I was in a job interview today. The interviewing manager handed me his laptop and said, “I want you to try and sell this to me.” So, I put the laptop under my arm, walked out of the building, and went home. Eventually, he called my mobile and said, “Bring it back here right now!” I said, “$200, and it’s yours!” – Upjoke.com

What a fun interview sales pitch!  But at least the salesperson was successful in selling the laptop. Writing and presenting a sales pitch is one of the most challenging things for salespeople. How can you craft and deliver a knock-out sales message to win buyers? Is there a one-size-fits-all sales pitch for all situations? What examples can you use to inspire your sales pitches? In this guide, you’ll get all answers to the questions to help you write and present the right message. Scroll down for more details.

What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch is a brief sales message or presentation to encourage your audience to take a specific action. For example, you could ask for a sales meeting, product demo, or sale. Your sales pitch can be informal, formal, verbal, or written. 

You would have noticed that our sales pitch definition says ‘brief’ sales presentation. Here is why.  The attention span for humans in this digitized world is now quite short -eight seconds why your sales pitch needs to be short, less than 15 mins.

What is a good pitch? Before we dive into the answer, check out what two LinkedIn contributors say below.

Do you realize what makes a sales pitch suck and get rejected? An approach that emphasizes selling instead of building relationships is a bad start. So, what makes a good pitch?

• Research your prospects to know about their challenges/pain points.

• Does your product or service meet their specific needs?

• Understand your audience or target audience.

• Connect with the prospects to build relationships first.

A good sales pitch should be concise, address the pain points, and explain how to help the potential customer. How you deliver the sales presentation is also crucial. 

You could have the right content in your message. But if you say it with less enthusiasm, the audience can see that you don’t believe in your product. Or you can be excited about your offer but lack substance. Content and confidence in your solution should go together in your sales pitch. 

Types of sales pitches

You’ve got a wide range of sales pitches to help you develop clear messages. Here are some examples.

One-line sales pitch

A single-line sales pitch is a group of persuasive words that make an offer your audience can’t resist. 

You should research the prospect’s industry to know their peers. Make sure your goals are specific, such as reducing employee turnover by 10 percent, etc.

The elevator pitch

An elevator pitch is a verbal sales presentation about what your company does in 60 seconds or less.

Phone sales pitch

You can start your phone sales pitch by introducing yourself and then saying:

Related: Cold calling scripts: 13 steps and 4 script templates to close more deals

Email sales pitch

Consider sending this sales message to a potential buyer with whom you attended a conference or a trade show together and discussed their industry.

Related: 7 Best cold email templates to increase your response rate

Presentation sales pitch

Presentation sales pitches are written, formal, and more detailed than sales pitches.

Follow-up sales pitch

A follow-up sales pitch is a message that you send potential customers to remind them how to help them.

2-minutes sales pitch

It’s a business pitch for busy prospects and is perfect for grabbing their attention. Here’s an example by Victor Antonio on his Sales Influence Podcast. 

Imagine you’re making a short presentation. You put up the following numbers on a screen from the top left-hand side to the bottom of the right-hand side.

When a potential customer sees these numbers, they wonder what they mean. And that’s the aim of the stats, to catch their attention. After a moment of silence, you explain the numbers in bullet form using a slide.

Here is the thing.

• 23 years of sales training experience

• 1000 thousand companies have gone through my Sales Velocity Academy.

• Over a hundred thousand people have been trained in my program.

• 50 of the top 100 companies have used my program.

• They’ve seen a 20 percent increase in their close rate on average.

CTA: “Customer/Name, based on this information, is there any way you and I can have a meeting?”

The 2-minute sales pitch uses five metrics to cause a pattern interrupt, and the customer’s brain says, ‘what’s that?’ You keep the prospect glued and attentive as you reveal what’s behind the numbers.

Here’s the 2-minute sales pitch framework

• Write down five metrics that distinguish you from your competitors. 

