What’s Wrong with Your B2B Sales Pitch?

by MGB2B

b2b sales pitch

We’ve all been there. You come out of a sales pitch and you know something was off. Or you think you did pretty well, but find out later that the group you pitched to chose another company. Well here’s  a checklist that might help next time you go in for the win.

The Do’s and Don’ts of a B2B Sales Pitch:

DO:

  • Do make sure the strongest performer is the star. Sometimes small business owners don’t feel confident pitching. And it shows. If you need help, it’s okay to ask an employee or hire someone who feels comfortable pitching to come with you on important sales pitches.
  • Do establish a time frame. Meandering meetings put people on edge and make it seem like you have nowhere else to go afterward. Let them know how long the presentation will be, and tell them that you’ve budgeted time for questions.
  • Do emphasize visuals and emotion over statistics. Even in the business world, people make decisions based on emotions, not data. They want to picture in their heads how your product or service is going to help them day-to-day. A colleague of mine always has a solid analogy ready to explain anything complicated, which always gets the audience nodding. Stats, on the other hand, can often produce blank stares, and even yawns.

DON’T:

  • Don’t lie. Ever. It seems like common sense, but it’s not uncommon at all. A pitchman wants to show that he is quick on his feet and starts spewing out lies because he doesn’t know the real answer. It’s okay to say you don’t know. And it’s possible that a small amount of BS will work, but an outright lie, if found out, will kill the business relationship right from the get-go.
  • Don’t be so nice that you’re seen as inferior. You don’t want to be a jerk, of course; otherwise your company won’t get chosen. But overdoing the Mr. Nice Guy routine might put you at a huge disadvantage if the people you’re pitching feel like they have the upper hand in the meeting.
  • Don’t try to fill every silence. Silence can actually be a great tool in a pitch. When you ask if you can meet again next week and the answer is negative, stay quiet for a beat instead of throwing out another date. More often than not, they’ll throw out a date themselves and move the process along.

Of course, there are many, many rules for pitching, but these key bits of advice just might make the difference your company needs to gain more clients and more revenue.

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