Delivering your pitch or proposition in a clear and concise way, in a very short timescale, is one of the most difficult things to do in selling.
As part of any negotiation or selling foray, getting the message across in such a way that it engages, can take years to master. Even when you think you have 'cracked the code' of communicating, customers sometimes still look blank when you deliver the crisp concise pitch. Often we fail to communicate and convince customers that we have a unique selling point.
Practicing the "Features, Benefits, Impact, Evidence" (FBIE) way of thinking, can go some way to engaging, primarily because you are thinking of the customer and what’s in it for them! However we don't believe that talking is purely a one dimensional way of engaging, and often, because of time it's all we can do. Where we can, we must bring other dimensions to our proposition to make it real and relevant to the customer.
How can you do that? We must reinforce the pitch or the message by moving the customer closer to the experience - this may be done by showing a video clip, giving someone a trial period, sample or demo.
Whilst this may be a statement of the obvious, in today’s highly competitive market place having something up your sleeve, that gets the customer closer to the experience, is vital!
Blog written by Winning Pitch, who are a lead delivery partner for the Excelerator Consortium that manages the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.
Details of the Programme can be found on the Accelerated Growth Programme website.