Pitching a product or service is a crucial skill for any salesperson, but it can also be fraught with pitfalls. If you want to impress your prospects and close more deals, you need to avoid some common mistakes that can ruin your chances of success. Here are six tips to help you pitch like a pro.
Before you start your pitch, you need to do some research on your potential customers. What are their pain points, goals, needs, and preferences? How do they make decisions and what are their criteria? How can your product or service solve their problems and add value to their situation? By knowing your audience, you can tailor your pitch to their specific interests and challenges, and show them how you can help them achieve their desired outcomes.
One of the most common mistakes in pitching is to focus too much on the features of your product or service, and not enough on the benefits for your prospects. Features are the technical aspects or characteristics of what you offer, while benefits are the positive outcomes or results that your prospects can expect from using it. Features tell, benefits sell. Instead of listing all the features of your product or service, explain how they translate into benefits for your prospects. For example, instead of saying that your software has a cloud-based platform, say that it allows your prospects to access their data from anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
It helps to start with the problems your buyers are looking to solve. If you can tell their story better than they can articulate it themselves, you will grab their attention. Then, you can demonstrate how you solve those problems, better and differently than anyone else. Most B2B sales end in no decision, so we must first check their motivation to solve the problem before pitching our benefits.
Another way to make your pitch more engaging and persuasive is to use stories and examples to illustrate your points. Stories and examples can help you connect with your prospects on an emotional level, demonstrate your credibility and expertise, and showcase the success of your previous or current customers. Stories and examples can also help you overcome objections and answer questions that your prospects might have. For example, you can use a case study to show how your product or service helped a similar customer solve a similar problem, or you can use a testimonial to highlight the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers.
The best sales process will tell a story to weave how a product or service made an impact into the narrative. A story evokes an emotive response and allows for the sales professional to engage the prospect. It also forms a connection between the sales person and the prospect.
A pitch is not a one-way presentation, but a two-way conversation. You need to engage your prospects and get them involved in the discussion. One of the best ways to do that is to ask open-ended questions that invite them to share their thoughts, opinions, feelings, and needs. Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a yes or no, but require more elaboration and explanation. For example, you can ask your prospects what are their biggest challenges, what are their goals, what are their expectations, or how do they measure success. By asking open-ended questions, you can show your interest and curiosity, uncover valuable information, and build rapport and trust with your prospects.
Objections are inevitable in any sales pitch, and they are not necessarily a bad thing. Objections mean that your prospects are interested and paying attention, and they give you an opportunity to address their concerns and overcome their doubts. However, you need to handle objections gracefully and respectfully, and not get defensive or argumentative. The best way to handle objections is to listen carefully, acknowledge their point of view, empathize with their situation, and provide a positive and factual response that shows how your product or service can overcome their objection. For example, if your prospect says that your price is too high, you can say that you understand their budget constraints, but also show them how your product or service can save them money, time, or resources in the long run.
It's very important to build a database of objections for your specific business. Then go and workshop answers together with your sales colleagues. Objections can be a great opportunity to reframe the conversation, but it needs to come across naturally, so it needs to be trained.
The last tip to avoid common mistakes when pitching a product or service is to follow up promptly with your prospects after your pitch. A follow-up is a crucial step to maintain the momentum and interest that you have created during your pitch, and to move your prospects closer to the final decision. A follow-up can be a phone call, an email, a text message, or a meeting, depending on the situation and preference of your prospects. The purpose of a follow-up is to thank your prospects for their time and attention, restate the value proposition and benefits of your product or service, address any remaining questions or objections, and propose the next steps or actions to take. A follow-up can also help you differentiate yourself from your competitors and show your professionalism and commitment.