The perfect sales pitch

Are you looking for 40 free tips to make a convincing F2F sales pitch? Read on.

A sales pitch consists of four parts:

1. Preparation
2. Opening
3. Fact finding
4. Close

In this blog, you will find 40 practical tips for the perfect sales pitch.

Preparation

If you want respect from your prospect, professional preparation is a must. The prospect will notice this and appreciate the investment you’ve made. He/she will give you more time and is likely to share their factual issues. This dramatically increases the likelihood of sales success.

10 tips checklist

1. Check CRM system for any history.
2. Establish clear personal objectives for the meeting. (There is no point in not expecting to get the business!)
3. Read the prospect’s brochures and other relevant information.
4. Design and prepare your presentation pack.
5. Research what the prospect’s key issues might be.
6. Gain a solid understanding of the prospect’s industry and the issues/opportunities it faces.
7. Have selected, relevant products ready for demonstration.
8. Confirm the meeting the day before as well as checking the prospect’s expectations.
9. Print the prospect’s website pages, review them and show you have them during the meeting.
10. Have your route and timings planned so you arrive with at least 15 minutes to spare.

The opening

Rapport building is important, yet the two questions most buyers will ask themselves when you walk into the meeting are: 1) Can I trust him/her? and 2) Is he/she the kind of person I can do business with?

You need to start building this professional and personal relationship at the very start of the meeting. It is a condition that allows open discussion and deep fact finding. While enthusiasm is a real must in sales, staying composed at the start of the sales call is also a must.

10 tips to open the sales meeting:

1. Shake hands and introduce yourself (name and surname) clearly.
2. Where needed, start with some rapport building questions.
3. Assess the prospect’s expectations of the meeting.
4. Position yourself as the product expert.
5. Check the role of the person(s) you are meeting (business card.)
6. Agree a mutual objective for the meeting.
7. Have an agreed agenda with timings.
8. Execute your elevator pitch perfectly (practice, practice, practice.)
9. Check the prospect’s expectations of the meeting.
10. Be yourself.

Fact finding

The difference between a good and a great sales person is the questions they ask and how they’re asked. The professional sales person excels in asking questions in a structured manner where he/she discovers key buying needs. These needs cover both the company requirements as well as the personal needs of the buyer. What are these needs and why? What is affecting their needs most? How will they decide? What are the decision criteria? What have they tried so far to resolve their issues? What will happen if they do not address the issues? What budget is available to address the issues?

10 tips for excellent fact finding:

1. Be bold and ask straight away what they believe their issues are and why they invited you.
2. Deploy a logical questioning sequence linking previous answers.
3. Ask lots of open ended questions to get to the real deep underlying issues.
4. Listen to the answers, re-cap and go beyond the obvious.
5. Explore fact and emotional buying reasons at company and personal level.
6. Use up to 75% of the time listening and 25% asking questions rather than making statements.
7. Ask the tough questions without fear.
8. Establish the universal key qualifiers: Budget, Needs, Timing, Decision making and Competitor activity.
9. Make plenty of notes.
10. Avoid “solutioning”.

Closing the call

Now you have a clear picture of the prospect’s needs and wants, you progress to the selling part of the call. Present your solution in a manner that clearly links to the requirements discovered before. This needs to be slick, logical and injected with a big dose of enthusiasm. Needless to state that your product knowledge needs to be perfect too. This is where you add real value in the prospect’s mind.

10 tips for closing the sales deal

1. Start with a succinct recap of the key needs.
2. Confirm these needs with the prospect.
3. Match key product features and benefits with the prospect’s needs.
4. Translate your product features in customer benefits.
5. Ask for feedback throughout.
6. Invite questions.
7. Ask for the business.
8. If there are objections, explore and answer.
9. Present with enthusiasm and expectation.
10. State examples of delighted customers.

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