The one word pitch

The term «sales pitch» might be a little old school, but the concept is not. At its core, a sales pitch is just a way to explain your product or service’s value to the buyer. Call it what you will, but educating prospects on an offering’s worth is still central to sales.

What has gone out of style are sales pitches that are long, product-focused, and boring. In fact, we have a separate article all about the essential elements of a sales pitch.

Twitter has effectively shortened our attention spans to statements that contain 280 or fewer characters. If buyers can find the time to hear your sales pitch at all, it had better be compelling and to the point.

In his book To Sell is Human, Daniel Pink presents six types of modern day sales pitches that act as updates to the classic elevator pitch.

Translate your product or service’s value proposition into each of these six formats so you can whip out one or another when appropriate.

1. The One-Word Sales Pitch

Can you boil your entire presentation down to one word? It might seem silly, but consider the power of a brand that has complete command of one word. «When anybody thinks of you, they utter that word. When anybody utters that word, they think of you,» Pink explains.

For example, HubSpot’s one-word pitch might be «flywheel.» President Obama’s one-word pitch during his 2012 reelection campaign was «forward.» Think of the single word that represents your offering and use it as a punchy tagline.

2. The Question Sales Pitch

This one should only be used when you’re confident that your buyer either somewhat or completely understands the value of your product.

Instead of phrasing your pitch as a statement («Strategic outsourcing will reduce your company’s costs«), reformulate it as a question («Would strategic outsourcing reduce your company’s costs?«).

Why does this work? «Question pitches prompt people to come up with their own reasons for agreeing (or not),» Pink writes. «And when people summon their own reasons for believing something, they endorse the belief more strongly and become more likely to act on it.»

This is the upside. But if prospects aren’t convinced of your offering’s value, a question pitch might invite additional scrutiny («Would outsourcing benefit us? I’m not sure … «). So, it’s critical to carefully assess the buyer’s mindset before using this tactic.

3. The Rhyming Sales Pitch

Dr. Seuss was on to something. «Rhymes boost what linguists and cognitive scientists call ‘processing fluency,’ the ease with which our minds slice, dice, and make sense of stimuli,» Pink explains.

And this has a surprising effect: Studies have found that rhyming statements are perceived to be more accurate than non-rhyming, even when both options convey the exact same message, Pink notes.

So, before you dismiss rhyming as child’s play, take into consideration that a simple couplet could make the difference between a done deal and a competitive steal.

4. The Subject Line Sales Pitch

Salespeople are masters at the art of crafting intriguing email subject lines. Take that expertise and apply it to your sales pitches.

Pink writes that strong email subject lines follow three principles: utility, curiosity, and specificity. However, you shouldn’t try to add elements of each into a single email header or sales pitch.

«Your email subject line should be either obviously useful or mysteriously intriguing, but probably not both,» Pink writes. It’s also noteworthy that the more information buyers are contending with, the less effective curiosity-provoking subject lines become.

The actionable takeaway? Craft two separate sales pitches — one useful, and one intriguing — and layer specificity onto both.

Deploy the first if the prospect is obviously pressed for time, or is buried in information from rival vendors or internal stakeholders. Use the second if they are just beginning their buying journey and can move at a more leisurely pace.

5. The Twitter Sales Pitch

Tweeting is an exercise in clarity and brevity. What would your sales pitch sound like if you only had 140 characters to work with?

Formulating a Twitter pitch forces you to think critically and creatively about the main highlights of your offering. It can also help you trim the unnecessary fat from your sales presentation.

Keep in mind that while it’s easy for you to remember all the features of your offering (you do sell it, after all), a laundry list of functions is bound to overwhelm and confuse prospects.

6. The Pixar Sales Pitch

«Toy Story.» «Up.» «Finding Nemo.» «WALL-E.» Pixar is a master at creating not just stunning visuals but stories that resonate with children and adults alike.

Although the stars of the studio’s movies range from robots to sea life to talking toys, each has a similar story structure at its core.

Former Story Artist Emma Coats released this narrative template that can be applied to all of Pixar’s films:

Once upon a time _____. Every day, _____. One day _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____.

By phrasing your sales pitch in this way, it automatically becomes a story, which top salespeople know stick in people’s heads much better than a dry recitation of facts. Want to learn more about turning your sales pitch into a story? Check out this article.

In addition, this template makes it easy for sellers to place their prospects front and center — and buyers should always be the hero of a sales story.

Here’s what this type of sales pitch might look like in action:

• Once upon a time, staffing agencies struggled to find the quality talent they needed.
• Every day, they checked a number of social media sites and sifted through dozens of resumes searching for needles in the haystacks.
• One day, a new type of software was invented that automated this search process and quickly returned qualified candidates based on sophisticated algorithms.
• Because of that, staffing agencies were able to more efficiently fill open positions.
• Because of that, they were able to serve more clients without taking a toll on productivity.
• Until finally, the agencies vastly increased their number of customers and amount of new revenue.

Perfecting your sales pitch is crucial to being good at selling. Practice on friends and colleagues until you master the right type of pitch for you.

Need more inspiration? Check out these sales pitch examples too good to ignore.

There’s the One Word Pitch, based on something that Maurice Saatchi, the famous British adman, talks about, is “one word equity” – when people say that word they think of you, when people think of you they think of that word. One Word pitches.

What is pitch used in a sentence?

She sang right in the middle of every pitch and had a lovely vibrato. There were three bedrooms but the largest one, presumably belonging to Howie, was located in the rear of the house where it remained pitch black. Dean had opted to pitch his tent in City Park.

Why is it called a pitch?

It comes from the Middle English pichen, meaning to drive or fix firmly. Since the end of the 17th century, the process of pitching stumps into the ground to set up a game of cricket has been called “pitching the stumps”. By the late 1800s, people started using “pitch” as a noun to describe a playing area.

What is a pitch in writing?

A pitch is an email you write to an editor explaining a story idea that you feel is perfect for their publication, in hopes that they’ll agree and commission you to write the article.

What is pitch black?

: extremely dark or black.

Is black as pitch a simile?

Anything that dark made a very good simile for “black.” The contemporary expression is “pitch black.” Those who chose to give the absence of light a theological cast would have said “black as sin,” while an imaginative Irish simile was “as black as the Earl of Hell’s waistcoat.”

Why do we say pitch black?

How we use it: When we say “pitch black,” we’re usually referring to absolute darkness. The origin: “Pitch” is an old term, used to refer to thick, dark, resinous substance. Its been used for hundreds of years, popularly for preserving wood on ships.

What is another word for pitch black?

What is another word for pitch-black?

black	ebony
pitch-dark	pitchy
dark	pitch
dusky	murky
clouded	ink-black

What is the opposite of pitch black?

What is the opposite of pitch-black?

white	good
happy	hopeful

What is the definition of the word black?

1 : of the color of coal : colored black. 2 : very dark a black night. 3 often capitalized : of or relating to any of various groups of people having dark pigmentation of the skin. 4 often capitalized : of or relating to African-American people or culture.

What is the legal definition of the word black?

Color. The appearance or semblance of a thing, as distinguished from the thing itself. Express color. This is defined to be a feigned matter, pleaded by the defendant, in an action of trespass, from which the plaintiff seems to have a good cause of action, whereas he has in truth only an appearance or color of cause.

What is the root word of black?

The word black comes from Old English blæc (“black, dark”, also, “ink”), from Proto-Germanic *blakkaz (“burned”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg- (“to burn, gleam, shine, flash”), from base *bhel- (“to shine”), related to Old Saxon blak (“ink”), Old High German blach (“black”), Old Norse blakkr (“dark”), Dutch blaken …

What does Vantablack look like?

