How To Master The Art Of The Persuasive Sales Pitch

How To Master The Art Of The Persuasive Sales Pitch

Sales presentations are uniquely challenging. When presenting as a salesperson, you are asking your audience to hand over their hard-earned money, and probably a substantial amount of it too, instead of simply asking the audience to give you nothing but their attention and thoughtful consideration.

Closing the deal during a pitch is typically not easy, unless of course you’re pitching something along the lines of a deeply discounted luxury tour of Hawaii to professionals in Nebraska in the middle of winter. Since your pitch is likely at least slightly more difficult than that ideal selling scenario, you need to know how to deliver a pitch that is captivating, convincing, and ultimately persuasive enough to close deal upon deal.

To help you master the art of the persuasive sales pitch, here are four of my favorite tips from the research I have collected over years of studying public speaking and presentations.

1. Embrace less is more.

To persuade people to make a purchase, you need to have their attention. To ensure that your audience is still attentive when you wrap up your pitch, create presentations that can be delivered in five minutes or less.

Why only five minutes?

The average adult attention span has plummeted from 12 minutes a decade ago to just five minutes now, according to Fortune.com.

If pitching in five minutes or less is simply not an option for you, try to at least embrace the “less is more” mentality when it comes to the length of your pitch.

For example, you can try the TED format and deliver your message in 18 minutes or less.

While 18 minutes is a significant bump up from the speedy five-minute format I suggested, 18 minutes is still aligned with the less is more approach for most sales pitches, which are typically longer in length.

Think you can’t close a deal in just a few minutes? Remember this quote from the article, The Science Behind TED’s 18-Minute Rule:

A lot can happen in 18 minutes. John Kennedy inspired a nation to look to the stars in 15 minutes. In a 15-minute TED talk, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg inspired millions of women to “lean in.” Steve Jobs gave one of the most popular commencement addresses of our time at Stanford University and he did it in 15 minutes. It took Dr. Martin Luther King a bit longer to share his dream of racial equality—he did it in 17 minutes. If these leaders can inspire their audiences in 18 minutes or less, it’s plenty of time for you to pitch your idea!

2. Say it in one sentence.

To develop a sales presentation that can easily fit into the five-minute format, summarize the overarching point of your pitch in one sentence.

Ask yourself: what do I want people to remember from my presentation? Contemplate that question until you can respond to it with a one-sentence answer.

Toastmasters International World Champion of Public Speaking, Mohammed Qahtani proposes a similar concept in the TIME article, 7 Presentation Tips From the World’s Best Public Speaker: When you write a speech, it should focus on a message that is as clear and succinct as possible.

This same message from Mohammed Qahtani is echoed in the Business Insider article, Here’s a breakdown of the speech that won the 2015 World Championship of Public Speaking: Every presentation needs to have a thesis — a message that the audience is convinced of and will take with them.

Using your one sentence as the thesis for your presentation content, outline your content so that all of your points support or enhance your thesis.

Ideally you will craft your presentation so that you have a maximum of three points supporting your overarching message.

You can use stats and stories to expound upon your thesis and supporting three main ideas, however most people can only remember three ideas from any presentation; therefore if you include more than three ideas to support your thesis, your audience will likely not remember them all and as a result they might get confused when trying to piece back the argument for your thesis after your presentation.

By identifying and focusing on core message for your presentation, you can more effectively craft a pitch that is easy to deliver quickly. You will know exactly what you want to say, so you can cut the fluff and get to the point of your pitch.

3. Choose your words wisely.

Since your sales presentation will be short, every word should be intentionally selected to give you the best chances of effectively communicating and connecting to your audience. Some words will help you tilt the odds of closing deals in your favor and therefore should be utilized when possible during your sales presentation.

BECAUSE

For example, a Harvard Study by Ellen Langer proved the persuasive nature of the word because. According to Magic Words: The Science and Secrets Behind Seven Words That Motivate, Engage, and Influence participants of the Harvard study were asked a small favor and 60% complied. When the word “because” and an explanation for the request were added, compliance rates jumped to 94%.

During those moments in your sales presentation when you are focused on inspiring people to take an action, add because to your request, and also give them a reason for your request to increase the number of positive responses you receive. It is not hard to understand why this method works; don’t we all want to know why we are being asked to do something? I know I do.

IMAGINE

Imagine is another word to add to you sales presentation repertoire. As strange as it may sound, the brain literally cannot tell the difference between imagining reality, and actually experiencing reality, says Bnonn Tennant in his article How To Use These 3 Hypnotic “Power Words” To Covertly Increase Your Conversion Rates. Storytelling is a key ingredient in getting your audience to relate to your message—use stories to get your audience to imagine themselves using your solution, and they will have a better understanding of why they should buy your product.

Once your audience imagines an experience, they emotionally and mentally own it. As a result, your audience is less likely to reject the action that you are requesting. “That’s because our emotional reaction to loss is twice as intense as our joy in gain,” Thai Nugyen explains.

No matter what words you choose, don’t be flippant about the way you express your ideas. Every word matters.

4. Always make the ask.

Assuming you have delivered a succinct presentation that has held the attention of the audience, the conclusion of your sales pitch is your time to make some magic happen. This is your time to close the deal by asking for the sale.

Hopefully you can just close the deal right there and then go celebrate your success. However if for some reason you cannot close the deal on the spot, end your pitch by asking audience members to commit in some way to moving forward with the sale. Research indicates that people are more likely to follow through with an action if they previously stated that they would do so.

You can request a commitment by asking for a show of hands, or by asking people to add their names and phone number to a contact list. If these techniques seem old school to you, you can ask the audience to tweet you an affirmative statement right then and there using their phone.

The bottom line: End your sales pitch by closing the deal, or at least collecting commitments from audience members.

Conclusion

To improve the results of your next sales presentation, follow these 4 tips: Get to the point. Have a clear message. Be intentional with your language. Close the deal.





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