Business is about making connection. Enlarging the sales pool is done through meeting and connecting with people. However, people hardly have the patience to lap up an extensive sales pitch. Hence, making the sales pitch short, brief and targeted will pull more buyers, or users, through the funnel.
Truth be told, the fast-paced economy leaves no place for haranguing. Whether pitching through ad copy, or proposal, could even be face-to-face, it is important to get to the point quickly.
Know why this is important? Marketing and sales are getting lousy. In-app ads are pitching. Highway billboards are pitching. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Yahoomail, too have something to sell always. At the retail stores roll up banners, gandolas; sidewalk neon-sized boards are trying to draw attention to some services and products. The TVs, radios and blogs are no exemption.
Seriously it is noisy out there. Everyone is trying to keep sane by shutting down more sales pitches – whether they are direct or indirect. Therefore, any business or salesperson thatcan make a compelling emotional connection in not more than 3-minute will sure get some attention.
This is it:
- Pick one solution – Don’t target multiple benefits such as ‘cost savings’ plus ‘coolest fan blade’. Take one and home-in smartly on that. Of course, it helps manage the little time you have to make an impression.
- Tell a story about the customer pain you are trying to solve – Everyone is running away from pains. Pleasure is an attraction. The more you can relate how your product will reduce the customers’ headache [sort of “the noiseless grinding machine that won’t disturb Ted who had already gone to bed”], the more you will break that dislike for sales pitch.
- Show-tell your solutions – Developing a smart way to demonstrate your products advantage can bring you more wins. Youtube and Instagram have provided ample platforms to leverage what a product can do. Remember that grinding machine that ground an iPhone to powder? That image sticks. Huawei once gave a multi-camera mobile phone it aimed to launch to a top a professional mountaineer. The firm asked the climber to take the phone on a hike, take shots as freely as possible. During the launch, instead of switching to series of presentations, Huawei invited the climber to show pictures he took on snow-capped mountains and talk about the feeling it brings to keep such fond memories.
