Sales Pitch

The concept of a sales pitch describes a captivating two-minute moment where we explain our product or service. I wanted to write about this today because I often see the same mistake in salespeople and entrepreneurs, especially in entrepreneurs.

Because we entrepreneurs are passionately committed to our product or service. We can't stop talking about it. After all, we're talking about something we've worked on for months, even years. But does the person in front of us really care that much?

Absolutely not.

I've observed the audience in some sales presentations. After the second minute, their attention really wanders. So, if you have something important to say, if you say it after the second minute, it's highly unlikely to stick in the listener's mind.

I had a good example that reminded me of this.

I'd like to mention a man working at the entrance of a nature park we visited recently. His job was to collect parking fees from cars entering the park, but perhaps because he valued life and himself more, he did more than just his job.

When we arrived at the parking lot entrance, he spoke to us for about a minute and a half, in an incredibly harmonious and fluent way, as if reciting poetry, about what could be done in the nature park.

I leaned my head out of the back seat and said:

"Sir, you are a magnificent salesman."

The man was, of course, surprised.

"What do you mean?" he said.

"You described it so harmoniously and beautifully that I'm excited to go inside," I said.

He smiled and said:

"You don't have to pay for parking, go ahead." That was his way of thanking me, and I should also mention that I said this because I genuinely admired him. I certainly had no intention of getting in for free. But I know that feeling very well. I've had some customers where I sold my products almost for free. Anyway, let's continue our topic.

Actually, this man was doing it without knowing what he was doing. He probably had no training in sales techniques. But he loved his job, he loved what he was talking about, and he made it clear. That's exactly the most important part of sales presentations. People first sense your energy, then they listen to what you're saying.

In fact, the success of sales presentations is a skill that develops spontaneously, even if the person isn't a conscious professional, by describing the same product or service for a long time.

Think of it this way:

If you tell the same thing several times a day, do you tell it in the same tone of voice every time? That's what differentiates us from robots. As we repeat, we add emotion to our story. We personalize it. Over time, what we tell becomes a work of art that belongs to us.

I think sales presentations should be approached exactly like this.

Believe me, no one is interested in going into detail about how you started, how you developed this product, and where you are today during your first meeting. But if you're an entrepreneur, it's beneficial to explain why you started in a single sentence. If you're a salesperson working in an organization, summarizing the story of how the product or service came about in a single sentence is sufficient.

Because people are first impressed by stories, then they buy the benefit. And conveying that benefit depends on the rhythm of your sales presentation.

"People make buying decisions emotionally and justify them with logic." — Zig Ziglar

Let's think of the harmony in a sales presentation like a classical music concert. There are moments when the sound rises, moments when the tempo slows down, moments when the notes become high-pitched and low-pitched...

The situation is no different in communication.

Lowering your voice and increasing emphasis when mentioning points you want your customer to remember, and slowing down the tone for less important details, is a very effective method. Because people need attention to remember what you're saying. And attention is gained through harmony.

So how does the sales presentation change for different products and services?

For example, if you don't have a single product to sell, what kind of sales presentation should you give? I often saw this while working at an international investment consultancy firm. We would go into meetings with investors, and the salesperson would immediately pull out catalogs and say, "I've chosen these houses for you." Yet the customer hadn't even purchased the service offered by the company. Products were being introduced before trust was even established.

In scenarios like this, the first thing to do is, so to speak, sell yourself. Because if you have multiple product or service categories, the first thing to sell isn't the products, it's you. In fact, it's your company.

In this scenario, the investor must first trust the salesperson. Then, they should decide to purchase the service offered and finally choose one of the products. Because what matters isn't how many houses the salesperson has in their portfolio. What matters is that the other person believes they will choose the most suitable option. A customer who trusts the salesperson first will be much more open to evaluating products later.

In another scenario, you don't have many products or services, but your product is quite complex. This is one of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face. Not being able to explain your business even to your family… Making it more complicated the more you explain… Seeing that the other party doesn't understand…

Here, we have to find the simplest way to explain it. Because people can't buy products they don't understand. Your product may have dozens of features, but it has only one value proposition: to make someone's life easier in some way. If you can explain this value in a single sentence, you've laid the foundation for your sales presentation.

A sales presentation, as I mentioned in my previous article on Looping, is when a person talks about themselves, their company, and their product or service in a maximum of two minutes.

The goal isn't to tell the whole story. The goal is to build trust and attract curiosity.

I've seen the results of this approach firsthand in a few sales I've made in recent months. I no longer go on and on about my work as I used to. Although sales is my area of ​​expertise, applying my knowledge to my own start-up wasn't as quick as I expected. It took me time to learn and break certain habits. But something interesting happened when I reduced telling my story and focused on building trust. People bought my service simply because I was the one doing it. Because, as I've mentioned in previous posts, communication progresses with a professional friend approach.

My clients aren't dealing with robots. They're dealing with a real human being who hears, feels, remembers, experiences crises, and solves them.

People don't buy our story in the first meeting. They trust us first. They become curious about our story later. Therefore, there's no need to get carried away telling our story.

After closing the sale, they'll come to you and ask:

"How and why did you start this business?"

That's when you'll have plenty of time to tell your story.

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