• Tell five unique things you do and describe the story behind every number. It’s called the storytelling technique. What do those metrics mean? 

• End your sales pitch with a robust CTA asking for a meeting, call, etc.

You can use the pitch in a presentation format or a personal pitch. It’s a super idea to memorize your five metrics and the story behind each one of the stats.

15-minute sales pitch

The 15-minute sales pitch has four elements and is ideal if your audience has no problem with a pretty lengthy presentation. It also works better if you have interacted with the customer several times before.  You need seven slides for this sales pitch. Check out the four-part structure below.

1. Define the current situation [4mins & 2 slides]

What’s going on in the prospect’s industry or market? Think of the challenges, the latest trends, developments, etc. When defining the current environment, connect it with your product or service. 

Talk about what’s occurring in the SaaS industry if you’re in this sector. Highlight the negatives. How’s the specific application a game-changer in that market? Include some stats, if possible.

2. Impact [6mins & 2 slides]

Now, it’s time to give more information about how the application/software/tool is helping the customer’s industry. Repeat the current status briefly in the market and explain the tool’s impact on solving the problems. 

What affects revenue, market share, profits, churn, employee turnover, customer service, etc.?

3. Solution [5 mins & 2 slides]

For this part, you zero in on how the solution will increase revenue, expand market share, reduce churn rate, etc. Be specific. 

4. Offer [6 mins & 1 slide]

The last step involves offering three pricing options. Recommend one of the three prices by highlighting its benefits, such as more product features, etc. 

But remember, you’re not closing a deal yet. Instead, you want to get the next step, like a scheduled meeting, product demo, etc. The 15-minute sales pitch enables you to summarize the critical points for quite busy customers, and you can memorize them, too. 

These sales pitches will help you develop a sales pitch structure. Let’s see how a sales framework looks.

Sales pitch framework

What are the components of a sales pitch? You can use the following 5-step sales pitch framework to create a successful sales pitch.

1. Problem

Start your elevator pitch with the challenge your prospect experiences.  Strengthen your case with relevant stats. Or you could use a question or personal experience to back your claim.

2. Solution

Present your value statement explaining how you can help the potential buyer solve the problem. Emphasize the benefits of your solution.

3. What makes you distinct?

Show how your company product’s advantages are different from other competitors. What makes your CRM tool different from other tools like HubSpot? 

4. Social Proof

Potential buyers want to know what others say or think about your offer. Provide them with case studies, testimonials, customer stories, and references showing how you’ve helped other people.  

5. CTA and engaging question

Ask open-ended questions to encourage your audience to talk. You can then end the conversation with a strong CTA. You could say: “I’d like to talk on the phone with you later this week if you are interested.”

Sales pitch examples

What are some examples of pitches? We’ve picked several sales pitch examples to inspire you.

HubSpot (Product pitch)

“There’s a better way to grow. HubSpot offers marketing, sales, service, and operations software that helps your business grow without compromise. Because ‘good for the business’ should also mean ‘good for the customer.’”

Key takeaways

• The product pitch follows the KISS principle (Keep it Short & Simple).

• It tells you what the company does and how the software can help your business and customers.

Ubersuggest (Pain point sales pitch)

“Want more traffic? Ubersuggest shows you how to win the game of SEO. Just type in a domain or a keyword to get started.”

Key takeaways

• The sales pitch highlights a challenge or a need that every business struggles with in organic search-attracting traffic.

• It then tells you the solution by explaining what Ubersuggest does and how you can improve SEO. 

• The pitch has a specific and clear CTA-just type in a domain or keyword.

Chris Westfall-the author of the elevator pitch

Key takeaways

• Frame your elevator pitch in the form of questions: 
  • Have you noticed… 
  • You know how I’ll never forget when…
  • It doesn’t seem like..

• The questions spark a conversation with the prospect and encourage them to open up.

Breadcrumbs case study sales pitch

Key takeaways

• It’s a follow-up email showing the company’s remarkable results.

