In Sales, Never Say “Pitch”

Stop using sales pitch, elevator pitch, or pitch deck

After watching my beloved Red Sox win another game - unfortunately an all too rare occurrence lately - I thought about the word “pitch.”

In major league baseball, a pitcher has one job: get the batter out. Challenge him, intimidate him, throw him off balance, sneak one by, and later, throw him out if he makes it on base. Simply make the other person look bad. It’s a win/lose proposition.

Do a little research and you’ll find that it’s considered a “duel” and a “cat-and-mouse game.” Those are terrible ways to think about selling! Are you trying to win while someone else has to lose? Did the seller just sneak one by their client or prospect? Some salespeople do, and that impression of a used car salesperson whose job is to separate you from your money has colored the whole profession.

It’s sad. I’ve been in sales for over 30 years, having hired, worked with, trained and coached hundreds of sales professionals, but never have I met one who wanted to be a salesperson when they grew up. In my training, I bring up a humorous quote from Harry S. Truman:

“My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a bordello or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.”

I take out “politician” and substitute the word “salesperson." You get the idea of how salespeople often rank.

But it's a noble profession when viewed as a win/win. The best definition I heard of selling is from Ron Willingham, author of Integrity Selling for the 21st Century which states

"We redefined selling from a process of convincing people to buy from us, to a process of identifying and filling needs people have.”

Selling is helping people satisfy their needs, and in the process, work with them to achieve an objective. That’s the exact opposite of how in baseball we use the word “pitch.”