When in front of potential customers what sort of things do we need to think about before making any sort of sales pitch? Well it needs to be right and appropriate to the audience you are addressing. One of the biggest things potential customers don’t like is a disconnect between them and the person trying to sell to them.
So you need to think like your potential customers or clients and you also need to make sure that the messages and language you are using is right and appropriate to your audience.
Know as much as possible about your audience before you start to talk to them. If you are addressing a room full of people you don’t know at all you have to keep your messages as general and as all encompassing as possible, you can still use all of the techniques we are going to discuss, except the one about being absolutely specific in one to one scenarios.
If you are addressing a large general group then you need to understand what their background is – using a more specific pitch is much more powerful. If you are addressing a group of accountants then you might use a different style and language than if you were speaking to a group of zoologists, even when you are selling the same product or services. If you know they belong to a particular group or market sector then a little research in to the major things affecting that marketplace is a great thing to understand because you tie some general points, issues or opportunities to your sales pitch.
Likewise business size is an important thing to consider, if you are talking about “Your IT team” but your audience are 30 small business owners who don’t have their own IT department you immediately create a barrier between you and your audience. By understanding your audience as best you can you create much more powerful connected messages that will resonate and hit home with your audience and you will engage more of them. If your language, offering or pitch is too far away from their current world you will turn them away from what you saying and even if you have a fantastic product or service they won’t hear you as they will have switched off long before they get to hear that part.
Having a great sales pitch is important but also having the confidence to deliver a great pitch or presentation is key. Simon Raybould is a specialist trainer in presentation skills and the director of Aware Plus.
He’s based in the north of England, working nationally. Oh, and he’s a reasonably proficient fire eater! Simon will be providing some great guest blog content next time so keep your eyes peeled.
Image sourced from Pixabay
