Quick Tips To The Top
As a business development guy, I am constantly in front of potential customers pitching our services. So as I am sitting on a plane headed back to Charlotte, I thought I would share some of my insight as to what makes a great sales pitch.
In my industry, everyone’s prices are fairly consistent therefore the thing that wins the business or doesn’t is TRUST. Trust is a hard thing to earn and a very easy thing to lose so it is important to start the trust building process as early in the relationship as possible.
One of the ways I try to build trust is to keep the sales pitch conversational and encourage real dialogue with everyone in the room. I encourage my fellow team members to “butt in” and add their insight at any point in the presentation to demonstrate to customers that we are all aligned in the vision and that each of us adds value to the conversation. I also pay attention to body language, taking cues from what is being said and what is left unsaid. I often find sales people get locked into what they have rehearsed and are unable to tailor their pitch to an evolving dialogue.
As with any presentation, it is important to know your material and practice what and how you are going to say it. A customer can always see through a poorly thought out pitch with a presenter who is shooting from the hip. And if you can’t prepare properly for the meeting, why would the client trust that you would prepare for their business launch any differently.
I am a tech lover so I also tend to integrate different technologies into my presentation. It is important to make sure that whatever trick you are planning on doing during your presentation has been thought out and practiced properly so you don’t crash your computer mid-presentation while attempting to show off a cool video.
We all love to buy things and hate to be sold to, so stop selling and help your customers BUY…
Don’t forget:
1) Get to the meeting early
2) Test your A/V elements to include any audio levels
3) Clean your computers desktop so you look as organized as possible
4) Rehearse your presentation
5) Relax and enjoy the conversation