Vantablack is not a color but a material. It is made of an array of tiny, hollow carbon nanotubes, where each nanotube is about 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. A surface area of 1 cm square contains about 1 billion nanotubes. Thus, Vantablack is actually the ‘absence of color.

Can Vantablack be used for clothes?

For clothing, it is not available right now and while the Surrey company is experimenting with using this color on fabrics, they have said it will be a long time before you see dresses made with Vantablack. The reason for the delay is that Vantablack is not a paint, not a pigment but a coating of nanotubes.

What is the darkest material?

Vantablack is a material developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the United Kingdom and is one of the darkest substances known, absorbing up to 99.965% of visible light (at 663 nm if the light is perpendicular to the material).

Is Vantablack illegal?

There’s a paint, a “material,” that an artist patented, and no one else is allowed to use it. Anish Kapoor bought the exclusive rights to Vantablack, the blackest black available to artists.

It’s important to have a rock-solid sales pitch to hook potential client or you will struggle to close sales. The Ascent shows you how you can create your own sales pitch.

It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of the sales pitch. It’s what separates an average salesperson from a good salesperson.

A sales pitch is more art than science. You’re dealing with people and getting a potential customer or client fired up about your product or service is about more than just showing them some numbers.

But how do you master this skill? Let’s go step by step through the process of creating a winning sales pitch.

Overview: What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch or sales presentation is simply a technique that aims to educate a potential buyer about a product or service, and then attempts to convince that individual that the product will solve a need that the buyer has.

A good sales presentation quickly identifies the problem, succinctly lays out a solution, and convinces that buyer that now is the time to act. Sales pitches may be formal or informal, depending on the type of client or customer and the setting.

How to create your own sales pitch

A product pitch that is all in your head is not good enough, particularly when you’re talking about B2B sales. You need to put it down on paper and create a presentation that can communicate the most important aspects of your pitch clearly and succinctly. Here are the most important elements of your pitch and some sales pitch examples.

Step 1: Research the client

You can’t just wing it when you’re pitching. You need authority in order to close your sale during the sales process, and a thin presentation will give you the opposite of that, potentially even driving away a buyer who initially was interested.

A big part of research is not just knowing your product, but your buyer. In fact, it’s probably more important, because you can’t sell anyone anything unless they feel like you understand their needs. You want to make the buyer think, “This company cares about helping us and is willing to do the legwork.”

What researching the client looks like:

• Find their objectives. Are they trying to grow revenue? Increase efficiency? Find better employees?
• Find their problem. Are costs eating into their bottom line? Are customers returning their products too much?
• Find what questions they are likely to ask. Will they want to know how your service will shorten their product’s time to market? Will they want an exact figure on how much more bandwidth your product provides them?

Step 2: Lay out the problem

Your customers will come into sales pitches thinking about their company’s problem, and they are going to walk out thinking about the problem. So you need to address those problems right out of the gate.

First, demonstrate to the client that you understand the problem. State it briefly and directly, and describe what this problem is doing to their business. Don’t be afraid to ask them if you have it right, and if they would like to add anything to your analysis.

Once you’ve demonstrated that you get where they’re coming from and you understand what this problem is doing to their business, you can move on to how you’re going to solve it.

What laying out the problem looks like:

• Make the buyer think, “They understand our problem.”
• Spell it out in terms of what specific impact it is having on the client’s company.

Step 3: Describe your value proposition

Whether you call it a solution or a value proposition, the goal should be the same: to quickly identify exactly how your company is going to solve your customer’s problem.

You should be able to succinctly describe the benefits your product or service will give the client immediately upon making a purchasing decision. Perhaps your client is struggling in the sales department, and you’re going to provide a custom report and training that can increase their sales close rate and boost their effectiveness on the phones.

Or maybe a client says they need to increase network speed to increase the company’s efficiency, and your equipment can boost their speed by 20 percent as soon as it’s installed.

What describing your value proposition looks like:

• Make the buyer think, “They’ll be able to help us right away.”
• Outline specific benefits your client will enjoy right away after choosing you.

Step 4: Introduce urgency

An asteroid that will wipe out all life on earth is a heck of a problem, and a laser that would destroy it is a fantastic solution, but if experts think such a situation is a few million years away, no one will buy that product.

One thing you don’t want a potential customer to do is walk out of the room saying, “great presentation, we’ll think about it.”

Those words suggest that you really haven’t convinced the client that they need to act now, so you need to emphasize that before you wrap up your presentation. For example, you might drive the point home by creating a slide that lays out exactly how much money the company is losing each month that they don’t buy your product.

What introducing urgency looks like:

• Make the buyer think, “I need to pull the trigger right away.”
• Describe the immediate impacts of what will happen to your client’s company if they don’t buy, like projected lost revenue in the next month.

Step 5: Provide evidence

Your clients know that talk is cheap, and they’ll be expecting you to prove your product is service is worth the investment. Testimonials from happy customers or independent data on your product’s performance will both offer convincing proof.

Another option is to go beyond the standard testimonial and find a client who really loves your product to interview.

Then create a case study that describes in detail the problem your client faced, how you solved it, and what benefits they enjoyed. This is a very powerful element to include in your presentation.

What providing evidence looks like:

• Make the buyer think, “I am confident that this company will not let me down.”
• Ask yourself what would be the most powerful piece of evidence you could produce for your client. It could be revenue growth for a previous customer, or it could be performance data for your product. Whatever it is, find a way to include it.

Step 6: Include a call to action

In sales, you need to lead potential clients by the hand through every step of the process. Don’t assume they will take the initiative to buy from you even if you’ve convinced them up to this point. Relax at this point and your sales pipeline will suffer.

You need to provide a clear next step, depending on what you want your customer to do. It could mean simply asking for the sale there, or it could mean signing them up for a trial subscription. Whatever it is, finish your pitch with it and then wait for them to answer.

What a call to action looks like:

• Make the buyer think, “I need to take action X.”
• Use a statement, not a question that the client can say no to. For example, say something like, “If everything looks good to you, let me draw up the paperwork and we can move forward.”

Types of sales pitches you can try, with examples

Now that you know how to create a sales pitch, it’s time to learn how to deliver it. Let’s try out a few types of pitches that you can adapt to any situation.

1. The one-word pitch

The one-word pitch is simple: it’s that one, powerful word that describes your company in a nutshell. This is a word you want to use at the start of your presentation to immediately hook your client into a simple idea. After that, you’ll build your presentation around this one-word concept and flesh it out.

Examples of the one-word pitch:

• Obsession: Your customer wants a solution they will obsess over and not simply endure.
• Authentic: Your clients are tired of lower-quality, imitation options.
• Affordable: You’re the lower-cost option compared to competitors.

2. The elevator pitch

The elevator pitch is that quick description of what value your company offers that is so short, you could deliver it in a few seconds while taking the elevator with a client.

Examples of the elevator pitch:

• » cuts the cloud computing costs of clients in half without sacrificing performance.»
• » will save up to 20 percent of your employees’ time, freeing them up to work on more valuable tasks for your company.»

3. The question pitch

The question pitch is where you reframe your elevator pitch so that it reads like a question, challenging the client to actually think about what it is you offer.

Examples of the question pitch:

• Would it be helpful for your company to cut client cloud computing costs in half without sacrificing performance?
• Would saving 20 percent of employees’ time, freeing them up to do more valuable tasks, be beneficial to your company?

4. The email pitch

A good initial email or follow-up email pitch has a compelling subject line and a succinct message. The body of the email should, in a sentence or two, describe the problem, the value proposition, and the urgency. It should always conclude with a compelling call to action.

Examples of an email pitch:

• Personalize the subject line by noting something specific about the company, like a mention in the news.
• Put yourself in their shoes: What subject line would cause you to take notice if you worked at your client’s company?

