why you need a good sales pitch

Never underestimate the importance writing down your sales pitch even before you go about making that cold call which will bring in business.

Here are the essentials

First Rule: Watch and Learn:

Making a sales pitch is an art not a rocket science. And to learn art you need to learn it from the guru. So, before you make the first sales call watch how your Senior ( and successful at that) sales guy does it. watch him, understand the pitch he is using and learn from him. I am not asking you to ape him. I want you to learn is modus operandi and tweak the sales pitch the way you see it fit.

Second Rule: Ink it down:
No point in watching the guy do the stuff, nod your head and walk off! that wont do. You need to watch him do it form. If you have a VP of sales and if he is the amicable kinda guy then watch him giving the sales pitch. I have always noticed that the best sales guy are always ready to impart knowledge. If he is the nice-types , then ask him to show you how it is done. And no, dont ape him. learn from him. Do it 20 times for 20 days if you have it.
And write your own sales pitch. I mean it .. literally .. write it down, mono ami. Write down your sales pitch word by word, syllable by syllable. I don't care how long it will take you to do it. If you are smart - 1 day. if you are bright - 2days . If you are the hard working type- 3 days. Anything more , then you are gonner! So, get the first draft ready, think about the pitch, the product you gonna sell and refine it.
Dont worry the pitch will get further refined as you go down the lane of selling.


Third Rule : Get the decision maker on the phone:
No use in dilly- dalling with the guys who cant make decisions. At best he can help you connect with the top guy . But when you make the call ask " Can you please connect me to the head of Marketing" or " Head of Business development" or do what i did when i made my 10th sales call " Can you connect me to the Chairman of your company , please" .. Of course you wont be connected to him, but if you aim high you are bound to hit couple of inches down that , right ? So someone will connect you to top dog in the company. Make sure he is the decision maker.
And go ahead and make your pitch, Sir!


Fourth Rule: Get Rejected:
Thats right! If you get the sale done in your first call then where is the fun, dude? You need to get rejected like zillion times to become the great sales guy you wanna be ! So go ahead and fail and fail royally ! But make sure you learn your lessons from it. If you dont know where you are going wrong, then ask your sales head to sit with you when you are making the call. That ought to do the trick. He will point out the mistakes to you. Now, he may not be the best judge but at least you will get a start , right ?


Fifth Rule: follow.. follow .. follow-up:
This is really important . If you are gonna be the sales guy in your company , dont ever forget the cardinal rule. After you make you sales pitch send in a follow up mail saying - " It was great talking you. I will connect with you at time at date as agreed. Meanwhile, you can reach me at the following contact coordinates". and then go ahead and give your contact details.
And if the sales call was a successful one then follow up it with a mail on the details of the product/service you are offering in the form of pdf format. Try to send in your details in your pdf format only !
And hey, remember the rule, follow up.. keep doing the follow up thingy. If he doesnt reply then mail him after couple of days (you will instinctively know when) . If he still doesn reply then call him . Remind him. Be nice . Be polite. Sound enthu ( not over enthu) .

Big Idea : Crying child gets the milk


Seventh Rule : Maintain a pipeline report
Always maintain a proper pipeline . It should have the following fields:
Company name, Web address, Phone number, Mail id , point of contact name, and the decision maker, status of the sale, expected closure time.

I am not really a sucker for CRM. I rather put it in my excel sheet and share it with my team. Am not advocating that CRM is bad. But this is my personal choice. You take the call on this. Most companies insist on using CRM solutions. But my advice to those companies is that they need to get their sales people get familirize on how to use a CRM.

Most sales guys do this anyway !

By the way manufacturing companies would do well to get customized CRM solutions using Customer Broadcast company service.


Eighth Rule : Keep in touch:
Your job is not over once you are done with the sale. You need to keep in touch with you client. Build relationships of trust. Do not disappear from your client's radar.At least once a month shoot him a mail asking him what he thinks of your product, who the end users are etc. Dont give him a chance to come to you when there is an issue. At the same time let him know where he can reach you and that he can reach you any time he wants to.
This ensures that you have already a solid groundwork done before you go ask him for a sale again.


Ninth Rule: Build Trust:
This is paramount. People dont do business with products or company brand name. They do business with people. People who they can trust . So make the right moves for him to trust you. Be fantastically good at giving him world class service even if you are not a world class company. You dont have to be HP or WPP to give world class serice . Gain his trust with good service. Simple things will do - prompt reply to his mail, regular follow ups etc.. Find your own ways to keep him happy.
These days almost everyone is Linkedin, Facebook or Orkut.
Go ahead and connect with him there. It is ok to get a bit personal . Social Networking is ok these days !


The Tenth Rule : Love your customer's , customer.

I dint say " love your customer" .. read it again! I said - Customer's customer. Your client's end user.
The book by Ram Charan " what the customer wants you to know" was not exactly the best sales book ever written but i did like what he said - Understand your customer's end user. If your product can make that "customer" happy then rest assured your client will call you to give you the sale.

So what are your waiting for ? Go ahead and do your research !

Here is an article from the business week which caught my attention and upon which i put up this post -
Sales Stuck ? Try sticking to a script

Look forward to your comments on this..