Note: This is the latest in a series. You can read the previous post here.
This is the part you’ve been waiting for.
The sales pitch.
It’s time to present the right solution to your prospect and turn her into a client.
Since this is the part where you explain how your offering will solve your prospect’s problems, you must make sure you get it right.
However, many entrepreneurs struggle with this part. They either overwhelm their prospect with a long, drawn out explanation of their offering, or they give an uninspired pitch that doesn’t even address the needs of their prospect.
And they get rejected. Over and over again.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are easy ways to give an effective pitch.
The tips in this article are time-tested and used by high-caliber salespeople. If you perfect these techniques, you will have no problem getting your prospects to buy.
Set The Stage
Before pitching, you must first set the stage. This is similar to positioning yourself, but it’s a bit different. You’re going to position your presentation.
This isn’t as complicated as it sounds.
Basically, it’s a way to transition into your presentation. You’re going to tell them the purpose of what you’re about to propose. Let them know that you’re about to show them how your offering can help them solve their problem.
It might be tempting to skip this part because you may assume that your prospect already knows that you’re about to give your offer. Don’t do it. When you’re selling, you’re taking a leadership role in the interaction.
This is part of leading them to the next portion of the conversation. You want to prime them to believe that you have the answer to their problem. Then, you will get them to agree to move forward.
It may look something like this:
“Okay Mr. Daniels, now I’m going to talk about what XYZ Marketing can do to help you generate more leads and earn more sales. Is that okay?”
See? Easy peasy. Now you’re ready to give your presentation.
Review What Was Said
After getting the prospect’s permission to transition, you’re going to briefly recap what they told you when you were discovering their needs. You don’t need to list every single thing that was said. You just want to touch on the bullet points.
Here’s what you want to discuss:
- What their current state is.
- Where they want to be.
- What’s keeping them from getting there.
This part is important for a few reasons. You want to make sure that you have understood everything they have said. This gives you an opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings.
Also, you want to remind your prospect of the pain points they told you about. You want them thinking about the problem they’re dealing with so that you can provide a little pain relief with your solution.
Focus On Benefits
Ok now it’s time to pitch. You’re going to communicate the solution to their problems.
Note that I didn’t say you’re going to pitch your offering. That was deliberate.
When you’re selling, you must focus on solving problems, not on pitching your offering. What this means is that you’re positioning your offering as the solution to their problem.
One mistake that many people make is to focus on their offering and its features. What you need to do is to frame your offering in the context of their problem.
How do you do this?
By focusing on benefits rather than features. Here’s the difference:
- Features: These are the components of your offering. They are the parts that make up what your product or service is.
- Benefits: These are the things your features do for your prospects. It’s the outcomes they can expect when they use your product or service.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you sell web design services. Your feature would be the fact that you can update your prospect’s website in a way that makes it look more presentable. You code various graphics and add content.
The benefit would be a professional-looking website that makes a better impression on your prospect’s visitors. Not only that, but it is also optimized to convert more visitors which helps your customer generate more leads.
See the difference?
Features are the nuts and bolts of the offering. Benefits are what the customer gets when they use it.
When it comes to entrepreneurial selling, benefits are FAR more persuasive than features. It’s what your prospects and customers care about. When delivering your presentation, you need to keep the customer’s situation in mind.
You must continuously tell your prospect how they will benefit from accepting your offering. Don’t assume that they will connect the dots on their own. Most of the time, they won’t.
Types Of Benefits
Benefits tend to fall into different types of categories. In some cases, a particular benefit may only fit into one category. More often than not, a benefit will fall into multiple categories.
Here are the categories:
- Profit: The customer makes more money.
- Ease: The customer’s life is made easier.
- Savings: The customer saves money.
- Preservation: The customer is protected from harm (physical, mental, financial).
- Pleasure: Customer experiences something pleasurable.
It’s all about figuring out which benefit(s) your prospect wishes to have. Once you know this, you can tailor your presentation around the outcomes your prospects want to experience.
Provide Proof For Each Benefit
For every major benefit you discuss with your prospect, you should also be ready to provide proof. This doesn’t mean you will always need to give proof for every single benefit you talk about, but you should always be prepared. Giving evidence of your claims makes your prospects more comfortable with accepting your offer.
This isn’t as complicated as it may sound. There are several ways to ensure that your prospects believe the claims you are making.
Here’s a few:
- Tell stories about how other clients have enjoyed the benefits your offering provides.
- Give statistics or metrics that back up your claims.
- If you’re selling a physical product, show them how it works. Demonstrations can be very convincing.
It’s important to build as much credibility as you can. The more credibility you build, the easier it will be for your prospect to accept your offering.
Address Their Pain Points
Don’t forget your prospects’ pain points. This is crucial to your sales efforts. When you asked your prospect what is keeping them from achieving their desired state, they told you what their pain points were.
You need to make sure you address each one.
Remember, you’re not there to sell a product or service. You’re there to solve problems. That is your reason for being when it comes to sales.
You must tie every benefit your offering provides to a problem your prospects are experiencing. This is why it’s so important to understand your prospects.
When you’re giving your presentation, be sure to bring up the pain points they told you about earlier. You want your prospect to “feel the pain” a little bit. This makes it easier to get them to see why they need your offering.
Conclusion
The rule of thumb when it comes to presenting your solution is this: make your prospect’s life easier. When you solve your prospect’s problems, you are easing their pain. That’s what they want.
A great salesperson is more concerned about easing their prospect’s pain than explaining why their offering is so awesome. When you can show your prospect how your offering will make their life easier, it will be a no brainer. They will buy from you.
Leave A Response