Creating The Perfect Sales Pitch
You’re probably all too familiar with both ends of the sales spectrum. On one end are people unwilling to sell anything, because they feel slimy at the thought of selling. At the opposite end are people willing to sell you swampland in Florida if it means they can make a quick buck.
When you have something of legitimate value to offer–something you’re proud of that makes people’s lives better in a way that matters to them–it is your ethical and moral duty to learn how to sell.
Selling is not tricking people, or twisting their arm, until they buy a product or service they don’t need or want. True selling is a service, and in this episode, James and Dean reveal how to create the perfect sales pitch so you can get your solutions into the hands of people who need AND want them.
Outline of This Episode
- 3:30 Two opposite ends of the sales spectrum
- 9:15 Do you believe in what you’re selling?
- 12:05 First, truly understand the problems you’re solving
- 17:10 What needs are your prospects trying to meet?
- 29:01 Putting your message together
- 38:07 When the close actually starts
- 43:02 Focus on selling on the right people, not to “everybody”
Not Selling Is Selfish
When you offer people something that genuinely improves their lives–where they’ll be better off with your product and worse off without it–withholding your solution because you “don’t like selling” is leaving them to suffer unnecessarily. It would be like you going to a pharmacy for cold medicine because you’re sneezing, coughing, and miserable, and the pharmacy staff not allowing you to buy because they “don’t like selling.” See selling as a service and get good at it so you can help people decide to buy your solution.
Why Are You Selling That?
Do you believe in what you’re selling? Are you excited about it? Do you care about the people your offer helps? If not, why are you selling it? It’s not that you can’t be successful at sales with a product you don’t believe in or a demographic of people you don’t care about. But selling is a lot more fun and effective when you believe in your offer and love the people it can help. We have more problems in the world than we do solutions, so if you’re not excited about a solution, find something you are excited about.
Know The Problem You’re Solving
No one buys your product. They buy the transformation your product creates for them. Remember that, because it’s SO easy to get focused on “having the best product.” Step one to creating an effective sales pitch is to become intimately familiar with the problem you’re solving. An example of this in action: Dean and his wife own a cosmetics company. It’s successful now, but it struggled initially because they focused on what a great product they had. Only after getting clear on the problems their cosmetics products solved did their company take off. Without clarity on which problems your product solves, your sales pitch isn’t going to land.
Know The People You’re Serving
Another must for an effective sales pitch is intimate knowledge of who you’re helping, and what needs they’re trying to get met. Knowing the problem you’re solving is critical, and so is knowing which needs your product helps your prospects meet. Only by listening and getting to know your prospects will you be able to hear their needs and pitch your product or service in a way that’s relevant to them. This episode is packed with examples from James and Dean on what kinds of needs people are trying to get met.
Sell To The Right People
Most people start out believing that if they do anything to filter out people who aren’t the best fit, they’ll lose money. The truth is, not everyone is your customer, and working with the wrong people wastes your time and money, as well as theirs. It’s also what leads to ticked off customers and poor results that can cause you to believe your offer doesn’t work. Not only do you owe it to your customers to sell them your solution, you owe it to them to make sure they really are a good fit for it. Remember, you’re not trying to trick people into buying. You’re here to get your solution into the hands of the right people. “Everyone” is not the right people. The right people are the right people.
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