5. The Pixar pitch

This pitch is named after the animation company Pixar, which is behind hit movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Up. Former Pixar story artist Emma Coats came up with a template that helps lay out the story of each Pixar film, and it can be applied to business. The template goes like this:

Once upon a time _____.

Every day, _____.

One day, _____.

Because of that, _____.

Because of that, _____.

Until finally, _____.

You can see how filling out this template helps you define your customer’s story in a way that makes it easier to pitch your product.

Example of the Pixar pitch: «Once upon a time, there was a busy construction manager. Every day, she toiled over filling out paperwork. One day, she discovered ACME construction software that did much of this work automatically. Because of that, she spent less time filling out paperwork. Because of that, she spent more time growing her business. Until finally, her company’s profits soared 20% year-over-year.»

A great pitch is vital to your success

As you can see from the examples we provided, a great sales pitch is all about connecting with the problem that is on the client’s mind at that moment, and then quickly and succinctly answering how you’re going to solve that problem.

In order to be a good salesperson through the entire sales process, you need to do more than be good at the fundamentals of sales forecasting or have great CRM software: most importantly, you need to be constantly learning and growing in your B2B sales skills.

That’s why it is imperative that you practice these pitches in front of a mirror or with a colleague who can act as a stand-in. Put in the time and effort into mastering a range of pitches, and you’ll find that your sales success rate will grow exponentially.

Looking for Daniel Pink’s quotes from To Sell Is Human? What can you learn about modern sales from Pink’s book?

To Sell Is Human discusses traditional versus modern sales and picks apart practices that are no longer effective but are still commonly used. Pink asserts that we are all salespeople, whether we work in sales or not, and that the messages in his book are helpful for anybody in any profession.

Continue below for some of the best Daniel Pink quotes with explanations.

To Sell Is Human: Quotes and Passages

To Sell Is Human explains the history, evolution, and significance of sales. It challenges commonly held assumptions by redefining the meaning of sales, re-evaluating the purpose of the salesperson, and showing you how to effectively harness sales skills to create purpose, growth, or “movement” in your life (whether it be for personal or professional gain).

Here are some of Daniel Pink’s quotes from the book:

“The purpose of a pitch isn’t necessarily to move others immediately to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something so compelling that it begins a conversation, brings the other person in as a participant, and eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you.”

We need to clarify our pitches for this new age of over-information. We also need to gear them towards caveat venditor (being of service to the receiver). There are 6 types of pitches that can be used successfully in place of the elevator pitch.

Pitch #1: The One-Word Pitch

Brutally simplify your ideas down to one single word. Doing this creates clarity, and develops discipline. It also gets right to the heart of an idea, inspiring movement.

For example, during Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, his one-word pitch was “change.”

Pitch #2: The Question Pitch

Take your idea, and pose a question that makes a statement. For example, instead of making the statement, “You will benefit from therapy,” you can ask the question, “How do you want to feel about yourself a year from now?” Research in the 1980s found that questions are more effective than statements when it comes to movement. Statements are ultimately passive and don’t allow for collaboration. Questions invite connection, contemplation, and collaboration, which creates movement.

Pitch #3: The Rhyming Pitch

Create a rhyming statement or question that gets to the core of your idea. A 2000 study at Lafayette College showed that rhyming facilitates reason because from a linguistic standpoint rhymes are more easily received and processed in comparison to non-rhyming sentences.  

Examples: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” or, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” (from the OJ Simpson trial).

Pitch #4: The Subject-Line Pitch

If you’re sending a pitch through email, place the core pitch in the subject line. Make it intriguing, make it useful, and make it specific. 

Example: “3 Ways to Heal Your Childhood Wounds”

Pitch #5: The Twitter Pitch

Use Twitter and the character count limit on posts to make a pitch for your idea. Successful tweet pitches are engaging and actionable. A 2011 study on tweets showed that tweets with the lowest engagement are tweets complaining, self-interested tweets, and tweets that solely communicate presence with no substance. Tweets with the highest engagement are tweets with good questions, informative tweets, and self-promotion tweets (a sales pitch tweet that provides useful info or service).

Pitch #6: The Pixar Pitch

This is your standard Hollywood film pitch that uses engaging narrative to inspire movement. It’s concise, persuasive, and disciplined. This type of pitch is effective if the person receiving it feels like a creative collaborator. This requires the pitcher to come across as both creative and engaging enough that those receiving the pitch feel like contributing to their ideas.

The template for the pitch is generally, “Once upon a time…..one day…..because of that…..because of that….until finally.”
Here’s a fully fleshed out example. “Once upon a time there was a young man who had no shoes. One day, he met a shoemaker. The shoemaker had an apprentice, but the apprentice quit. Because of that, the shoemaker was sad. The young man said he would love to learn how to make shoes. Because of that, the shoemaker offered him the apprentice job. He worked with the shoemaker all week until finally, he had a pair of shoes of his very own.”

“This is what it means to serve: improving another’s life and, in turn, improving the world.”

Modern sales is about being of service to others. This means you should be selling with the intention of improving someone else’s life.

Often, we are too impersonal in sales environments. We’d rather be “professional.” This keeps us too distanced to attune to potential buyers. Make what you’re selling personal to you. This communicates that your intention is to be of service, and you’re not just seeking your own gain. Personalizing improves performance and boosts the quality of the service.

“A few of us are extraverts. A few of us are introverts. But most of us are ambiverts, sitting near the middle, not the edges, happily attuned to those around us. In some sense, we are born to sell.”

Ambiverts fall in the middle of the spectrum between introversion and extroversion. Therefore, results imply that ambiverts are the best salespeople. Why? Extraverts can be classified as responders, while introverts would be categorized as inspectors. Inspectors listen, observe, and evaluate. Responders question, communicate, and advise. Sales requires a careful balance of both inspecting and responding, and ambiverts tap into that balance most easily. In other words, they are naturally more skilled at attunement. 

“In a world where anybody can find anything with just a few keystrokes, intermediaries like salespeople are superfluous. They merely muck up the gears of commerce and make transactions slower and more expensive.”

Sales up until this point set up an imbalanced dynamic between buyer and seller. Pre-technology, the sellers had all the important information, and the buyers had none. This gave the power to the sellers and allowed them to prioritize their own success over the needs of the buyer to turn a profit. With the internet giving everyone access to the same information, sellers were forced to shift their focus from profit to service to the buyer.

Who wants to sit through a 30-minute sales pitch?

Anyone? Didn’t think so.

Consumers today have more options than ever, plus the ability to research whatever you’re selling right from their phone. Perhaps most importantly, they have less time and patience to sit through traditional sales pitches where you list off all your product features and offer a “great deal” to close.

Sales and customer relationship management are entering the new Relationship Era, and the process of nurturing partnerships is about to change—fast. It’s time to throw out the old playbook of what you thought a sales pitch is supposed to look like, and try these six new types of sales pitches designed for how people make buying decisions today.

1. The One-Word Pitch

Arguably the most important type of sales pitch is often the hardest to perfect: the one-word pitch.

A single, powerful word that best describes your brand, this one-word pitch should be used by everyone in your organization—wherever possible.

The one-word pitch isn’t just a sales fad used in out-of-the-box marketing strategies. In fact, this type of sales pitch is used by huge businesses like Google (their one-word pitch is “search”), and influential people like Barack Obama (his one-word pitch was “hope,” back in 2008).

But how exactly do you find your one word?

It may be simple, but it’s not easy—think of one word that describes your brand’s:

• Values
• Aims or goals
• Products

So, here at Copper, our values are to be real, fearlessly creative, and forward-thinking.

