Characteristics of an Effective Sales Pitch

This article discusses the characteristics of an effective sales pitch, including an attractive cover slide, a value proposition, a captivating story, providing solutions, and offering proofs. It also explores how the effectiveness of a sales pitch can affect the outcome. Additionally, it examines how the use of technology can improve business communication. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of presentation skills in a business environment.

What does an exemplary sales pitch look like?
An idea sales pitch is a conversation between the prospect and the seller instead of just a one-
sided lecture. This sales pitch is considered as one of the selling techniques for a product or
service introduced by a company (Porter, 2011).
A sales pitch is basically designed for introducing a new product or service to the audience or
produce descriptive expansion of its service or product where the audience have shown
interest. Sales professionals are responsible for preparing and giving a sales pitch in either the
formal or informal way in various approaches.
Levine, Beltramo, Blalock, Cotterman & Simons (2015) stated a successful sales pitch is
about demonstrating how a product and service can bring value to the potential clients and
customers. Moreover, it looks like a monologue rather than dialogue which helps in building
a relationship with potential clients.
There are many different strategies that are adopted by sales professional while delivering a
sales pitch which is adopted depending upon the nature of the products and service offered.
For example, a sales pitch might use emotional appeal and gives perspective based on the
audience needs.
Which characteristics make it effective?
A successful and effective sales pitch comprise of the following characteristics:
 An attractive cover slide for the presentation: This reflects the company's overview
and the industry it belongs to. The audience will instantly get an idea about the
product and service background. It is been noted that audience reacts better to visual
information rather than just text (Daly & Davy, 2016). For example, flashing relevant
images directly catches the attention of the audience instantly.
 A value proposition: By summarizing the context of the products and services offered
the company attempt to bring value to the prospects by delivering the promise. The
proposition generally includes company name, the value it proposes to bring for the
target audience by offering their services and products that have benefits added to it.
 A captivating story: From the previous exemplary sales pitch it is been observed that
the most successful and efficient presentations credit 65% towards stories (Porter,

2011). The story is presented to increase the likeability of the company and include
genuine reasons for offering the company products and services. For example, by
conveying the mission and vision statement of the company, it helps the audience to
capture the value that the company proposes to bring to its prospects.
 Providing solutions: Here the professional sale individual focus on addressing the
prospects' problem by which it can bring value to their life. Generally, the value
proposition of the company is broken down into solutions that are tied with the needs
and wants of the customer.
 Providing proofs: This characteristic helps in building the trust among the prospect by
adding testimonials, sharing research data and comparing the offered products and
services with the competitors. For example, by offering a free trial, money back
guarantee or free shipment of products and services builds a sense of trust among the
prospects.
How does the effectiveness of the sales pitch affect the outcome?
The effectiveness of the sales pitch outcome is affected by the process of conveying the value
proposition of the products and services offered. While listing the solution, it is to be taken
care that not too many choices should be available to the customer prior to the offered
products and services (Daly & Davy, 2016). This decreases the possibility of the prospect of
showing interest in the particular value offered. Also if the pitch is not easy and quick to
understand it would bring down the chances of the prospects on showing interest towards the
company offers. On the other hand, by providing an example that demonstrate the value of
the product increases the chance of getting attention from the audience.
How can the use of technology improve business communication?
The use of technology within sales pitch improves the quality of the presentation which
further helps in gaining interest and likeability from the customer. Furthermore, processing
sales pitch online is also a new way to gain potential clients from more distant areas (Porter,
2011). Technology certainly brings value to the customer enabling them to perceive better for
a solution to an existing problem. For example, including video and audio can add better and
easy understanding of the products and services offered.

In a business environment, when would you likely use business presentation skills?
Within a business environment, presentation skills are mostly utilised when a company want
to address a point across and ensure the audience receives a clear understanding of the point.
For example, some company produce presentation during recruitment or give prospective
customer presentation to explain the merits of company product and services.
What is the main conclusion of your presentation?
Within an exemplary sales pitch, the sales professional captures the attention of the prospect
at the beginning and then persuades into a conversation. Therefore sales pitch involves a line
of conversation between the customer or client and the seller which attempts to persuade
them with a planned strategy to close a deal for the product or service.

References
Daly, P., & Davy, D. (2016). Crafting the Investor Pitch Using Insights from Rhetoric and
Linguistics. In The Ins and Outs of Business and Professional Discourse
Research (pp. 182-203). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Levine, D. I., Beltramo, T., Blalock, G., Cotterman, C., & Simons, A. M. (2018). What
impedes efficient adoption of products? Evidence from randomized sales offers for
fuel-efficient cookstoves in Uganda. Journal of the European Economic
Association, 16(6), 1850-1880.
Porter, R. (2011). Crafting a Sales Pitch for Your Grant Proposal. Research Management
Review, 18(2), 79-84.