Timing a sales pitch is a work of art.
Question from a follower: “I never know when to actually tell the prospect what I do, during the sales meeting. What’s the best time?”
Don’t just mutter it in a ho-hum way.
Steer the conversation into an emotional high and then WHAM drop the pitch.
Take this action TODAY:
(listening part) The beginning of the meeting should be where you let the prospect talk, asking guiding questions that probe deeper into what they need, their psychology and attitudes, etc. (silence, low energy, they lead)
Once you have gotten enough of a sense of what they want/need, say this, “Do you have any questions for me?” Then be quiet.
They’ll probably say something like, “So what can you do for me and what’ll it cost?”
(lead them through recapitulation) Then you go like this: “From what I gather, you need someone to help guide you through the next five years, over which time period you intend to retire from GM, cash in your stock options, downsize your house, and take Social Security, all the while hoping that your diabetes stays in check. Did I miss anything?”
They nod their heads no.
(lead them to emotional high point) Then you say, “But it’s not just that. You want someone who’ll do right by you, who’ll prompt you to make the right decisions, who’ll help you steer clear of the emotional traps that you may fall into if you were to navigate this on your own, who isn’t just a number cruncher but a true advocate for you and your family, present and future, and who wants to get you all to where you want to be remaining objective in the hard times and temperate in the good ones. Yeah?”
They nod excitedly. “Right!” (see, now here’s the emotional high point)
Then say these words, “That’ll be our full wealth management suite of services and it’ll cost you 1% of your assets, which is about $10,000 a year. That’s how I’d get you there.”
What if they ignore your sales pitch?
It’s not like you are asking them to marry you, lol.
Looooook…
If you pitched them once, you may as well pitch them again. If they’re good enough for you to make the effort once, why not see the task to completion?
Take this action TODAY:
- Do they really understand what you are even pitching? Send them a 45 second video (yes, no longer than this) with screen shots of the financial plan you’d produce, the reports they’d get, etc.
- Send them a survey trying to get clarity about where they stand in their process.
- Send them a one line email. Literally, just write this in the subject line: “Go or no go?” Leave the email body blank.
- Call them on the phone and say, “I sent you an email asking you what you thought about doing business with me. I didn’t hear back. Did you decide to go in another direction, or shall we talk again?”
- Another follow up email you could send would be this. Subject line: “Can’t figure out…”. Body of the email says, “Forgive me for being a nuisance but I can not for the life of me figure out if you decided to go in another direction or if you wanted to revisit the project we discussed. Any insight here would be greatly appreciated.”
Sara’s upshot
- Listen
- Recap the key data and get them revved up
- Drop the pitch hard once they reach the emotional high point
Yeah?
Yaaaaah.
BOOM – there you go, today’s marketing tip for ya!
-Sara G
Did you sign up for my daily newsletter?
Or if you want more…
- I am an outsourced CMO for companies who need regular, full service marketing – blogging, social media posts, newsletters, etc.
- I am an hourly consultant for those who just need one-time or recurring guidance
- People hire me as a ghostwriter to write content for a project fee
- I have a social media training program
- I have a book about what to say on LinkedIn messenger
Thanks for reading. See you in the next one!
-Sara G