Pitch Perfect – Use the Elevator Pitch to Effectively Engage

“Pitch Perfect” is more than just a popular musical movie – it should also be your sales team’s mantra. Your representatives should be aiming to execute their sales pitch perfectly to each client they contact, ideally resulting in closing deals and bringing in sales. However, there’s always room for improvement and refinement to make your discussions more fruitful, more powerful and – most importantly – more successful.

One of the most popular sales strategies today is the “elevator pitch,” a brief, concise and informative pitching strategy that aims to cover all of your points and show your product or service’s value in a succinct manner. Named the elevator pitch, the focus is on getting the entirety of the pitch down to about 30 seconds – or approximately the length of an average elevator ride, says Business News Daily. The main focus is to keep the time spent on outlining the entire purpose of your conversation within that 30-second “Goldilocks Zone.” Pitches lasting longer than that tend to lead to clients zoning out and losing their attention, and anything less runs the risk of omitting important details about what you’re offering.

Elevator PitchThe key to an effective elevator pitch is the nine C’s, says Chris O’Leary, author of “Elevator Pitch Essentials.” Among these are “Clear,” which means that your pitch should be in very plain English and not rely on highly technical or industry-specific jargon, and “Conversational” in that your discussion should be casual and not overtly pushing to close the deal based on a pitch alone. The effective elevator pitch should also clearly show the value of the product or service without pumping your company or organization – you want potential buyers to learn about your solution to a need they may not even have known they had, and engage them on that basis.

Last, you want your pitch to be the start of a more personalized conversation that allows you an opportunity to better understand your customer’s needs. Your elevator pitch should highlight your service or product and how it can benefit the buyer, but still leave openings for follow-up questions. Kexino CEO Gee Ranasinha sums it up well in the Business News Daily article: “Talk about how you offer a solution to the problem without getting into under-the-hood mechanics of how it works, or why it’s better than the competition. Don’t tie up every loose end — leave openings for questions.” Having these opportunities for engagement allows you to entice the listener to participate in a more in-depth discussion with you, providing an excellent way to drive your points home and close the deal.

Refining your pitch is only part of the sales process – having the right people on your team is another. CSS works to connect highly qualified and experienced sales professionals with top-tier employers in a wide variety of sales fields. Contact us today and find out more about how we can help you find the right company for your next career move or perfect candidate for your organization!