I’ve made as many mistakes pitching for business as anyone else.
Poor preparation, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, failing to listen properly.
I once sat for lunch with someone, absolutely struck it off with them and learned all about their business. And then realised at the end, having had my workbook balanced on my lap, that I’d failed to take a single legible note.
Each time I fail, I always ask myself what I could have done differently.
That’s led me now to believe that every single time I meet someone, it’s going to lead to a positive outcome.
It helps that I fundamentally believe in what I’m selling. But anyone can pitch for business effectively – you just need to follow the right roadmap.
Here are my seven steps to successfully pitching for business.
Step 1: Let them pitch first
In most sales and consultations, the conversation is interactive.
And the thing people care about most is themselves.
So let them talk.
Ask the right questions at the start to find out what’s really important to them.
Questions such as:
“How can I help?”
“Why did you want to meet with me today?”
“Tell me more about the business.”
“What does success look like after we’ve worked together?”
The answers will help you elicit the right information.
But the questions themselves embed a sense of togetherness. It’s your collective deal, and you’re both working towards the same goals.
When you’ve got the essence of what’s really important – time, money, quality, safety – write that down and keep coming back to it.
That’s your north star.
And by the way, you can ask these questions before formal pitch presentations, too. In the planning phase, ask the above questions and build them into the early part of your talk.
Step 2: Build trust in you
Almost all of us are wired in the same way.
We buy into people – especially ones who listen to us and can give us what we want.
Articulate your audience’s goal and use it as an opportunity to build their trust in you.
In my line of work, that sounds like:
“Ok, so when you stand up, you immediately freeze. That’s called freeze, fight or flight – it’s the body’s way of responding to a perceived threat”.
“So, you want everyone to feel more confident after the course? That’s so important – it’s amazing what happens to your company culture when you embed that sense of confidence”.
“Ok, you want everyone media trained for the upcoming product launch. The good news is I’ve been doing that within your industry for the last 15 years”.
By giving informed responses, personal anecdotes or capability statements, you’re offering your audience a shortcut to believing in you.
And we all love shortcuts.
It’s why we check Google reviews, TrustPilot or TripAdvisor before making major purchases.
They’re all strangers on there, yet we trust them in numbers, partly because it saves us time.
You’re telling the audience: I’ve done it before, and I can do it for you.
Step 3: Articulate the problem and solution clearly
The late Steve Jobs would randomly select people within Apple to pitch to before a product launch.
Junior staff, senior staff, different genders and nationalities, different departments.
Then he’d ask them: “What did I say?”
Only when the answers coming back were consistent was the pitch ready to go.
Ask yourself: in your last pitch, could the audience have articulated your message clearly to another group?
If the answer is “no”, it’s best to regroup.
After all, your audience has to have a clear message.
If you’re pitching to the decision-maker, they’ll be explaining their decision to others after the sale.
Or they’ll be pitching to the real decision-maker, in which case they’d better be well-briefed.
I experienced this recently when sold high-speed broadband:
“It’ll feel like you’re driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh on the M8, where you’re the only car on the road”.
Two simple tests of clarity:
One – could a child understand it? (as an expert, people trust us more the simpler we explain something).
Two – could I draw it? (seven out of ten people think in pictures, so you’re helping them to visualise the success – and remember it afterwards).
Use Hemingway Editor to pass the first test. For the second, use examples, tell short customer success stories and use analogies to meet the Steve Jobs test.
Step 4: Prove it
Ok, you’ve proven yourself, but what about your product, your service or your wider team?
This is where examples need to be carefully chosen.
Come back to your north star: the goal your customer articulated earlier.
If it’s saving money, use the relevant example to discuss a customer who recently saved money.
If it’s quality, that’s a different example.
Safety – different again.
And localise them too. If you’re in London, it’s unlikely they want to hear about someone in Belfast.
Target the examples by goal, location, business size, and time relevance.
If you have a competitor down the road you helped last week, that’s gold dust.
Now what about the wider picture? Time for some stats and third-party recognition.