We could use any one of those three main values, or choose something like “driven” which could mean all three.

If you need a little help, there’s always thesaurus.com for finding synonyms that might sound more unique and impressive.

Got your word? Great! Now it’s time to use it.

Plaster your one-word pitch everywhere for the world to see, and embed it within the other types of sales pitches listed here.

Once people associate the word with your brand, your potential customers will recognize you instantly. Or as we like to call it, the sign of a great sales and marketing campaign.

2. The Social Media Pitch

Chances are, you’ve tried to master a short pitch that can be used on your brand’s social media profiles. Trying to get it right (and crafting a perfectly optimized post for each platform) can be tricky—and that’s without mentioning the ever-changing algorithms.

Platforms like Instagram are no stranger to an algorithm change. Just do a quick Google search and you’ll see how many account owners are reporting that the Instagram algorithm is “destroying” their business.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom—a concrete social media pitch should withstand the test of time (and many algorithm changes), which is why we’ve listed the social media pitch as one that every sales professional should master.

A short, 280-character sales pitch is enough to conform to most platforms’ character allowances, but that’s not much room to tell someone everything they’d need to know.

Include only the essential details. Take your original pitch—from a traditional sales presentation—and cut the fluff.

Think of a social media pitch like a virtual elevator pitch: you’ll want to include the basics of your brand, and make it interesting enough for someone to ask more.

However, with over 3.196 billion active social media users, you’ll need to make your social media pitch pack a punch if you want to see results.

How can you do that, exactly? Again, simple but not easy: keep it unique and pique your potential customer’s interest.

3. The Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a type of speech about your company or brand.

No more than 30 seconds in length (it should be short enough to cover in an elevator ride, hence its name), it’s a type of sales pitch that every sales professional should have up their sleeve.

That’s because it’s often given in business networking events (here are some email follow-up tips) or added to connection requests on LinkedIn.

Elevator pitches should describe the basics of your business, with a bit of pizazz. Instead of saying what you do, elevator pitches tell someone why you do it—putting you in a better position to close a sale.

Take a look at this example. Although it’s used by a college student, it acts as a fantastic basis for sales reps to build their own elevator pitch:

“Hi, I’m Jaime, I am a junior here at NYU studying psychology, and I am interested in pursuing a career in Human Resources.

Based on my interest in HR, this past summer I interned on the recruiting team at Company X which was a great experience. On campus, I am involved in the HR Club and the Finance Club which gives me great exposure to learning more about Human Resources and also about the Finance Industry.

Post-graduation, I’d like to join a top company in the finance industry working on either the recruitment or training team.

Based on that goal, I’d really like to spend my summer interning at [your company] in the [role or program name]. I think it would be an amazing place to work and help me gain valuable experience in the [industry name].”

When preparing your elevator pitch, remember, practice makes perfect.

Rehearse your pitch out loud and try to memorize it. Not only will this prevent “umm”s and “aah”s from interrupting your flow of conversation, but delivering your sales pitch confidently will also help you gain your prospective client’s trust—and generate a sale.

4. The Cold Call Pitch

Messaging apps are everywhere—but people still talk on the phone, and it doesn’t look as if it’s going away anytime soon. That’s why cold call pitches still need to be perfected. It’s often someone’s first experience with your brand, and we all know that first impressions are important in sales.

So, follow this approach when preparing your pitch: open strongly, and avoid waffling too much. (That could potentially bore your customers and lead to a hang-up.)

Don’t open your cold call pitch with “Hi, I wanted to chat with you about our product and its awesome benefits”. Let’s face it: no one likes a hard sell.

Instead, take a conversational approach. Respect their time.

Do they sound rushed, are they busy at work, or telling you they don’t have time to talk right now? Reschedule your call for a time that suits them.

Not only will this set the tone for your next chat, but it’ll also give you a chance to prepare (and personalize) your next cold call pitch.

5. The Email Pitch

Sending an email pitch to potential clients on your sales journey? This is also one of the first impressions they’ll get of your brand, and it won’t come as a surprise to learn they’re important.

In fact, cold emails helped Ryan Robinson land a $10,000/month retainer, proving they’re a key type of sales pitch that all sales reps should perfect:

But with the average person receiving 88 emails every day, you’ll need to make an impact if you want the sale.

The simplest way to do this is to perfect your subject line. It’s the first part of your sales pitch that a person will see and you’ll need to optimize this field if you want someone to open it—and we haven’t even reached the conversion stage yet.

Perfecting your subject line isn’t as complicated as you might think. In fact, you could supercharge your cold email open rates by mentioning something related to the company—like their recent mention in the news, or one of their latest launches.

Consider this: “Hey, NAME—congrats on the new hire” was one of the four subject lines that generated $4 million in revenue.

Compliments. People love them.

6. The Follow-up Pitch

Have you tried to contact a prospective customer multiple times, only to hear radio silence? Whether they’re too busy to return your calls or forgot to add it to their to-do list, don’t sleep on the power of a sales follow-up.

Delivered by email, phone call, or voicemail message, this type of sales pitch is crucial if you’re really looking to master the full sales process.

Why? 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact. If you give up at the first attempt, you could be missing out on lots of opportunities to make that all-important sale.

However, when you’re creating a follow-up pitch, it’s important to keep it brief.

Let the prospect know who you are, where you’re calling from, and why you’re so keen to chat with them. Something like this could do the trick:

“Hey, NAME! I think our tool could really help your company streamline sales processes and get you more out of your G Suite account. Shall we schedule a quick demo next week to see if this is something you’d be interested in?”

It’s to-the-point and addresses the customer’s pain point.

But how do you end this type of sales pitch? The answer isn’t clear-cut—especially if you don’t know the reason behind why they haven’t responded to your previous contact attempts.

You might want to try something like this:

“If you’re not the right person to be contacted about this, I don’t want to bug you—I’d really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.” could be the solution to their lack of a response, and you’ll have a better chance of talking with someone more likely to convert.

Perfect these six types of sales pitches to close more deals.

Are you ready to refine your sales processes and master each of these sales pitches?

Remember: practice makes perfect. Don’t let your pitches rot in an old Google Doc—make sure you’re always referring back to them and tweaking the parts that don’t seem like they’re working. Good luck!

What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch is a message used to persuade a prospect to purchase a product or service.

It can be delivered in a variety of different ways, including in-person, over the phone, or via online, TV, or radio advertisements.

In most cases, a sales pitch should be short and to the point. It should also explain or demonstrate the value of the product or service to the prospect.

Here is a presentation that gives a higher level overview of this post, or continue reading as I’ll go into more detail.

Slideshare Presentation: Sales Pitch: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering the Message

Before we get too far, I’m going to assume you already have leads to pitch. So we’re just going to get straight into actually pitching them. 

However, if you do not yet have a stream of leads, this is what LeadFuze’s software can do for you. 

LeadFuze helps you build lists of accurate leads automatically while integrating with sales outreach tools to allow you to contact those freshly verified leads.

4 Ingredients on How to Make a Good Sales Pitch

Every sales pitch consists of these four elements:

1 Audience

You’ll need to tailor your pitch to your audience so that they can benefit from what you have, but first, you’ll want the know everything about them. What are their needs? Challenges? Pain points and goals for themselves or others in society as a whole?

The most successful pitches of today begin with knowing who will be reading it – this includes understanding their preferences, habits, demographics, etc., and how those affect desirable outcomes like customer satisfaction or retention rates. You don’t want any unwanted surprises when pitching an idea!

2 Problem

There is always one problem that every business has, and it’s a big deal. Some might think this isn’t an issue for them or their industry but the truth is, we all have to face problems day in and day out – especially if you’re running your own company.