• Includes a testimonial of a CEO of a well-known business

• Responds to the customer’s question- ‘how does it work?’

• It has a clear CTA 

Scrub Daddy investor pitch

Key takeaways

• The pitch explains how the product solves cleaning problems.

• It demonstrates how the product works in a live setting.

• The presenter is enthusiastic and includes some humor.

• It uses visuals to clarify product features.

How do you write a sales pitch presentation?

Bryan Vinarao (B2b and B2C Graphic Design Professional, Strengthening Sales & Marketing) says:

“Let’s face it. Crafting a winning  sales pitch is no easy task.”

Here are some vital things to consider to create a winning sales pitch.

Be concise

The sales pitch should be straight and to the point. That’s because today’s customers are so busy that they don’t have time for long presentations. Of course, we gave you an example of a 15-minute sales pitch which can work depending on your type of client.

However, the rule of thumb is that your sales pitch needs to be short-less than 15 mins. 

Avoid fluff

Yes, time is crucial and so, let your sales pitch spell out what your product does in clear and easy-to-understand language. Explain how your offer solves the prospect’s pain points.

Identify your specific audience

You should know who your buyers are to help you create a message that resonates with them. Are they in the SaaS industry, for example? Do you want to engage CEOs and other top-management personnel? 

Imagine pitching to people who do not need your solution. It’s a waste of time and resources.

Define the problem

Now that you understand your customer’s characteristics, write out the particular problems they face. What’s giving them sleepless nights? What do they want to improve? Is it closing deals? 

Explain how your product helps them

You’ve clearly defined the potential customer’s challenges. The next step involves describing how your offer solves the problems. How does your sales coaching program boost deal closures, for instance? 

Clarify what success looks like

How does your SaaS application improve closing deals in numbers, percentages, etc.? Your customer should visualize what success looks like if they subscribe to your software or sales coaching program. 

The following video illustrates all the essential elements of a sales pitch to sell your business.

How to deliver a winning sales pitch

Humanize yourself

A sales pitch is more than explaining the product benefits or what your product does. You need to connect with the prospect by asking questions and showing that you want to help them. Avoid sounding like a robot or AI machine. The more you listen, the more you’ll relate to the customer.

There may be questions a buyer asks you that you do not have an answer to right away. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know.’ It shows you’re human and don’t have all the answers. Also, it’s an opportunity to arrange another meeting with your potential client to address the questions.

Make yourself more trustworthy

Build trust with your prospect by honoring your word. Avoid making promises you can’t keep and accept mistakes when something goes south. Strive to be reliable and consistent.

Know the company’s decision-makers

Your sales pitch can be effective if you find out more info about the key decision-makers in a company. It’ll help you understand their goals, problems, and needs and offer a tailored-made solution. You can uncover some things that the prospect is unaware of and tell them about their impact on the business. 

Offer yourself as a helper

It’s okay to script out your sales pitch and memorize it. However, customers want to see that you’re more interested in helping them improve their life. Take time to listen to your potential buyers with full attention, even if you’ve got a sales script. What does their body language say regarding your topic? Are they showing interest? Do they understand your solution? 

Allan Langer is the Founder of ‘The Seven Secrets Center for Sales Marketing’ and the Author of ‘The 7 Secrets to Selling More by Selling Less.’  In a podcast hosted by Hollywood Branded, he says that sales pitches make salespeople robotic. They become impersonal and insensitive to the likely buyer’s interests.

Allan insists that sellers and sales managers should ditch the elevator pitch because it makes them selfish. Instead, they need t0 practice listening and empathy skills.  The more they become attentive, the more they open doors for closing deals. 

You need to balance hard-selling and soft-selling. Use a sales script, but be human.

Wrapping up

A sales script is a short sales presentation explaining what your company or product/ service does to convince your audience to do something. You can use a sales script to seek funding, schedule a meeting, present a product demo, etc. There are different kinds of sales scripts for specific situations. Delivering a sales message is as vital as writing it. Be human in your presentation.