Let’s hear that nine in ten customers who go with you save money.
That you have a TrustPilot rating of 4.9 due to your commitment to quality.
Or, that you just won an award for your safety standards.
The personal example helps to zoom in, and the stats and industry recognition allow you to zoom out.
Both are vital, so have several examples ready to use and really listen to the answers in Step 1 to guide you to the right ones.
Step 5: Ask for the business!
When I started at Pink Elephant, I was very much learning on the job.
How to speak clearly, offer full commitment, avoid those Pink Elephants and answer the questions put to me.
As any of our trainers will agree, it’s a steep learning curve, changing the way you talk so you can coach others effectively.
In 2011, I gave what I considered a flawless pitch in Canary Wharf, London, to a high-street bank, and walked out of the room absolutely buzzing.
Only one problem: I was completely unaware if my customer intended to buy.
And the last time I heard from them was when they wished me a safe flight home.
When that dawned on me, I was absolutely crushed.
I made it my target to ask for the business in every subsequent meeting.
This can be very subtle:
“What do you think?”
Or it can be far more direct: “Would you like to book?”
Or even assumptive: “When would you like to book in?”
Read the room and offer the right call to arms.
But make sure you offer it.
It’s surprising how often people say yes there and then.
Interestingly, people hate saying “no” in the moment.
But you can tell a lot from their eye contact, body language and choice of words when you ask for the business.
You can then ask follow-up questions such as “What’s preventing you from making a decision today?”
Or “What information can I give you to help your decision-making?”
In that moment, it’s all about gaining the right information to adapt your approach.
Step 6: Stand up to scrutiny
Questions are great – I always see them as a fundamental part of the process.
Typically, in my experience, the more questions, the higher the engagement.
And if you can stand up and answer the humdinger, the stinker of a question, in a way that’s direct, confident and succinct, that’s a big step towards the sale.
When I briefly worked in the soft drinks industry, I remember watching a senior salesman pitching for a contract renewal, but suggesting a change in delivery methods:
He was asked: “How can you be confident this works?”
“I just am”, he replied.
“Trust me – it’ll work.”
I remember at the time being impressed with his courage and his confidence.
And I can tell you that the new system did work, but only for other clients, as the salesman later told me they’d lost that particular contract.
“People hate change”, he told me.
Reflecting back, though, I’m convinced it was his inability to open up and prove the concept under pressure that lost him the sale.
All he needed to do was to use the right examples of existing customers who had successfully transitioned and zoom out using the data he’d gathered along the way.
That, I believe, would have restored confidence and the sale.
Step 7: Create firm Rules of Engagement
You’ve listened. You’ve sold yourself. You’ve proved the concept, asked for the business and stood up to scrutiny.
Now for the final part.
Create some clear rules of engagement: the next steps.
I see so many presentations, pitches and meetings where people are unclear at the end who is responsible for what, and by when.
Someone needs to take control.
Make sure that person is you.
Summarise what’s happened, including that goal you heard at the beginning.
Remind them of your proposed solution.
And now create some deadlines.
“I’ll have this over to you by the end of the day. When would you like to meet next?”
“Let’s get our diaries out – when is a good time for you to have this all wrapped up?”
“To make sure we hit that deadline, I’ll need that information by Tuesday. Does that work?”
Or simply: “I’ll summarise our conversation and send it straight over to you”.
The pitch is only as good as its next steps.
Do whatever you can to keep the conversation moving forward.
Pitching for business course
Most of us have got to where we are because we’re good at our jobs and we’re trusted by our colleagues and managers to sell our business.
Get over the awkwardness of sales calls and meetings by following the six steps above to form a clear structure under pressure.
And if you want to learn in more depth, come on our Pitching for Business course.
We’ll hear your pitch and offer clear, actionable feedback for you to keep on improving and increasing your sales.
When’s good for you? Get in touch today!
Photos in Pitching for business course: Everything you need to know by Pink Elephant Communications.
Pitching for business course: Everything you need to know was written by Andrew McFarlan and edited by Maxine Montgomery.