What problem is your target audience experiencing on a regular or semi-regular basis?

Highlight the problem in your sales pitch and describe its impact. If possible, share stats that will drive home the importance of solving the problem.

Let your audience know that you understand their problem completely.

3 Solution

After addressing the problem, show your audience how your product or service can help them solve it.

Don’t let your prospects’ fears about a potential solution persuade them to go in the wrong direction. Be prepared to show that you’ll be able to solve issues, like an unexpected problem or need for additional support services, and do it quickly so they can focus on their other priorities as soon as possible.

Summarize the value of your solution, and explain why they should do business with you. Make sure to break down your solution into smaller chunks or steps so that your audience will have an easier time understanding it.

4 Success

Once you’ve outlined your solution, you should let your audience know about all the benefits that come with solving their problem. If possible, provide hard data based on case studies and results from your current or past customers.

 5 Types of Sales Pitches and Ideas

In this section, we’re going to go over the most common types of sales pitches. A good sales rep should have all of these pitches prepared and ready for when a situation arises to pitch their company’s product or service.

1 One-word pitch

Can you sum up your entire brand in one word? You should be able to.

Your one-word pitch should consist of a single, powerful word that best describes what you do. All large companies have a one-word pitch.

Google’s is “search” while HubSpot has the more abstract “flywheel.” To find your own unique and meaningful word to describe your company or service can be challenging but it will help guide everything else in terms of marketing strategy and implementation 

Take some time to think about how this might work for you!

Once you decide on your one-word pitch, use it everywhere: on your website, in your sales presentations, and during meetings.

2 Elevator pitch

The elevator pitch is an effective way to communicate your company, product, or service in a memorable and concise manner. This type of sales pitch should be kept under two minutes so that it can be delivered during the course of one elevator ride (specifically when there isn’t time for much discussion).

The purpose behind having this short-yet-effective type of presentation is that you never know what opportunities will arise outside those where there are long periods available to discuss what you do.

Many people prefer getting information quickly before they run off! Click To Tweet

3 Cold call pitch

Cold calling isn’t dead. In fact, as much as 49% of buyers prefer a cold call as a first point of contact with a business.

A cold-calling pitch should always take into account what type you are dealing with so that it is tailored for each person and their needs specifically; this can make all the difference between one who becomes interested in your product/service and someone else who doesn’t want anything to do with it at all!

The prospect may have some questions after hearing about why they need our specific service – try not to ramble on too long before answering them, but also don’t say too little either because then there’s nothing left for them to ask more about.

While your cold call pitch can be longer than an elevator pitch, it shouldn’t be lengthy. Try to get to the point as soon as possible before you lose your prospect’s attention. 

4 Email pitch

Some people may think that email pitches are just a copy of cold calls. But with the power to be creative and concise, emails can actually become an even more effective way for you to communicate any message quickly.

Use subject lines like “urgent question,” or make use of bolding, underlining, italicizing–whatever it takes! Just remember that your prospects receive many marketing messages every day so try not to keep them waiting too long before they read something worth their time from you.

It’s harder to convey tone over email, so avoid using any ambiguous language in your email sales pitch.

Additionally, keep in mind that your prospects receive a lot more emails than phone calls every day, so it’s going to be harder to stand out. This makes it crucial that you use the right subject line and keep your email short and to the point.

If you are struggling to find the email address of the person you intend to pitch, here’s a resource that can help do that with ease.

5 Sales presentation pitch

The sales presentation is the traditional method of pitching a product or service. It provides you with the most space and time to pitch your offering, which takes more than just words to get people excited about what you’re selling (I mean, if I had 10 minutes in front of an audience would I spend it talking? Nope).

As always try getting straight into point as quickly as possible.

Be enthusiastic when speaking — don’t go monotone! Click To Tweet

Add some visuals that will catch someone’s eye so they can see how awesome your company really is down at their very core from not only text but also images too.

8 Sales Hooks Examples and How to Develop Them for Your Product

Your main goal is to quickly attract your target audience and make a sale. After all, what is a sales hook for?  So make use of these 8 sales hook examples that will be presented to you. 

We tell people this all the time… having the right sales hooks will make all the difference with your outbound sales efforts. Click To Tweet

Since the market is becoming more and more competitive, it’s getting harder to accomplish this goal without effective sales hooks in your sales pitch.

By sales hooks, I mean all those targeted, personalized, and emotional mental hooks that will get both the attention and the affection of your prospects.

The important thing to remember here is that these hooks are only teasers, not your full offerings. They should act as baits that give out just enough of a taste to leave your prospects wanting more.

The easiest way to understand the purpose of sales hooks is to think of them as elevator speeches.

If you had only one thirty-second chance to tell a prospect about your product, what would you say?

You need to be prepared to say what you do and what makes you special at any time, and as quickly as possible.

To be able to achieve this, you should do your research first.

This is the research that will help you gain a deeper understanding of your market’s characteristics, and consumer wants, needs, habits, and preferences so that you can make the best hook in sales.

Then, you need to find at least one thing that sets you apart from the competition.

Today’s consumers are faced with hundreds of marketing messages trying to persuade them to buy something.

You can’t expect to sell your product only by stating that it is out there on the market.

You have to develop a sales hook and objective sales pitch that is relevant to your product and your business as a whole.

Here are sales hook examples that you could use when making your sales pitch outline:

1 Tell a story that your prospects can relate to

“There is no sale without the story; no knockout without the setup.” — GaryVee

Everybody loves a good story. We can identify with them, learn something new, and get inspired.

Stories can quickly grab our attention and engage us emotionally.

This makes stories an excellent choice when creating selling hooks. 

Just be careful – do not bore your target audience with a never-ending story that will ask them to keep them listening or reading for too long.

People nowadays have short attention spans. Click To Tweet

The only way to make the sale is through stories that are brief, compelling and straight to the point.

But, how do you create such stories?

Use colorful, authentic language when describing your product.

Try to create an experience for your prospects.

Make sure that this experience includes all the positive aspects of your product.

To help people relate to your story, ask them to imagine a scenario and play along.

Structure the story in a way that will create a mental image of a better tomorrow – thanks to your product, of course.

It’s crucial here to not let yourself get lost in the story and start exaggerating. You have to make sure that your story is realistically optimistic.

Otherwise, many people won’t buy it.

Stick to the real value and features of your product, just communicate with them in an interesting way.

You can end with a lesson or a famous quote that supports your viewpoint.

2 Engage prospects with surprising questions

There’s no better way to engage your audience than asking them a question.

The more surprising the question is, the greater the engagement that you can achieve.

Just make sure to pose intelligent questions and try not to be too personal – it may offend them.

Find a counter-intuitive or unexpected piece of information, and use it in the form of a question or as an answer to a question.

Pick a less well-known fact that includes a large sum of money, a famous person related to your business or the interests of your audience.

Keep your questions relevant to your business and your product.

If you want to use provocative questions, make sure that you have an equally provocative idea to share.

Also, never start your sales hooks with harsh communication.

This doesn’t mean that you’ll have to tell tales to your prospects before you start talking about sales.

You only need to establish a certain level of credibility and trust before shooting these kinds of questions at your prospects.

3 Push the pain-point buttons

Solving the right problems for your prospects can bring you massive sales.

Getting into the problems of your customers will inevitably get you their attention.

But in order for this tactic to work, you need to know your customer’s fears, struggles, and insecurities very well. Otherwise, your efforts may backfire on you.

If you have done good research, push where it hurts the most.

Describe the greatest frustrations with the language that your target audience uses. Go into details. Show them you can relate to their troubles. Click To Tweet

This is the best way to gain their trust.

Find the things that set your product apart from others on the market.

