Better results with Sales pitch – how to build an effective Sales pitch in just 5 easy steps
Trustmary teamLast edited: March 7th, 2023
Better results with Sales pitch – how to build an effective Sales pitch in just 5 easy steps
Sales pitch is a short, descriptive and promotive speech, that focuses on resolving a certain problem.
Sales pitch can be used in selling or presenting any idea, product, project, business or practically anything. You can also emphasize the qualities of your own expertise by using the help of Sales pitch.
In general, the length of Sales pitch is considered being around 10s-30s.
Sometimes a speech that’s less then 2 minutes can still be considered as Sales pitch. The main goal of Sales pitch is to catch the listener’s attention so well, that they want to stay and hear the rest of the story.
(Pro tip: Preparing a presentation along your sales pitch? Use feedback and reviews from your previous customers to support your speech. Try Trustmary for free!)
Why should you create your own Sales pitch?
Sales pitch works well when you want to sell an idea, but also when you need to clarify one of your own ideas to yourself. If you need several minutes for presenting your own idea, that means you yourself still need to focus on what parts of that idea is still a bit unclear to you.
If you are wondering how is it possible to wrap up a presentation into 10s-30s, I recommend that you take a look at TV commercials. At their best, the commercials have made their point clear in a manner of seconds.
With Sales pitch it is easier to get a better idea of the listener’s point of view. Presenting your own idea in such a short period of time, requires a lot of thought put into what it is that the listener really wants to hear. And to be able to do that, you really need to think about things from the listener’s point of view.
Where to start with a sales pitch?
You start building the Sales pitch by thinking who is the target audience. For example, you shouldn’t sell the same product to a customer by using the same words as you would when presenting it to your business partner.
To add to the effectiveness of the Sales pitch you need have clear target audience and a clear style.
Just like in good commercials, in the beginning of your Sales pitch you need to have something that raises the attention. It doesn’t have to be anything ground breaking. For example, people always like to hear something nice about themselves.
You can start your Sales pitch by saying, for example, how great it is to meet the person in front of you, and how much they have affected your life.
After getting their attention give a brief introduction of yourself. Tell only relevant things about yourself, and keep the introduction short. The goal of introducing yourself is to gain trust and make the conversation more personal. My Sales pitch for Mika D. Rubanovitsch could begin with something like this:
Hello there Mr. Rubanovitsch! It is such a pleasure meeting you in person. Your books have made such a great impact on me. My name is Antti Toikkanen and I work for Trustmary.”
5 stages of creating your Sales pitch
There are several versions for creating the core of your Sales pitch. Here I will introduce to you a five step guide for creating an efficient Sales pitch.
This is a very general base of the speech, that can be modified according to your own needs. These examples are guidelines for a 30 second long Sales pitch.
1. What are you selling and what category it belongs to
No matter if you are selling a product, service or an idea, the first thing to do after getting the attention of the listener, is to explain what it actually is that you are talking about, and to what category does your product/service/or idea belongs to.
At this point you only want to keep things short, because what you say isn’t exactly interesting to the listener. On the next step things will get more clear for the listener.
”I work with customer experiences and my goal is to get more references for our clients.”
2. Describe the problem you are about to solve
What is the problem you are offering a solution for? At this point, you should describe what type of problem you are dealing with, and how severe it is. An effective way to do this is by using an example of a person with the mentioned problem.
Stories have a big impact on the listeners. This stage will be linked right to the next stage, when you offer the solution to that problem.
”Only 14% of people believe in commercials, But 77% of the consumers are willing to try a service or a product, if it was recommended by a person they can identify themselves with.”
3. Focus on offering the solution
This is the most important stage of Sales pitch. Once you have described the problem the most important part is now to explain to the listener how to resolve that situation. Make sure to reserve enough time of your speech for this final part.
Remember to also emphasize, why and how the solution you are offering is exceptionally good and effective. You are the unique snowflake amongst all the competition, and nobody has even thought about anything similar as you. Well, this might not in fact be the case, but your attitude is what matters!
“We here at Trustmary are focusing on making use of testimonials in sales and marketing. We are a comprehensive partner. We provide a simple process, high quality content and a satisfaction guarantee. ”
4. What are the benefits your solution offers
A solution itself is many times not enough for the listener, but you still need to explain to them more in detail what are the actual benefits they get from using this specific solution.
In the best case scenario, you will be able to view the issue from the point of view of the listener, and you will understand their goals well enough to be able to offer him the benefits he needs to reach his goals.
”Testimonials will bring you new customers and they will buy more and they will more likely stay as a customer.”
5. End strongly and offer a follow-up
A clear and memorable ending is an important part of the sales pitch. A well finished Sales pitch will leave better chances for returning to discuss about the subject later on.
One effective way is to offer your own business card at the end of the Sales pitch so that the recipient, when he/she sees the business card, returns to remember the situation. This gives the listener something concrete in addition to a memorable speech.
Another effective way is to end with a question. With a question the listener can’t get out of the situation. With a well targeted question the listener will start to think about the topic, even if they wouldn’t immediately give a response.
The question can also be used only for leaving the situation open. ”Should we agree a meeting so that I can tell you a little bit more about this?” By handing out your business card while presenting them with a question, you can create a classy ending to your speech.
”I would love to tell you more about making use out of recommendations. (Handing out the business card). Would you like to agree an appointment right now?”
What else should you consider with Sales pitch?
You have now planned the world’s best Sales pitch on subject X. What’s next? Should it be practiced?
I can say with good conscience, that you can go horribly wrong with your Sales pitch, unless you practice it. When you need to make things clear with a summarized speech, it leaves no room for hesitation.
Practice your speech thoroughly a couple of times and then start taking it into practice. But, endlessly making more and more final touches won’t change the fact that no one will be able to hear your Sales pitch, unless you go out and present it to someone.
If you are naturally funny and can use humor in your speech, go for it! Just make sure you are not trying too much and end up making too many jokes, but rather including a small icebreaker in the middle of the speech can add to the receptivity of the listener notably.
While creating a Sales pitch it is also important that you stick to a vocabulary that the listener can understand. For example, working in the IT-industry you can quickly come across with a situation where you are using such terminology the listener won’t have a clue of what you are trying to say.
Also, too long sentences are a bad thing. Keep in mind, who it is you are talking to and prefer more simpler, rather than complicated words.
Words by themselves are not enough to make for a good Sales pitch. Interaction is always a combination of words, body language and using your sound.
External matters also play a role. As a very roughly made up example, if a homeless looking person would introduce themselves as the CEO of a successful business, the listener will more than likely consider the situation either as a joke, or frightening.
Things you should never do in a sales pitch
Don’t speak too fast. There is not a lot of time, but that doesn’t mean that you should speak as much and as fast as possible. It is often far more efficient to emphasize on a certain manner, when you leave the listener some time to absorb the information.
Stop rambling. Don’t use unclear sentences. These are the worst mistakes during a Sales pitch and you can affect it a lot by planning and practicing. A well planned and well practiced speech will stay intact.
Don’t speak by using a monotonic tone. 30 seconds of a boring speech will go through one ear and out the other. Emphasize the important parts of your speech, and show enthusiasm towards what you are saying. An excited person doesn’t sound monotonic and boring.
You’ll need to use a body language that is both confident and raises trust in the listener. For example, massaging your hands together might calm yourself down, but it would distract the listener.
How to develop into a great Sales pitch performer?
Repetition is the key. No matter if you are going to the gym or working in a sales organization, through repetition you will find success. The more you give sales pitches, the more experience you will gain.
You can get far with your Sales pitch by simply using these tips.