4 Sales Pitch Examples Worth Testing

A winning sales pitch is one of the most important tools sales reps have at their disposal, and is often one of the first things covered in sales coaching. Unfortunately, creating a great sales pitch isn’t quite as simple as it used to be, and neither is connecting with customers. There are a number of factors that a sales team needs to consider when developing sales pitches in order to cut through the noise and capture the attention of potential clients

In this article, we’ll explore everything that you need to know about creating a successful sales pitch, including the key challenges with pitching to customers today. We’ll also discuss the most important things to avoid when developing a sales pitch, and four sales pitch examples that are sure to help your team capture a prospect’s attention and become better at closing deals.

What Is a Sales Pitch?

Think of a sales pitch as an abbreviated sales presentation. It consists of a sales rep explaining the value proposition behind the product or service they’re selling. A sales pitch is also often called an “elevator pitch” because it should be delivered in about the same amount of time as a short elevator ride — a minute or two. 

The perfect sales pitch has a lot to offer your sales team — from serving as the opening line of a cold call, to giving your sales reps a tried-and-true  way to earn a potential customer’s attention and quickly discover their pain points.

Why Is the Sales Pitch So Difficult Now?

While a great sales pitch remains a crucial part of the sales process for companies across all industries, creating a successful sales pitch is harder than it used to be. Let’s look at a few of the major reasons why developing a successful sales pitch has become more challenging.

People Don’t Want To Be Sold to

Today’s customers are inundated with online ads, commercials, and telemarketers eager for their money. Most consumers are already doing their own research and most of the people your sales reps speak to are going to have little patience for the conversation unless they’re already very interested. If your reps aren’t able to hook a potential customer quickly, there’s a good chance they’ll hang up before your rep even has an opportunity to make a pitch. 

Customer Needs Are Getting More Specific

By and large, a sales pitch is a generalized script or template designed to appeal to a wide range of customers. But consumers have come to expect that companies — whether B2B or B2C — will recognize their unique needs and respond with equally personalized messaging. A pitch that makes the customer feel like just another number is one that will fail. This makes it difficult to create a broad pitch that appeals to the pain points of each customer.

It’s Hard To Connect With Prospects

Customers see and hear so many different forms of sales pitches every day that it can be tough to find someone willing to stick around long enough to hear a pitch. Regardless of the medium — phone, email, LinkedIn message — many modern consumers are actively avoiding sales outreach

For example, Sales Hacker reports that 90% of cold calls go straight to voicemail. A bulk of the remaining 10% will result in the customer hanging up as soon as they realize they’re speaking with a salesperson

What To Avoid in a Sales Pitch

Creating an effective sales pitch can be challenging, and you’ll want to avoid these common mistakes:

Pitching Before You Should

Timing is everything when it comes to the success of a pitch. When a sales rep identifies a potential client, it’s important that they don’t dive straight into a pitch to start the conversation. Instead, they should take the time to build rapport, ask a few questions to engage the customer, and determine whether a pitch is even the right step for their prospects. 

Selling the Whole Time

In addition to pitching too early,  you’ll also want to avoid selling throughout the duration of your pitch. Your reps should spend a good amount of the time they have available selling customers on the features and benefits of your company’s product, but it’s essential to build trust continuously throughout the conversation. 

Establishing social proof for your products by sharing testimonials or customer stories is a great way to build rapport with clients in a way that doesn’t come across as a high-pressure sales tactic.

Failing To Create a Customer-Centric Sales Pitch

Research conducted by Salesforce shows that “79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions in which they’re immediately known and understood.” 

When creating your sales pitch, keep the customer at the center of the conversation at all times. Reps should conduct research before calls — even a few minutes can make a difference — and highlight specifically how the product could address each customer’s unique pain points. They should ask plenty of clarification questions, use techniques to open up the conversation, and practice active listening to better understand the customer’s needs. 

Failing To Follow Up

HubSpot reports that 80% of sales require five follow-up calls to close, and 44% of salespeople give up after the first call. Any sales pitch that leads to a rep collecting a customer’s contact information and/or scheduling a follow-up call counts as a win. Once you’ve made it that far, it’s important to follow through and commit to contacting the prospect multiple times in order to make the sale.

4 Sales Pitch Methodologies Worth Testing

The best sales pitch for your company will depend on your unique sales process. To help you get started creating your own pitch, let’s take a look at a few sales pitch ideas based on different sales methodologies.

1) Sandler Training

The Sandler sales methodology was developed by David Sandler in 1967. This methodology emphasizes relationship-building and customer qualification. The general idea behind Sandler is that sales reps should try to position themselves as trusted advisors, rather than as aggressive salespeople. It’s an approach that has proven to be effective, and research shows that salespeople who use this methodology hit their quotas at a 50% higher rate than those who do not.

A good sales pitch that uses the Sandler approach is one where the sales rep prioritizes trust-building. This includes:

  • Establishing a bond with the customer
  • Setting expectations for the sales conversation
  • Asking the customer questions about their needs and pain points
  • Discussing the customer’s budget
  • Presenting them with a solution that meets their needs and budget

2) Challenger Sale

The Challenger Sale approach is about helping customers challenge their status quo and motivating them to think in new ways about their business. 

With this method, a sales rep positions themselves as knowledgeable, credible, and confident. They lead with compelling commercial insights about the customer’s business or industry and guide them toward the solution, rather than starting with the solution and convincing customers why they need it. 

The goal is to teach customers something new about their pain points and help them see the benefits of taking action (buying your product). Once the rep has built a strong case, they’ll tactfully urge the customer to make a purchase with a call to action (CTA). 

3) Covey

Popularized by the book “7 Habits of Highly Successful People,” the Covey sales methodology is similar to Sandler in that it also focuses on creating trusting relationships with potential clients. With the Covey model, sales reps are encouraged to focus on learning more about a customer’s needs before presenting tailored solutions designed to help them succeed.

To build a sales pitch using the Covey approach, sales reps begin by building rapport before moving on to asking the customer questions about their needs. From there, they should tailor their solutions to the customer’s responses so that they feel heard and valued. This helps present solutions that are as personalized and enticing as possible.

4) Transparency Sales

In the Transparency Sales methodology, sales reps prioritize transparency and honesty. The rep provides a description of the product that comes across as honest and unbiased by revealing benefits and faults, and allows the customer to then decide for themselves if the product is a good fit for their needs.

A sales pitch using this technique should start with a conversation about the customer’s needs. Then, move on to an explanation of exactly what your product can and cannot provide. Be sure to be upfront about any of your product’s minor shortcomings in order to establish trust with a prospective client, and let them know that you’re being fully transparent about what your product will — and won’t — do for them.

At Sales Assembly, we expertly train sales professionals, from sales reps to vice presidents, through our proven sales certification program. If you’d like to develop an effective sales pitch and train your reps on how to leverage it for optimum results, we are here to help.

Create the Perfect Sales Pitch for Your Product With Help From Sales Assembly

Creating and executing a good sales pitch that fuels increased revenue is a much bigger challenge today than it has ever been before. Your team doesn’t have to go it alone. A Sales Assembly membership provides your B2B tech company with the training, certifications, peer connections, talent, and resources you need to perfect your customer outreach efforts and scale effectively. Contact us today to learn more. 

__________

For more support in Scaling Better, Scaling Faster, and Scaling Smarter, Sales Assembly can help. Contact us for more information.
New call-to-action