Then, talk about the issues related to your competitors’ solutions.

Use numbers to quantify the issue, if applicable.

As soon as you remind the prospect of all the headaches, you’ll have a clear way to push your product and save the day.

This is how you’ll motivate people to purchase your offer.

4 Make use of Dichotomy

If you’re going to utilize this kind of hook, start by saying something that is true.

Then present a second truth that is in direct opposition to the first fact.

Finally, bring in your product and demonstrate how it can be used to address the problem.

In a segment of Shark Tank, the founders of DARTdrones utilized the dichotomy approach successfully in their pitch.

They proceeded by emphasizing that drones are indeed a useful piece of technology.

Then they contended that drones are prone to crashing, which directly contradicts the first truth.

That’s when they presented their solution which is a training course for drone pilots.

This contrasting approach informs us that we do not make absolute judgments, but rather that we compare two or more things.

A good fact is introduced first, and then a negative truth is introduced. This causes your audience to notice the contrast between both truths. 

They would want to see a solution, and you’ll be there teaching them how to do it.

5 Give out some genuine flattery

Flattery is the way to go when it comes to sales. People absolutely love being complimented, so use this charm during your pitch and they will be intrigued by what you have for sale!

The customer might catch on that you are buttering them up, but deep down inside they’ll feel good about themselves because of your compliments and see a positive side in all of your selling skills.

Just keep in mind that if a sales representative excessively praises a prospective client, especially on personal characteristics it may come off as insincere or creepy. 

Make sure to express your flattery in such a way that it sounds sincere and contributes to the development of a good relationship with the client.

6 Appeal to the emotions

Using emotions is a really important tactic. During your pitch, make use of them. you avoid seeming manipulative, as doing so will turn off your consumer.

Determine the business, values and beliefs of your target audience. Demonstrate how your pitch is related to their own value system.

Including material in your presentation that elicits an emotional response may be your ticket to closing a deal and receiving a “yes.”

7 Use the Pique Technique

The problem is that when you’re selling to someone who doesn’t want to be sold to, directly launching into a conventional sales presentation is a certain way to lose their interest.

This pique technique is used when you make an unusual request or ask questions that leave your audience wanting to know more about what you’re talking about. They ponder why you’re inquiring, and that keeps them engaged.

Rather than making a regular request for anything, make an uncommon question that causes them to wonder why you’re asking it.

8 Include supporting data

While you don’t intend for your pitch to appear dry, feel free to throw in a few concrete facts on your hook to support your pitch.

You need your clients to trust you, and for some individuals, objective data puts their minds at rest.

As long as you can cite credible sources for whatever statistics you put forth, a few excellently placed facts will help you appear more trustworthy.

To present your supporting facts,  make use of charts and graphs that are simple to understand. Instead of dumping all of the data on the table at once, break them down into manageable pieces.

3 Stages of a Good Sales Pitch

1 Research

You may have heard the old sales term, “It’s easier to sell an aspirin than a vitamin”.

If someone has a headache, the aspirin is a sure bet.

The vitamin, someone has to be sold.

It’s pain point vs. luxury and it’s a very accurate portrayal of how it can be easier to sell products that solve a problem and harder to sell things that don’t.

But if you really want a positive response from your sales pitch, you have to go further by taking that aspirin and putting it in the form of one of those gummy vitamins.

You’re turning something that is useful into something that’s attractive.

You could have even thought, “Maybe we could do something similar to our case study above and make a podcast?”

It could be that simple, but

• What do your targets want to hear?
• What kind of research needs to be done?
• Is there any psychology that can compel them to respond?
• Will your leads listen to a podcast?

These are all questions that must be answered before you begin to worry about packaging your offer into a sales pitch.

Showing them a boring service or product (that they really need) takes thought.

Re-positioning your sales pitch to where it’s actually interesting takes time and effort.

There are tons of ways to make people perk up when your email arrives (no matter what you’re selling).

• Restaurant owners want to get positive reviews, lower shrink, and open a second location.
• Manufacturers want to shorten supply chains and improve output without increasing overhead.
• Nursing homes want to protect, improve, and build their reputation.
• Really, take a minute and figure out what your leads want to do to improve their business.

Bonus: Here’s a quick post that could help you (if you’re still having trouble).

Go Where They Go

To begin answering those questions about your prospects, you have to start visiting the same places they do.

If you’re not willing to find what interests your targets, you have no business trying to reach out to them in the first place.

You may as well send one of those, “I was going to call you, but figured I reach out here first” canned emails.

Read some industry blogs or white papers.

Try to find some keywords and terms that seem to be buzzing around.

Once you have a loose idea of what your buyers want to hear, it’s time to go into deeper water and extract the things they’ll want right away.

We’ll give you a couple of tactics to get you started.

Find What They Already Enjoyed

Go to a site like Buzzsumo (it’s free) and see which terms are getting shared the most.

We did a sample search below for the term “lead generation“.

That quickly let us realize that it’s not a perfect method 🙂

Then, we tried searching for “dental practice management”.

We all know that someone reading this is trying to sell something to dentists.

It’s like the go-to B2B market, right?

Anyway, here’s what we found in the results.

A couple of the links there and another search let us know that dentists of an unsuccessful practice seem to look up anything from advertising tips to management best practices. (See screenshots below.)

There’s a lot of room here to find a topic that can bridge the gap between you and your ideal client.

Let Others Do the Research

Doing studies and running surveys of your audience is a great way to gather intel, but that will take a lot of time and maybe even a third party.

It’s more likely that the research you need is already available.

One of the best places to look is Pew Research.

And social media is a key component to both gaining and interacting with leads.

We went to Pew to find out if their research could help.

A quick search along the menu at the top lead us to see the “Internet & Tech” section.

We found the “Fact Sheets” tab interesting and clicked on it to find a few sets of data.

Low and behold, one of them was about social media.

In this piece, we were happy to find a ton of basic, but useful facts that could be used in creating a resource that speaks to businesses in a way they understand—facts.

The cool part is that you only need to give credit to Pew in order to use these facts in your own material. 

Like, right now, we are using Pew research to help you understand that we know what we’re talking about when it comes to researching.

Bonus Resource: These are just a couple of ways to find the content that your leads really want from you. HubSpot wrote a great post summarizing 17 different tools. You may want to bookmark it for future use.

A Word on Psychology

There is a lot that goes into the buying process (from your buyers’ point of view). Almost every step has to do with their noggin.

We aren’t going to go deep into the brain activity of the consumer here, but we will cover the basic points that you need to know when creating your irresistible offer.

Copyblogger wrote a great post that is worth reading. In it, they state that “people make decisions emotionally” and “people justify decisions with facts”.

It’s these two keys that help you get responses from your sales pitch.

Giving your targets something they want, triggers them emotionally.

You are giving them a resource that will help them attain their goals, fulfill their desires, etc…

At the same time, you are setting yourself (or your brand) as the expert.

Simply put, you compel with emotion and you sell with facts. Click To Tweet

Readers, viewers, and listeners all need to be moved from their wants to their needs over the course of an email or two. Let’s break it down.

Bottom Line: If you get this, you can get leads to respond. Creating a compelling offer happens when you can make leads emotionally desire a result (that you convey with your resource) and factually prove that you can create the result shown.

Don’t Stop There

Once you find that bridge between what you’re selling and what leads want to learn, it’s important to run the full hundred meters of this race.

It would be tempting to just spin the data you looked up into an original post or white paper. Or to hire someone on Fiverr to write content that barely passes inspection.

Nope! Don’t do it.

If you’re going to do that, just send spam. It’ll work about the same.

One of the best tips we could give you to make your pitch unique is to find out the most shared and valuable piece of content—and make it better.

