A solid sales pitch is absolutely key to making a successful salesperson, as well as a successful business leader. It’s the opportunity to show off what you or your client has to offer, grabbing the prospect’s attention and securing those all-important deals. Creating the perfect sales pitch, however, is easier said than done. Unsure on how to get started? Check out our tips on how to improve your sales pitch with ease.

What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch is a method of convincing a prospective customer to purchase a product or service, communicating the benefits of doing so as well. The perfect sales pitch is designed in a way that summarises the main points of the product on offer in a clear, concise manner, ensuring it appeals to the target audience.

How to improve your sales pitch

Exactly what makes the perfect sales pitch varies depending on what’s on offer and who the intended market is, although there are a few key elements that should be included in most circumstances. Below are some of the best ways to improve your sales pitch, ensuring you get the very best out of your time with your prospect. 

Focus on the solution

Within the IT software industry, it’s a common misjudgement for salespeople to focus blindly on the technical details of their product, rather than ensuring the sales pitch is geared around the value that their solution can bring to the buyer. 

Part of the Operatix methodology is to translate complex technical messages into something more easily digestible, focusing largely on the value the product or service can deliver to each customer. 

Try to understand your client’s needs and pain points; focusing too much on your product without doing so won’t bring you the result needed, and won’t seduce the client into doing business with you. Ultimately, all clients care about is themselves – keep that firmly in mind with your approach and you can instantly improve your sales pitch.

Rewire your pitch to sell the impact, rather than the solution. Try to make sure you’re pitching the actual benefits your product or service will provide, as opposed to going into its details too much. Benefits sell, features don’t – this point is key to creating the perfect sales pitch.

Use the CCE method

Joseph Grieves, Training and Development Manager at Operatix, came up with a concept called “CCE”. CCE is made up of three questions you’ll need to ask yourself when attempting to create the perfect sales pitch:

CCE (clear, concise and enticing) is made up of the following:

• Is my sales pitch clear?
• Is my sales pitch concise?
• Is my sales pitch enticing?

Able to answer these three questions with a resounding “yes”? If so, your sales pitch is pretty much guaranteed to be a strong case.

Clarity is key. Make sure your message is clear.

Always go for the lowest common denominator approach. It might not always be super apparent to you, but your specialist tech-talk and bewildering jargon can be intimidating for someone without a background in tech. As such, it’s good practice to make sure the information you’re conveying is easily understood by anyone. And that means anyone.

The concept of simplifying your message can, of course, be easier said than done. Lose the jargon. If you find you’re constantly spewing obscure acronyms and technical terms, you’re probably overcomplicating your message. Simplifying your language to ensure it’s easy to digest for any audience is a surefire way to improve your sales pitch.

Time is of the essence. Be concise.

Pitching a phenomenal product or service with an array of benefits and USPs? You might think it’s a good idea to rattle through as many of these as possible with your prospect, but in practice – quality trumps quantity. Pick and choose only the best. Tailor these to each prospect; which of the USPs and benefits will resonate most with your prospect?

A good way to improve your sales pitch is to ensure you’re sticking to the topic, while also making sure you’re engaging – build a story with your product. Establish a clear beginning, middle and end. Keep in mind what the benefits enable prospects to do, as well as why they’d want to do it. The perfect sales pitch isn’t the one that lasts the longest, but rather the one that summarises the key points in a concise manner.

There’s a world of competition out there. Be enticing.

You can bet your bottom dollar there’s a whole host of salespeople vying for your prospect’s time. If your pitch isn’t enticing enough, you’ll be drowned out in the competition. As such, it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of the prospect. Why should they take the time to review your product? How will your solution benefit them?

When you’re going through the benefits of your product with a prospect, show them real-world figures. Don’t just tell them that you can save them money. Tell them you can save % of costs. Hard stats are difficult to argue with, and can really boost your chances of landing that deal.

Propose the impact of your product with a question that is very difficult to say no to. For instance, if your solution cuts costs – ask the prospect whether they’d turn down the opportunity to save their business money. If security is high up on the list of your prospect’s needs, ask them whether they’d risk leaving gaps that your solution can help shore up.

If you’ve followed all of the advice we’ve detailed above, you’ll be well on your way to ensuring your pitch is operating at maximum efficiency and effectiveness. By working to improve your sales pitch with a clear, concise, and enticing approach will have you equipped for any sales situation. 

Now that you’ve learned how to improve your sales pitch, part two of this mini-series on CCE goes beyond your sales pitch in itself and focuses on making you better as a salesperson on the whole. Interested in learning what makes a phenomenal salesperson? Click here.