in movies. The reality of selling is exactly the opposite: 99.9% of prospects need a conversation before deciding anything. The problem is, most of these ‘conversations’ are pretty much over after the pitch. Meaning the ‘exchange’ is just a glorified monologue, where the salesperson simply recites his or her spiel. And this risks:
1. The prospect feeling it is actually not about him, but a standard piece of info dumped on himThe prospect thinking it is less about his potential value, and more about the salesperson’s greatness
2. The prospect feeling the salesperson is overpromising and exaggerating what they can offer, which ultimately damages trust building at the beginning of the buying process
3. The prospect feeling the salesperson is overpromising and exaggerating the impact their offer brings, which damages trust building at the beginning of the buying process.
If you experience low conversion rates when salespeople follow up on leads or with their outbound efforts, it may well be related to the fact that they’re not properly tailoring their standard sales pitch. So we’ve put together a 3 step process for adapting your sales pitches – to help you gain more trust, and increase your value and conversions. It does require some work, but the end results are well worth it!
3 simple steps to adapt your pitch
1. Adapt your pitch to the segment (size, industry, location)
Your pitch should be tailored to the specific dynamics of the segment of your prospect. For example: if you are reaching out to an FMCG company, your pitch should take into consideration the specific FMCG pain points you can solve or the specific value you’ve provided for other FMCG companies previously.
2. Adapt your pitch to the buying persona
Next, you need to consider the actual job function/job position of your prospect. Each department and job level has different goals, challenges and interests. So when you speak to the CFO, you’ll need to focus on completely different things than if you were speaking to the Head of IT. And every pitch should reflect this.
3. This last step is one of the most crucially important adaptations.
It requires some preparation, but when done well, the payoff is huge. Study the person and the company; look beyond the facts to estimate what might be important to them. Not only does this demonstrate basic respect – it helps you craft a far more effective pitch, by focusing solely on what is relevant to the specific prospect at hand!
“Your customer doesn’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care“
Damon Richards
So how can a customized sales playbook help?
A sales playbook contains all of your different customer segments and buying personas, properly defined and described in detail. But it also provides proven sales pitch templates carefully tailored to each segment and buying persona.
Armed with these, your sales team is able to reflect the different segments and buying personas in their pitches with ease. And this in turn allows them to focus on step 3: adapting their pitch to the specific person and company they’re interacting with.
The end result is a pitch which becomes a genuinely meaningful dialogue. And that, surely, is the goal of any truly great sales pitch.
We are here to help you achieve great sales conversations – talk to us to find out how!