Think about the real-life sales pitch example we gave.

Do you know how much effort it takes to record a podcast and upload it on the internet? If you’re interested, here’s a detailed post and a couple of hours worth of video tutorials on the topic.

It wasn’t easy, but the results speak for themselves.

Why would you put so much into your business and not do your best to sell the product?

Stage One Recap:

1. Take what you have to sell.
2. Find (related) things leads want to know.
3. Research to find out what they already like.
4. Make a (better) resource for them.
5. Highlight (factually) your ability to solve a problem.

2 Packaging

Hopefully, your sales hook is starting to become clear.

If you’ve read this far, your mind should be starting to think about the ways you can grab the eyes and ears of your leads in ways that don’t start with a cold, hard sales pitch.

Now, we’ll change gears a bit and talk about how to package your sales pitch within the confines of a cold email.

You’re Nothing if Not Relevant

There is a lot to convey in such a short amount of text.

You have 2-4 sentences (5 max), to tell them what you do and give them a way to learn more.

That’s not a lot of room for an introduction.

In fact, you shouldn’t introduce yourself.

That’s why you have one of those fancy signatures at the end.

With Gmail, they already see your face anyway.

Just get to the point; the clear value that you hope to tell them more about in a conversation.

“Delivery of your value statement should take no more than 15 to 20 seconds — generally less.” — Dave Hibbard

Here are the elements of a relevant cold email:

Subject Line

You’ve probably read several posts about this one little thing.

It dominates that discussion of outreach, because it’s so important to the open rate.

We could hash out those details, but we’ve written extensively on the subject. Here are few links on the topic (from us and others).

• Subject Line for Cold Email – The Art, Science, and Successful Examples (LeadFuze)
• Follow Up Email Subject Line – How to Write Something Compelling that Actually Works (LeadFuze)
• 164 Best Email Subject Lines to Boost Your Email Open Rates (OptinMonster)

How to start a sales pitch

Most readers can see the first sentence, making it the second most important part of the email (subject line being first).

Make the first sentence concise and exactly what your ideal buyers would want to know. Click To Tweet

There are a few sales pitch ideas that you could use, depending on who you’re trying to contact.

The Gush: If your audience is a reach up like to CEOs, celebrities, or others who may be publicly notable—tell them that you enjoy their [insert thing they do here].

• Sales Pitch Example: We’ve been a user/reader/subscriber of [blank] for years and are big fans of…

The Brag: This is where you start off with a closely related and well-known client of yours to prove that you are a potential fit for their brand right up front.

• Sales Pitch Example: We just finished a project for [insert fancy-pants customer you’ve worked with here] and thought….

The Point: You know your leads. If they don’t want their time wasted, often times the best thing to do is give them the goods in the first line.

• Sales Pitch Example: I was wondering if you were looking for more social media leads for your dental practice?

Question Time

Make sure that one of your few sentences is a question.

It’s like the call-to-action.

The whole email should be geared toward getting a response.

You should actually include a couple of sentences that maximize the potential to getting an email back.

For instance, (using the question above) asking a direct question, first sentence, about their business needs (e.g. do you want more XYZ?).

Then, end with a less confrontational and related question. Something like, “Which social media platform gives you the best results?”

Doing this provides two opportunities for the lead to answer, one aggressive and the other not.

Which question a lead answers is also a great way to gauge where they stand. Click To Tweet

If they answered the less aggressive question, they may need more nurturing.

But if they email back asking for quotes—it may be a faster qualifying process.

The Signature

Your signature should be the only contact information that you give.

Don’t introduce yourself, don’t start out with who your company is, none of that.

Put all relevant data in your (professional) email signature at the end of the email (before the P.S.).

Don’t make it too long. They don’t need to know your birthday, favorite color, and NO inspirational quote.

• Name
• Role
• Company (with address)
• Your immediate contact data

Post Script (AKA P.S.)

Always include a P.S. in your cold emails.

It’s more likely to get read than the second sentence.

O.k., so we may not have hard data on that last sentence.

That said, post scripts get read by everyone who opens the email.

If you have a great resource that is perfectly tailored to your ideal leads, this would be the ideal place to put it. Those leads who opened your email and shrugged with a “Meh” may look down and say “Ohh”, leading to an eventual response.

Remember our case study? This is how you go from ZERO to 71.

3 Delivery

We have to go over one last critical piece to the cold outreach puzzle—timing.

Your compelling product pitch is going to be the cornerstone of your outreach, but most of the time it won’t take on the first send.

Oftentimes, it takes multiple touchpoints and emails to get a response from even the best leads.

In order to make the most of your lead list, you’ll want to send several emails; timed in a way that gets a response without annoying people.

We go into a lot more detail on when to send cold email.

6 Sales Pitch Best Practices

We’ve discussed the sales pitch from a lot of different angles in this blog post.

Before we wrap this up, we’ll go over a few best sales pitch lines and practices you should keep in mind to ensure that your sales pitch is as effective as possible.

1 Start with a question

A good way to start a sales pitch is to ask the prospect a question. 

Avoid starting your sales pitch by listing a bunch of facts (e.g., who you are and what your company does). Instead, begin your sales pitch with a question which helps to start a dialogue between you and the prospect.

Try asking a question about something you and the prospect would agree on, such as an undeniable fact or truth within their industry. You can start your question in one of the following ways:

• You know how…
• Doesn’t it seem like…
• Have you ever noticed…

Getting the prospect to agree with you right at the beginning will help you build rapport and frame the conversation in the right way, giving you a better chance of making the sale.

2 Keep it conversational and friendly

While you should certainly practice your sales pitch, it shouldn’t sound practiced. Don’t turn your pitch into a monologue.

Think of talking with a prospect as chatting with a friend who could use your help. Keep the conversation casual and genuinely try to help the prospect while presenting your solution.

3 Focus on the benefits

Focus your sales pitch on the benefits that your solution can provide. Show the prospect how your product or service can solve their pain points, and the results it can generate for the prospect’s company.

This will help make the conversation highly relevant and interesting to your prospects, allowing you to grab their attention and get them interested in what you have to offer.

4 Make it short

You shouldn’t strive to explain everything about your solution in your first conversation with the prospect. Your sales pitch should result in the prospect wanting to learn more about your offering.

If you’ve done your research, you should be able to deliver your pitch within a couple of sentences.

Apart from intriguing prospects, a short pitch will also show them that you’re considerate of their time.

5 Take advantage of data

Your prospects most likely get pitched by companies similar to yours all the time. They hear a lot of different claims, some of them hard to believe or prove.

If you want to make your sales pitch believable, use actual data and stats to support your claims. Mention case studies you’ve produced, as well as any testimonials from satisfied customers that you might have accrued so far.

This will help prospects have an easier time trusting you and having faith in the effectiveness of your product or service.

6Use storytelling

People are naturally attracted to stories. Storytelling is a great way to captivate your prospects and make them lower their guard.

Delivering your sales pitch in the form of a story allows you to build rapport and create a stronger connection between you and the prospect. A story helps prospects relate to your brand more, making it easier for you to sell to them.

Tell the prospects a story that covers where their business is now, what problems it’s facing, and where it could be if they had a way to solve their problem. Then, tell them how your product can help them get there.

7 Great Sales Pitch Examples

Before we conclude this guide, we’re going to mention a few of the best sales pitch examples out there. 

1 G2Crowd

G2Crowd’s pitch revolves around agitating a pain point of their target audience and then offering their solution as a way to help their audience solve it.

They highlight a clear disconnect between what’s currently available in the market and what prospects actually need.

This sample sale pitch accomplishes all of this while staying relatively short and focusing on the benefits the G2Crowd platform offers to its users.

