A sales elevator pitch, no matter your position in sales or what you are selling, one rule always remains present, a prospect’s time is precious, and being able to communicate your message quickly and precisely is what makes an effective salesperson. Being able to communicate your message and purpose for reaching out to a prospect in a short time frame allows the prospect to quickly identify if they wish to hear more about your service or product. We will explore what an elevator pitch is and how to make an effective one. For more information on a sales elevator pitch consider this article from HubSpot.
What is a Sales Elevator Pitch?
A sales elevator pitch is essentially a brief and meant to be a persuasive speech that you can use to spark interest in what your organization does. Usually, a sales elevator pitch is between 15-30 seconds, the goal is to gain enough interest from the prospect that they are willing to engage in another conversation. It is important to note that a sales elevator pitch is not meant to be a chance to close a deal, it is meant to be a way to help you qualify leads and allow your prospects to invest time learning about your product or service.
What Makes an Effective Pitch?
The first step in developing your sales pitch is to introduce yourself to the prospect you are talking with, for more information on the key steps in building your elevator pitch view this article. You can write a sentence for example about who you are and what your role in your company is. The purpose is to give the prospect some background information, so they understand the purpose of you reaching out to them. It is important to keep the information about yourself short and to a minimum, in the eyes of the prospect, they will not be that interested to learn that much about you. The main message in your elevator pitch is your value proposition. You will need to address what your company does better with its product or service and this should not be more than a 1-2 sentence statement about the value of what you are selling. Some important things to remember to avoid when creating an effective pitch can include the following:
• The rep spends too much time talking about himself/herself
• Never gets specific or gives anything actionable
• It is too long
• Has not provided examples or facts that can help capture attention
You may want to read your pitch out loud to practice and see if it has a natural flow to it. If your elevator pitch sounds unnatural or you forget important information, your pitch will lose its effectiveness.
Tell a Story
If you find you have more time for your pitch, you can create a story that describes how your product or service has benefited your customers. For more information on the importance of stories, you can read this article. Telling a story also gives you more of an opportunity to provide context beyond sets of statistics and facts. A good story will make your sales pitch more memorable in the minds of the prospect who’s on the receiving end. Stories can be a way to show the importance of taking action. Stories can be focused on creating a sense of fear of loss or an opportunity to gain something. These will be effective for driving the prospect into further engagement with you.
Important steps to consider when developing your story include the following:
• Provide structure
• Keep it brief
• Appeal to emotion
Tailor your story to your prospect and most importantly do not over-rehearse your story. For more information on tips on creating an effective story consider this article.
Your Goal
Remember the goal of your pitch is to communicate to your prospect what you are offering to them in a short and brief statement.
If you need help with your sales elevator pitch, you can always reach out to me for a conversation.
