If you are faced with an upcoming presentation to a potential new client, it can be daunting. This is especially the case if you haven’t got much experience in public speaking or maybe aren’t the most confident at speaking under such circumstances. The importance of a successful pitch cannot be underestimated though, as attracting new customers is the bread and butter for your sales department. As a growing business, you need to constantly be on the lookout for new customers, to add to a loyal customer base. A sales pitch is an important part of this process across multiple industries, and working out how to improve and the best sales pitch strategies to undertake is integral to your success. A great way to improve on these points is to employ the services of a presentation agency with a history of success.
There is an art to winning over a new client. Strategies that you can employ to help you put your sales pitch across in a way that showcases your products and services as the key solution that the potential client needs for a problem that they are facing. That has forever been the key to sales, making the client believe that you are the solution to their problems. This has to come across in the sales pitch in a clear, precise, informative, and ultimately engaging way, to get them thinking about you, talking about you, and buying into your brand with a view to a long-term relationship as your trusted client.
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Here are some strategies that will help you build a winning sales pitch the next time you step in front of a potential new customer.
Do your homework
Research is crucial. It always is. There’s a good reason for this, to sell to your customer and make them believe in you, you need to know them inside out. Before a pitch with a specific person or company, learn as much as you can about them. Figure out the reasons that they may be looking at your company for its services or products and anticipate what they are looking for. This will help you to make the sales pitch relevant and specific to them.
Write out the presentation
Take time to write down bullet points of what you want to achieve with the presentation and the key concepts that you will cover. You can fully write out the presentation if you wish and learn it completely. It needs to flow, to run through the ideas and points you want to make with clarity and purpose, but you also need to leave natural gaps in the speech, where people can ask questions, or have time to think over what you have just said.
Practice your pitch
Practice is important in many areas of life. Before you speak to the prospective clients in person (whether actually in the room with them, on the phone, or virtually through a video meeting) ensure that you are well prepared. Run through the pitch with your business partners, a family member, close friend, and ask for honest, constructive feedback. It will also get you to learn the ‘script’ of the presentation. Understanding it back to the front helps you to have flexibility during the presentation if you need to speak ‘off the cuff’ a little at any point.
Maintain a clear focus
At the start of the presentation, set out your key messages that will be spoken about. Maintain focus throughout the presentation and ensure that the people you are speaking with understand that you have your priorities straight. Demonstrate how each part of your presentation links to them, how it provides them with a solution to a problem that they are facing, and how this will appeal to them as a company.
Don’t over commit
It is easy to get carried away in a sales presentation and do and say everything you can to win the bid. Always be careful to never over-commit and make promises that you just can’t keep. It might seem like a good thing to tell a prospective client that you can give them everything they want and more within a short timeframe, but this might not be possible and will hurt your reputation in the long run when you end up not delivering on time or to the standards you promised during the sales pitch.
Set clear targets
Never be vague with what you are offering. Set clear targets and KPIs that are achievable and trackable for both sides of the agreement. You need to be confident in how you speak and how you sell your services, of course, but you also need to put in place processes of responsibility and accountability. This can work for both parties, as you can also tell the client what you expect from them to hit targets during a project if you work together.
Leave room for questions
A question and answer session at the end of a pitch can often feel like no one wants to put their hands up, even if they do have a question to ask. Be versatile and allow for questions throughout your sales pitch. This makes things feel a little bit more comfortable and informal and is a good indicator of how relaxed and nice it could be to work together in the future.
Finding the right presentation agency to help you improve the skills required for good sales pitches could prove to be one of the most important things you do as a business owner or entrepreneur. A sales pitch is often the first chance to impress a potential client, or it could be to seal the deal and get them to sign on the dotted line to become a customer of your products and services. Learning how to become a good public speaker and great at presentations will help you to improve results when it comes to increasing leads, growing your customer base, and increasing sales. It could be the key to unlocking the potential of your business at an early stage of the journey, as you look to attract customers to believe in your brand, your products and services, and to believe in you.
I am a passionate, adventurous, and insatiate learner who loves to write about the latest technology trends. My experience working in an MNC has motivated me to understand that there are certain niche requirements for writing strategically about brands’ messages towards people’s interests which I’ve mastered over time through trial and error of many projects under various clients across diverse industries. It is my honest effort to put my experiences and knowledge of industry towards readers.