2 Vidyard

Vidyard’s pitch addresses its core audience right from the start and focuses on the competitive advantage its product has, as well as the clear benefits it can provide to its users. 

They also make sure to mention a number of different use cases for their product, helping prospects quickly understand all of Vidyard’s possibilities and making them imagine using it within their own company.

3 Brightfunnel

Brightfunnel’s sales pitch is the shortest one on this list. In just 15 seconds, they manage to explain what their platform is about and how it can benefit their target audience.

By keeping their pitch short, they manage to both keep their audience’s attention as well as have them asking for more.

4 Scrub Daddy

The founder of Scrub Daddy, Aaron Krause, presented his sales pitch for his scrubbing tool, which changes texture depending on how hot the water is, on Shark Tank years ago.

In addition to being able to rapidly describe how his product addresses cleaning issues around the house, he was able to show those claims in a live environment, which helped to make the pitch a success. 

For added interest and entertainment, he sprinkled in some lightheartedness and humor throughout the presentation and demonstrations.

5 Goody bag

Goodybag is a catering service that provides lunch for businesses. That isn’t exactly a new concept, is it? However, there are a few unique characteristics of the business that distinguish it from other comparable services.

As a result, the entrepreneur in this pitch example takes the time to clarify what the business is NOT from the beginning. This aids in the clarification of precisely what the company provides and what its unique value proposition entails.

6 Mama I Want to Write

Ebonee Monique Thompson of Mama I Want to Write, presented the narrative of her business at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Conference, which served as another example of an elevator pitch. Despite the fact that she just has a few minutes, her sales presentation gives a thorough overview of her service.

In a short amount of time, she described the issue – individuals who want to write but don’t have the time or energy – and the services her business provides to help them address the problem of time and concentration. This includes outlining many distinct target audience members who may benefit from this service – and then walking listeners through the process of using the service.

7 Lazarus 3D

Lazarus 3D is a medical technology company that develops equipment for medical institutions. Beginning with a clear explanation of who they manufacture their product for and what issue it addresses for medical facilities, physicians, and their patients, the creator of this sales pitch sample sets the tone for the rest of the presentation.

She also used real-world analogies and incorporates graphics into her sales presentation to assist people to better understand the idea she is trying to sell.

At the conclusion, she poses a question to really get people to start thinking about the significance of what she is presenting to them.

A question to your audience at the conclusion of a sales presentation, whether delivered online, through email, or in person, may often assist to prolong the discussion and get people thinking about how they could really use your service.

Find Prospects to Make Sales Pitch

Now that you know how to make the best sales pitch, you still have one problem to deal with. 

How would you find prospects to make your sales pitch to? It could take some time if you’d go around and search for them one by one. 

Lucky you! LeadFuze is here to help with that hard task.  

LeadFuze connects with popular CRMs and ATSs, which eliminates the need for you to manually enter all of the data. It will be a completely hands-free experience.

Conclusion:

If your goal is conversations with quality leads, then your offer (aka your sales pitch) is what you need to focus on.
Everything should be tested, but it’s the offer that’s most important. It needs to resonate with your target audience.

Make it a good one!

One thing that causes a lot of consternation, at least in my life, is the need to present ideas in a short, catchy way–in what’s called an “elevator pitch,” because you’re supposed to be able to explain your entire big idea to someone while the two of you are in an elevator.

How hard can it be, right? Well, it turns out to be very, very challenging.

In my friend Dan Pink’s terrific new book, To Sell Is Human: the Surprising Truth about Moving Others, he has a great list of tips for making a pitch. As he points out, the ability quickly to intrigue others with ideas is a task that more and more people face. “Selling” is something that many of us do.

Here are Dan’s six strategies for making a great pitch:

1. The one-word pitch. That’s right. Distill your ideas down to just one short word. Think “Priceless” or “Search.” (I’m a big fan of the one-word approach; I use it to choose a theme for the year.)

2. The question pitch. By asking a question, you invite others to come up with their own reasons for agreeing. (Note: this strategy only works if underlying arguments are strong.) Think “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

3. The rhyming pitch. Who knew? People embrace ideas more easily when they’re expressed in rhyme. Think “Happy wife, happy life” or “Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.” (My examples, not Dan’s.)

4. The subject-line pitch. We all want to have our emails read! Utility, curiosity, and specificity are keys to making subject lines more effective. “3 simple but proven ways to get your e-mail opened” or “Some weird things I just learned about e-mail.”

5. Twitter pitch. Say it in 140 characters or less.

6. The Pixar pitch. Express your idea in the Pixar story sequence: “Once upon a time _____. Every day, _____. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.”

Reading these, I’m reminded of Lytton Strachey’s observation, “Perhaps the best test of a man’s intelligence is his capacity for making a summary.” To be able to summarize your ideas in these six ways, you have to have a very clear understanding of what you’re trying to express. And this is surprisingly difficult–at least for me. I spend most of my time trying to grasp the obvious and then to write it down clearly. It takes all my strength.

If you want to watch the trailer for Dan’s excellent book, To Sell Is Human, watch here.

I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in — no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project.

Also …

• Is your book group reading Happier at Home or The Happiness Project? If you’d like the one-page discussion guide, just email me. Or if you’re reading the books in your spirituality book group, Bible study group, or the like, ask for the spirituality discussion guide.

One thing that causes a lot of consternation, at least in my life, is the need to present ideas in a short, catchy way—in what’s called an “elevator pitch,” because you’re supposed to be able to explain your entire big idea to someone while the two of you are in an elevator.

How hard can it be, right? Well, it turns out to be very, very challenging.

In my friend Dan Pink’s terrific new book, To Sell Is Human: the Surprising Truth about Moving Others, he has a great list of tips for making a pitch. As he points out, the ability quickly to intrigue others with ideas is a task that more and more people face. “Selling” is something that many of us do.

Dan’s Six Strategies for Making a Great Pitch

1. The One-Word Pitch. That’s right. Distill your ideas down to just one short word. Think “Priceless” or “Search.” (I’m a big fan of the one-word approach. I use it to choose a theme for the year.)

2. The Question Pitch. By asking a question, you invite others to come up with their own reasons for agreeing. (Note: this strategy only works if underlying arguments are strong.) Think: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

3. The Rhyming Pitch. Who knew? People embrace ideas more easily when they’re expressed in rhyme. Think: “Happy wife, happy life” or “Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.” (My examples, not Dan’s.)

4. The Subject-Line Pitch. We all want to have our emails read! Utility, curiosity, and specificity are keys to making subject lines more effective. “Three simple but proven ways to get your e-mail opened” or “Some weird things I just learned about e-mail.”

5. Twitter Pitch. Say it in 140 characters or less.

6. The Pixar Pitch. Express your idea in the Pixar story sequence: “Once upon a time _____. Every day, _____. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.”

Reading these, I’m reminded of Lytton Strachey’s observation, “Perhaps the best test of a man’s intelligence is his capacity for making a summary.”

To be able to summarize your ideas in these six ways, you have to have a very clear understanding of what you’re trying to express. And this is surprisingly difficult, at least for me. I spend most of my time trying to grasp the obvious and then write it down clearly. It takes all my strength.

Also …

• Is your book group reading Happier at Home or The Happiness Project? If you’d like the one-page discussion guide, just email me. Or if you’re reading the books in your spirituality book group, Bible study group, or the like, ask for the spirituality discussion guide.
• I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in! No need to catch up, just jump in right now.

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Gretchen Rubin is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Happiness Project—an account of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier—and the recently released Happier at Home. On her popular blog, The Happiness Project, she reports on her daily adventures in the pursuit of happiness. For more doses of happiness and other happenings, follow Gretchen on Facebook and Twitter.

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