Whether you are at a pre-planned meeting or a networking event, donning the Business Development hat may be quite a daunting task. Do you go for the small talk first? Or do you go all the way in and start hard selling to hit your KPI?

Everyone has their own style but here are some pointers from the industry on how to rock your sales pitch.

Justin Mah, Business Development Manager, MoneyMatch

 

“During one of my first sales encounters, I had to pitch to the MD of an MNC. I knew little on how to build rapport and the pre-meeting trepidation was immense. I started off with my pitch without asking any questions and went on for a few minutes, after which he interrupted at intervals and asked plenty of questions which I couldn’t answer. I was left dumbfounded, was asked to brush up on my knowledge, and to leave within five minutes.

It was a dreadful experience and took me a couple of days to let the emotions settle, reflect on what went wrong and how I would never let it happen ever again.”

Top Tip: Avoid fancy jargons and practise

“Articulate concisely on the Why/How/What of your business that others should get the crux of it quickly to start asking questions to know more. Build rapport from the beginning, keep listening, and assert your points accordingly, get an engaging conversation going. How to get good at doing it before your actual sales pitch? Practice a lot with different types of people and personalities to get feedback, your friends/family/colleagues/boss, everyone responds differently and helps you to be versatile.

Besides the usual notions of knowing your industry inside out and your product’s value proposition, there is a fine line between ‘believing in what you sell’ vs ‘selling what you believe’ and I strongly stand for the latter.

‘People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you believe,’ said the infamous Simon Sinek. There has to be a deep sense of conviction within yourself and the purpose of what the company strives for. With that, the selling comes natural.”

Also Read: 4 businesses share their best sales generation techniques

Nicholas Gerard, Business Development Manager, Peatix

“To me, every sales meeting is unique. But some of the most exciting and fun meetings have been when I have sold to clients without ever opening a pitch deck. I have noticed that on these occasions, the clients were primarily looking to see, through initial conversations in the meeting, if I was someone they could feel comfortable with and could trust. I realised that usually that even before the end of those meetings, they have already made a decision whether or not to work with me.”

Top Tip: Understand the client and customise your pitch

“Keep in mind that people don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy. Most of the time, they are not just buying a product, they are buying you. Keep in mind that when people buy, they are usually feeling good about it. So you have to make them feel good about buying from you. So how do you make them feel good about you?

Once you have a firm understanding of the prospect based on your research and through asking them questions, tailor your pitch to show how you can add value or solve a problem related to their situation and only focus on those areas. Some make the mistake of running through every detail about how great their product or service is. This will put off your prospect and reduce the chance of them buying from you.”

Adrian Lim, CEO, VLT

“There was once a pitch that I went for in the past that was attended by all C-Levels of sorts. I started the presentation and everyone seemed tense and looked dead serious, and I would have thought, this is the end. ‘Let’s get out quickly,’ I thought, but I was only at my third slide. No one was engaging with me and no one even nodded or twitched.”
Top Tip: Relax and be relatable
“So, I decided to change my approach. I asked if I could tell a story and talked about my weekend food hunt. I started asking them questions, shared what I liked, how I found it, and how my friends enjoyed it as well (of course, all related to the presentation).

The entire team eventually started to relax and smile, being able to relate to my story. The atmosphere changed, the room lightened up and everyone smiled as they started sharing their stories and opinions among themselves. This time, I continued my presentation with a lot of engagement.

I finished my sales presentation but did not win the pitch. However, some of the people in the audience eventually became my clients in another organisation some time after. That’s when I realised that I must have made an impression with the story. Sometimes, it’s good to prove that we’re also human.”

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Image Credit: haywiremedia / 123RF Stock Photo

This article was first published on August 4, 2017

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