Brian Tracy, in his book, The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success mentioned, “We all make our living selling something to someone… we sell our ideas, our values, ourselves, our services and products in exchange for payment, tangible or intangible” – whether we like it or not, whether we’re aware or not.
People who are able to sell well move ahead easily and rapidly in life irrespective of whether they are talented or not. It’s all in the ability to persuade, convince and influence others to take your side. Yes! That is what selling is. Many people dread the word “selling” and even the act for many reasons including being inept at it.
The concept of a sales pitch is to not only explain your product or service’s value to the buyer but to educate and persuade a prospect on an offering’s worth; this is central to sales. A sales pitch doesn’t need to belong and be boring, but instead, compelling and straight to the point.
Conquering the Dreaded Presentation.
A wise man once said, your “why” is as important as your “what”. If you’re able to answer why you need to be able to pitch your ideas and bring results, the importance of your why drives you to fulfill the questions of what.
Nothing happens until a sale takes place, a quote from Red Motley says. There’s a domino effect of when a sale takes place, an entire production process is initiated, businesses and factories are activated, people get jobs, they are paid wages and salaries, they pay taxes and that determines the direction of a society, a country; more or fewer sales determines the growth or suffering of an economy.
Sales are relatively simple, they require us to initiate conversations about how to help people do what they do better; then we transfer that information into reasonable proposals that ultimately will make sense to the prospect. If we do our job well, the prospect becomes a customer, someone who uses what we sell. A few things to note when pitching a sale:
- Know your audience
- Know your product
- Have a strategy.
- Practice makes perfect.
Know Your Audience
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to
please everybody.” — Bill Cosby
You’ve got to know the territory. That means you need to know who the decision-maker is and sell to that person. It’s a total waste of time to make the sale and then discover that
you have to make it again because you’ve been selling to the wrong person. Sometimes, you may have to do it twice, but if once will do, why repeat it?
Besides knowing who the decision-maker is, you need to know the audience in order to say the right things, knowing that one prospect is not the same as every other. It is a matter of “throwing out a ball” to a lot of different people in an attempt to elicit some kind of response from them—and following up effectively with those people who throw the ball back. Asking the right questions is one way to go about knowing your audience, personalizing the information, and dealing accordingly.
Know Your Product
First, you’ve got to know your product. You’ve got to know it thoroughly and speak about it with confidence and authority. You also have to know the competition thoroughly, allowing you to speak well of your competition while emphasizing your own strengths.
It is hard to sell something you do not believe in, successfully getting someone to buy it will be deception. Knowing your product or service gives you the upper hand in knowing who the right customers are; if they need it, want it, if they can afford it. First-hand knowledge in this will guide you to the right people and not waste your time.
Have A Strategy
“Define your business goals in such a way that others can see them as you do.”
—George F. Burns
A good salesperson doesn’t let things happen, they make things happen. An effective presentation can increase your sales by several times over an unplanned and uncoordinated explanation or demonstration of your product or service. During the questioning phase of the sales process, where you ask excellent questions designed to elicit wants, needs, desires, and buying ability, you should be able to come up with a strategy that will incite the prospect to be a customer.
What To Do?
Tell a story. Allow your audience to visualize your ideas, to experience them in their mind’s eye, and do with that experience whatever they deem fit. You may as well go straight to the point and make your presentation as concise as possible, hitting all the significant points. Nobody appreciates verbosity, it’s a waste of time.
Why must they believe your product or service? Provide social proof of other clients’ testimonials regarding the similar role of your prospect.
Give a benefit or discount when necessary, it can possibly incite prospects to make their purchasing decisions faster.
Practice Makes Perfect
A good presentation is carefully designed, rehearsed, and practiced in advance.
One big human fear seems to be speaking before a group and there’s mainly one ingredient one needs to overcome this: confidence. It really isn’t a long journey from “I’m going to make an ass of myself in front of all these people,” to “They came to hear what I have to say. It’s their time and it’s up to me to make it valuable for them”
In anything you do, the greater your confidence in yourself and your abilities, the stronger your impact.
Cheers on your journey to delivering excellent pitches!