It’s time to improve your sales pitch with these 5 tips
I launched my coaching and consulting firm a couple of years ago. One of the first things I did was update my personal profile and Profinder profile on LinkedIn. One keyword in my profile title and headline has garnered me a great deal of attention — coach. This change opened me up to a slew of sales pitches on and off LinkedIn. If you think there are many coaches, you would be surprised at the number of companies that sell products and services to coaches.
The sales pitches are weak and can be highly annoying. I do not come to this conclusion blindly. I worked in sales and business development for over ten years. I know about sales funnels, cold calls, warm leads, RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs. I also know how challenging it is to get new business and the fierce competition for a slice of a company’s resources budget. Because I have “been there and done that,” I typically am compassionate with the sales pitches I have received. However, it is becoming more challenging to do so when the people contacting me have a weak approach and know nothing about me or my business.
Most often, a business owner will not share why they are not responding to your calls, emails, or InMails, so I am happy to share my thoughts and observations. You can find the reasons and ways to improve your sales approach with these five tips:
1. Research the company and the business owner you want to contact.
Please know something about me and my company before you pitch me your product or service. I can always tell when you have not done your research. An immediate turn-off for me is not spelling my name correctly or not writing the full name of my company. I cannot tell you the number of emails I have received that read, “I love what you are doing at Nichole Wesson.” Huh? My business name is Nichole Wesson Coaching & Consulting. And, I am not Nicole, but Nichole, with an “h.”
2. Know the business owner or contact is researching you too.
I wish more salespeople understood a simple Google search (any search engine or LinkedIn search) will tell me if it is worth my time to even respond with a simple “No thank you” or “I’m not interested.” I had one guy contact me with “Need your coaching services” in the subject line and “Are you still a business coach/consultant? If so, are you accepting new clients?” in the body of the email. I could tell from his email that he was not looking for a coach but to sell me something and a quick online search confirmed it.
3. Do not assume or take the approach that the business needs your products or services.
This one is a big turn-off and one I can see a mile away. It happens the most with sales pitches from lead generation companies. The assumption is that a business owner needs a company to provide them with warm leads. The same applies to email pitches for marketing services. When I get these messages, I know the sales rep has not looked at my LinkedIn profile and read my About summary. In my summary, I write that I have sales and marketing experience, over 20 years combined for both.
4. Create a unique approach. Tailor your message to the potential client.
I believe there is a script or email template somewhere online that sales reps use and duplicate word-for-word. One guy emailed a day after another guy emailed me with the same script. I must have been in a mood, so I called him on it. He said the other guy works with them, even though I never shared the guy’s name. But he went further and asked what impression I get from receiving the same message twice from different people. Here is my response:
There are several impressions and insights I make when I receive the same message from different people.
The first is the message is not personalized to who you are contacting. This shows you have not done any research about the person, their business, or their interests, nor tailored your message to them.
I also see a script that conveys from the company, a lack of trust in individual employees to craft their own messages.
Receiving the same message from several people also tells me the company, organization, or team you work for and with is disjointed. It reflects a lack of communication among team members as to who they are contacting as prospects.
The approach of using the same message is remarkably similar to spamming individuals to see what sticks.
Finally, you are trying to sell your marketing services for using a social media platform, specifically Instagram, but the message you sent makes me further question your ability in marketing.
I hope that helps.
5. DO NOT, do not put someone on your mailing list through your CRM without their permission.
I can always tell when my email address has been added to a CRM (customer relationship management system). The footer and the opt-out option give it away. I know why they do it. Doing so makes it easier to track what emails have been sent and when. It is an excellent tool to manage follow-ups. It also makes it possible for the sales rep to contact me six months to a year later because even though I have opt-outed of emails, I am still in their system. Here is my thought about being added to a customer relationship management system — we don’t have a relationship.
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Sales can be difficult, but no one breaks through doing the same thing everyone else is doing, over and over again. In his book, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, Daniel Pink writes, “To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources — not to deprive that person, but to leave him (or her) better off in the end” (p. 38). A business owner’s time is one of their most significant commodities. A salesperson better make that call or email worth it; otherwise, they are wasting the owner or business contact’s most valuable resource.
You must be unique and create a unique approach to you, the salesperson, not the company. Remember, most folks buy from you, not because they necessarily need what you are selling. They buy from you because of you.
