When (online) meeting new potential customers, you usually have a very limited amount of time to sell your product or service. Business people address this with a sales pitch. A sales pitch is a fast and great way to convince the prospect or your current customer of your product/solution and your company. A successful pitch will serve as acceleration to the next step in the selection process of a potential or current customer.
Most of the people who work in business know about the AIDA principle: attention, interest, desire, action. This principle is at the core of a good sales pitch. Here, we will look at 7 steps that a well-developed pitch should contain, that also follow the AIDA path:
Step 1: Convince the customer of your expertise
Explain who you are as a company. In order to build more trust, it is necessary to show how you gained the expertise that you have. Why is it credible? What exactly makes you an expert? This may be years of industry experience or previous successful collaboration with similar customers. Try to find a fit with your potential customer.
Step 2: Address your customer’s problems
This might seem like a little punch on the nose, but in order to catch customer’s interest, tell them about the problems they are facing. Stress the consequences, and then discuss how your company solves such problems.
Step 3: Convince the customer of your solution
Next, focus specifically on what kind of solution you propose for the customer’s problem. Discuss it in more detail with an emphasis on the relationship between you and your customer.
Step 4: Explain the benefits
It is important to not only focus on selling the product/service, but also explain what kind of value it brings to the customer. This value can be in terms of a highly-innovative product, free support service, good risk insurance, or anything that saves your customer the hassle of solving issues by themselves or looking for another company to help.
Step 5: Explain the sacrifices
You want to be honest with your customers. Therefore, it is important to also mention the sacrifices, e.g. investments, that customer has to make when choosing your solution. What is the price for your product and what exactly is (not) included in it?
Step 6: Why your solution is better
Now that you have discussed sacrifices, you need to reassure the customer that your solution is still better than competitors’. Think of a short summary where you emphasize why exactly the prospect cannot refuse your offer.
Step 7: Action
Don’t worry about being too pushy and set up a clear deadline of when can you follow them up to talk about the next steps.
Finally, do not be too tough — relax! Have some interaction with your customer. Sometimes, it is nice to include a small ice breaker or a joke to loosen up a little. But before doing that, think it through in order to not be offensive. Keep it simple, as the sales pitch should not be much longer than 5–6 minutes.
