Many of us started out as ‘Accidental Sales People’ – I did myself many years ago and went on to have a very successful career, but I always maintained at the outset I wasn’t a salesperson I just loved to ‘help people’.
When I launched my own Sales Coaching & Training business last year to put my years of experience into helping others – one of the big shout outs from small business owners was ‘I have something to sell but I’m not a salesperson’.
I went on to create a programme for ‘Accidental Sales People’ 6 months ago and it is going from strength to strength, soon to be going online to help those people who started a business for many different reasons, but it’s unlikely that the reason was to become a salesperson.
One of the first things we have to work on is our 60 second pitch to share with others what we do – this can feel very daunting in itself. I wanted to share some of my learnings with you…
Firstly, when do we use our 60 second pitch/commercial or sometimes known as our elevator pitch?
It can be anything from networking events to adhoc conversations or quite simply you are asked by a stranger ‘so what do you do?’.
It’s understandable when we are passionate about what we do, and we live it and breathe it on a daily basis that we fall into ‘our own language’ when doing our ‘pitch’.
It’s quite easy to tell when we haven’t quite got it right when we see that glazed look appearing in the eyes of the people we are sharing it with – when they don’t fully ‘get’ what we do, what we are offering and who needs it.
Some common mistakes that we can make when delivering our Pitch…
- We write/deliver it in the words of an Expert (us) in our field – and not in the words a customer can relate to.
- We talk about features not in outcomes to the potential customer – they want to hear about the difference that our product/service will make to their lives. What problems we are solving or solutions we are providing.
- We take too long getting to the point – we have 7 seconds to grab their attention, and the next 53 seconds to keep it!
- We try to cover too much in one pitch – we need to have different pitches for different services/products that we offer.
- We don’t always treat it as a 60 story with a purpose that has a beginning, middle and end.
Things to consider when writing your pitch/commercial…
- Have a great opening line that really grabs people’s attention.
- The BIGGER the problem we can solve for people the more they will ‘need’ our product/service.
- Giving some examples of people we have helped makes it real and relatable
- When we do our ‘Pitch’, we are not only doing it to one potential customer we are potentially delivering it to all their contacts. The majority of people will know someone who wants our product/service and will pass our details on – most people like to help others.
- How we deliver our pitch is as important as the content – people buy into people. Make it memorable for the right reasons.
- Always have our contact details available so potential customers know where to find us when they ‘need’ us.
- Finally, a great exercise is to try our pitch out on some of our connections who don’t really ‘get’ what we do and ask for feedback i.e. they relay back to you the benefits of your product and why they would need it – always interesting! I do this with my new clients.
- Be adaptable and know our audience – one pitch doesn’t work for all.
Finally, never underestimate the power of a great pitch. It can open the door to many bigger conversations. But equally, don’t wait for it to be ‘perfect’ before you start sharing it. The only way to get better, and know what works for you is to try it out – often. After all, it’s meant to feel natural, show your personality and be engaging to the person listening to it.
I have the pleasure of helping people perfect their pitch and seeing the difference it has made to their results and their confidence when it feels right for them and their potential clients.
Need some help ‘perfecting’ your pitch?
