By:  Dimic Robertson

Excerpt from:  My Sales Manifesto

At this point you should: have a good idea who your ideal prospect is, be thinking about some ways to get in front of that ideal prospect and know if you are pitching by phone or face-to-face. Now that these factors are taken into account you can start thinking about your pitch. Conceptually I find it helps me to work through this process by thinking of the process as walking someone down a hall full of doors with one big door at the end. The doors you pass as you walk down the hallway represent “outs” for the prospect. What you want to strategize is how to close these doors as you go, thus eliminating the objections or “outs” someone will use to walk away from the sale. The end game is to close each door along the way, leading them through the final door which represents conversion of the sale. Don’t forget, in this respect what represents “the sale” can vary widely depending on your service or product (subscription services, t-shirts, life insurance, dental work, timeshares, stocks, roofing, home health care, etc, etc.)
There are some good strategies you can utilize when structuring your pitch. First and foremost, accept that there will be lots of trial and error with this. No one will ever start with a perfect pitch. The idea is to start with the best version possible (using strategy and what you know) and refine as you begin to get feedback. With that being said, let’s look at some of those strategies you can use to help you build the best pitch possible:

“The power of asking the right (kind of) questions.” It’s important that you ask questions in a way that will give you the info you need to determine your prospect’s needs and motivations. Avoid asking yes or no questions, unless you know the answer will be ‘yes’. For one thing, you can’t build rapport that way. For another, you’re fumbling at guesses about what they’re looking for. Having preconceived notions about people’s needs is a surefire way to kill a deal (as I will explain in a moment). By asking open-ended questions, you will unveil their motives and the info you receive will used to position how you are going to go about solving their problem. Make it a point to ask open-ended questions that will tap into their feelings about something and give them an opportunity to elaborate. For example, if you’re selling health insurance you could ask- “how did you feel when your last company denied your doctor visit and made you pay for it yourself?”- use the info they give you in their response to position how your coverage is superior. Your prospect will give you all the ammo you need if you just probe and pay attention to their responses.

• “Nodding the head”. There’s a lot of psychology behind this but, subconsciously you are creating an acceptance (“Yes”) and putting the prospect in a receptive mode to purchase your service or product. In my experience, the easiest way to do this is to ask very simple questions that you already know the answer to (if you don’t know the answer already, there’s a risk they answer ‘no’ or with confusion so be careful). The “simple questions” approach is also valuable because it works in both face to face and in telephone sales. Here’s a simple example that I commonly used when I used to sell automobile refinance loans over the phone. . .The leads I worked at that time had been generated by either a prospect calling in (off a direct mail piece) and completing a verbal application over the phone or by submitting an online application. By the time I received the lead, all info had been confirmed and verified so I always knew that their basic client info would be correct so that’s where I “fished” for my yes questions. “I have your vehicle year down as 2008, is that correct?” <yes> “I have the vehicle listed as a Honda Accord, is that right?” <yes> “I have your first name listed as - - - - and your last name listed as - - -, is that correct?” <yes> Can you start to see some of the pieces coming together now? Not only am I getting them to “nod their head” (because I’m asking questions I already know the answer to) but, I’m also keeping the prospect engaged and attentive because I’m asking them questions. One additional strategy you can use in face-to-face settings is to actually nod your own head as you ask the question which gives an additional subliminal cue for them to answer affirmatively. Also, consider the psychological state of your prospect when you’re asking them questions with positive answers versus asking questions that cause them answer no or negatively. Which approach do you think will lead to the sale?
• “Unveil the true motive”. This is oftentimes the most difficult part of the process. I can’t tell you how many times I just knew I had the best pitch, was saving the person all kinds of money with better coverage and giving them everything else they claimed they wanted only to never hear from them again. Those same personal experiences can attest to just how frustrating this can be. You find yourself trying to figure out what you did wrong. I gave them everything they said they wanted! The real truth, though, goes back to the battle between logic and emotion. On the surface there is no logical reason someone wouldn’t buy something they’re already paying for if you can offer a better version for cheaper. This disconnect is just further proof of the place that emotions play in our final decisions.  An important thing to avoid here is to assume you know why someone is talking to you. In most cases you’ll have a pretty good idea but, it’s important you probe your prospect (in the good way!) to unveil their true motivations. I may of assumed my refinance offer that lowers their payment and still saves them $3,000 overall is a no-brainer but, maybe that prospect has a sentimental allegiance to their bank because a family member works there. If you don’t probe and ask questions you’ll rarely unveil the true motive that prospect has for talking to you and, if you fail to present your product or service in a way that addresses what their true need is you’re most likely not going to get the sale. In this event you will of failed both your prospect and yourself.
• “Choose your words”. It’s imperative that you are mindful of the words you use when you’re in your sales process. One thing I’ve noticed throughout my life is that most people don’t respond to exactly what you say as much as they respond to their interpretation of it. Interpretation is one of the number one killers of deals in my opinion. One of the biggest culprits surfaces when we get ourselves to a point where we “know too much”. In other words, we’re experts on our product or service, we know the problems we can typically resolve and have heard all the questions a thousand times before. As a true professional, you always need to treat each prospect as if they’re the first one you’ve ever spoken with because complacency breeds sloppiness and sloppiness loses sales. Force yourself to push aside the pre-conceived notions you have about what they’re looking for. Once you start training yourself to be conscious of the words you use and how you combine them you’ll also find yourself picking up more cues from your prospects because you’re no longer interpreting what they’re saying but, actually listening.
• “Make sure you’re speaking to the right person”. This one may seem obvious but, even the best of us are guilty of missing this. The quality of your prospecting will play a big part here but, still doesn’t guarantee anything (if you’re using cold call techniques, for example, you’ll typically have to go through a gatekeeper to get to the actual decision maker so, no point wasting the pitch on the gatekeeper). The big trap here comes, again, from interpretation. Without asking about who is involved in the final decision, you’ll often find yourself left hanging at the end of the pitch with a line such as “Well, that all sounds good. Let me speak to ——- and see what he/she says and get back to you.”. Do you think that prospect is ever getting back to me? In my experience, it’s probably 90%+ that they won’t. Think of the difference if before I ever set this appointment I asked if anyone else would be involved in the final decision. I would of found out that, yes, ——- will be involved and would of made sure that both would be at the appointment. Always find out if others will be involved in the final decision before setting the appointment.
• “Keep it simple”. Another one of the top deal killers comes from over-informing or giving too many options. For example, if you’re able to boil your final pitch down to option A or option B to choose from, you’re making it very simple for the prospect to decide. When you give someone too much to think about, the instinct is to avoid making a decision (i.e. no sale). I find it’s helpful to think in terms of the hallway of doors image I presented earlier. You want to walk the prospect down a straight and narrow path to the final close. This means you want to avoid going off on tangents (one of the “outs”; you’ve given them too much to think about or have convoluted your pitch by going off topic). Another big culprit here is over-informing. Lots of people will agree to talk with you simply to find out everything they can about your product or service (i.e. free access to your time and expertise) simply to take that new (free) knowledge and info back to negotiate better terms for their current situation or to give them guidance on searching out a solution from your competition. Also, when it comes to over information, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone continuing their pitch when the prospect has already said yes. Once you get that ‘yes’, they’re already sold so stop pitching and transition to the next step!