Introduction There are different types of sales pitch. Therefore, the perfect sales pitch will vary depending on what you are selling and who you are selling it to. However, there are five D’s to remember when creating a successful sales pitch. They are Development, Details, Differentiation, Decision Makers, and Delivery. It’s important to be prepared and to do your homework. We break down why each of these five steps is vital to making a sale. The Five D’s of a Successful Sales Pitch 1. Development You want to make your presentation professional. Make sure the message you want to convey comes through to the audience. You want to be clear without throwing too much information at them and confusing to overwhelming your prospect. Be sure to spend plenty of time understanding your prospect. If this sounds easy, it’s not, but if you prepare properly, your level of success will increase significantly. If you want to become a top sales professional, you must know your customer’s requirements before delivering the sales pitch. You need to understand their areas of pain and discomfort and how your product or solution can solve that problem. You should know their needs better than they do. Good salespeople spend a significant amount of time understanding their audience before they make their pitch. You’ll also want to spend time understanding the makeup of the management team and their performance over the past few years. All this information will assist you in developing pointed questions during the meeting and make them feel comfortable that you understand their needs. A quality sales pitch weaves a story, so it’s essential your pitch weaves the correct message and has the happy ending that you and the prospect want. 2. Details Pay attention to the details. The most important details are specific to the prospect, so you should personalize your presentation to fit their requirements. The client will appreciate and recognize the extra effort you put into your pitch. Remember, you’re developing the relationship from the beginning; anything that sets you apart from the competition benefits the long-term goal. Find their pain points! Every prospect has different areas of pain that need to be addressed. Ask my favorite question to the CEO: “Right before you fall asleep at night and you’re rubbing your ulcer, what are you thinking about?” If you solve that problem, you’re a hero! Whether it’s a lack of growth, internal cost pressures, personnel issues, or boardroom issues, all companies have areas of pain they are looking to solve. If your solutions can assist in relieving their pain, your sales cycle just got significantly shorter and easier! 3. Differentiation Establishing market differentiation is one of the most important elements of the sales pitch. If you can’t stand out from the competition or show your prospect the value of your product, your pitch is over. After hearing a thousand sales pitches and reviewing hundreds of business plans, the most significant problem companies have is narrowing down their message. The goal is to present a clear and easy-to-remember message that can be translated into a solution for the prospect. You can’t just tell the product that your solution is great; you must show them. Give examples like case studies of companies similar to the prospect. Detail how you’ve solved similar problems and how successful the solution was. Again, don’t just tell but show. Provide data that demonstrates the success of your product for other clients. Show things that represent revenue growth or increased market share. Be prepared to discuss what the competition has said about your company. You should know your shortcomings as well as your differentiators. Address your shortcomings before the prospect brings them up; diffuse the issue before it becomes an issue. 4. Decision-Makers Know your audience and what their respective roles are. Each prospective client will have multiple decision-makers. The role of a professional salesperson is to know each decision-maker and what makes them tick. First, identify your gatekeeper. This is typically the first person you connect with from the prospective company. You want to develop a close relationship with them, so they provide you with inside information about the company’s pain points and why your product or service is the solution. The gatekeeper also gets you to the next level in the sales cycle, so they are crucial to closing a deal. Next, you will need to identify any influencers within the organization that will be involved in the decision-making process. These influencers can include employees in the finance, IT, and/or customer service departments. You will want to identify how your product or service will specifically impact their jobs. Don’t overlook the influencers; they can make or break a deal. If you understand their pain points before the sales pitch, you can deliver a targeted pitch that addresses each influencer’s specific needs. If your product is great and your sales pitch is excellent, but you haven’t gotten your message in front of the right decision-makers, you’re wasting your time. If your competition is inferior but has a good relationship with a top decision-maker within the prospective company, they will likely win the sale based on that contact. This is why networking and doing your homework to get through the gatekeeper and make the influencers happy is so important. 5. Delivery Practice the presentation before meeting with the prospect. You should never read a presentation for the first time in front of a prospect. You may only get one chance to make a first impression; make it count! Incorporate several people into the sales pitch. One person talking for a long period can get the customer to lose interest. Make sure the content isn’t too technical. If an engineer is presenting, don’t let their message get lost in a technical discussion. Never get confrontational with a prospect, but don’t be afraid to test them, either. You can challenge them without becoming confrontational. Ask questions that make them think and question their business decisions. The right questions create a deficit in the comfort level of the prospect. Most salespeople want their customers to feel comfortable and have more knowledge. Wrong! The more the customer knows, the less they need you. The goal is to make your prospect comfortable in your presence but uncomfortable about their problem or pain point. At the end of the day, pricing often becomes the main deciding factor for customers. Once the prospect thinks they know too much, your service or product becomes a commodity, and they think they can just go with the cheapest provider. Cheaper is not always better, so be sure to know where your pricing stands compared to the competition. Be prepared to show your prospects the added value that comes with added cost. Implementing Your New Sales Pitch In today’s competitive environment, building a successful sales pitch is essential to the success of your organization be it a manufacturing company or IT. Using these five essential requirements to develop or alter your sales pitch will help you improve your win ratio. You and your organization must develop a clear message that is consistent across all departments. There’s no question businesses have plenty of options to choose from. If you put in the work to prepare and plan, you are sure to succeed in showing prospects why your solution is best.
