Pitching to other companies to get more sales should be customized in all facets. This is because many companies are pitching all the time and people get inundated with offers. Whether as an individual or a corporate officer, people gradually become blind to the series of new pitches and sales offers when they receive too many.
Here are a few reasons why pitches should be more individualized or at least different from what the competition is presently doing.
1. Stand Out from the Crowd
When every company within an industry is giving away pens with their brand imprinted on it at the next business expo, plan to do something different. Make what you’re pitching to a prospective client that little bit different, and your giveaway items distinctive too. In many ways, it’s how you get remembered from a sea of branding and marketing through a tradeshow.
Not only should your company give away something different than the rest, for example you can customize flash drives to your own design, it also needs to be distinctive. Different shapes, colors and design choices all ensure the brand gets remembered. And when it comes to sending written proposals, why not try something like a web-based business proposal template? Those kinds of tools will help you create something that's more modern, streamlines the process and is a visually appealing way of pitching a contract as well.
2. Avoid Using the Same Sales Pitch for Years
The wording of each pitch over the phone tends to be the same within a certain industry. Also, people who’ve worked in a sales role and move around for a better cut of the deal tend to repeat the same sales pitch. This has to stop.
While using what has always worked tends to be profitable, it can also be negative for the people on the receiving end. The success rate of pitches that are close to identical – just swap out the name of the product – declines significantly over time when the competition is doing the same thing.
Try out subtle new approaches at first to see how they perform. Quite often, if they touch the same emotional chord, then they will be more persuasive because the person won’t be bored by the sales approach. They’ll be more curious about it and might even want to see what’s different with your sales call to the others they’re receiving.
3. Test Different Pitches Using A/B Testing
Over time, be more adventurous by trying completely different pitches than what was used in the past. Throw out what’s been used and start drawing up a fresh pitch from a blank sheet of paper or a new Word document. Put yourself into the mind of the person answering the call, receiving the email or taking that initial meeting. What are they expecting? What are they looking for? How can you peak their interest?
4. Individual Pitches for Each Customer
Only by trying different pitches for each customer can you truly use a tailored approach. This requires sales staff that are highly skilled in the art of pitching. They learn about the customer sufficiently to customize their script accordingly, leading to a higher success rate. It does require a motivated sales team with a sales manager who pushes them get to know customers better before making a pitch.
Not every person on the sales team will have the requisite skills to create individualized pitches. To be able to adjust their pitch as they go through it depending on the reaction of the person they’re speaking with is an acquired skill. These skills are developed and honed with time and patience to get their execution down completely. At that point, the closing rate will be way higher than when using standardized pitches for every person.
Changing up how you pitch to prospective clients for new deals, products or services is a tricky thing. It’s necessary to adjust, improve and customize continually to perfect your approach for the best results.
