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5 MIN. READ
Do you still receive emails beginning with, “Dear so-and-so?” While this sales tactic used to be the height of customization for years, it completely misses the mark for a personalized sales pitch today.
Now, everyone craves an individualized approach across all platforms. Especially thanks to the recent pandemic year, everyone is looking for personalization in order to get the most effective and relevant solutions for their company in the most cost-effective way. They aren't looking to settle for solutions that kind of meet their needs or those that only address one of their problems.
Even before the pandemic though, people responded well to personalization. For example, when you purchase an iPhone from Amazon, it automatically shows you other products that "people like you" have purchased to go with the phone.
The data backs up this trend. One study shows that 90% of US shoppers prefer personalized content and are actually disappointed when product choices aren’t tailored to previous purchases.
In the same way, a personalized sales pitch increases your chances of closing a sale. It all comes down to one factor – knowledge. You need an in-depth knowledge of your industry, your company and your customer.
Several content tactics give you the chance to shine as an industry expert, including blogs on your company’s own website.
While your industry knowledge and experience can’t be replaced by a fancy slide deck or a flashy brochure, content and technology add to your ability to attract customers. Your in-depth knowledge of outside factors that affect your client’s ability to operate at a profit will earn their trust and prove that you have the capacity to offer them customized solutions to their needs.
Let's say you are trying to land a few more manufacturing clients. However, you know that their shipping costs are going through the roof this year. Since you are familiar with their industry, you understand that several items affect this issue. Rising fuel prices, tariffs, an aging manufacturing workforce leading to an inability to fill open positions, and aging technology all contribute to higher shipping costs.
Instead of showing potential clients a presentation listing their woes, write a series of short articles about each individual issue. Include a testimonial from a current client who faced that problem and used your product to turn their business around. Make sure all members of sales and marketing have this information.
Now you've proven industry knowledge and have confirmation from a peer to show potential clients. When you talk to prospects directly, reference these in your sales pitch - this will feel highly tailored to their needs. After all, if you can touch directly on their personal pain points during a personalized sales pitch, they'll be impressed.
Talk about specific features of your offerings that improve the bottom line of companies similar to theirs.
Begin with a search of your company’s website through the eyes of your potential customers. Believe it or not, 70% of buyers know what they want before they ever speak to you. Many also heavily rely on a company’s reputation. Sales and marketing teams have to closely work together in order to make sales pitches truly special.
If your company’s website doesn’t clearly show available products and display reputation on your landing page, you have already lost quite a few potential customers - they'll never hear your pitch.
Explain your case to marketing. Present the problem as a challenge: “Can you clearly say these few things without putting a lot of extra information on the page?”
Work with marketing to develop several different pitches that you can use. Even with a choice of materials, you may come across a client with questions and needs that are not covered in your pitch.
Great! These clients give you the chance to display your company knowledge. You can further tailor your personalized sales pitch with new answers. You may enter a meeting thinking that your potential client will be most interested in one of your products. You may leave the meeting selling a different product entirely, but one that better meets their needs.
In this case, it would be great to direct your potential client to your streamlined website. You can showcase similar products, how you can customize the product and testimonials from other clients who use them.
Knowing your products helps you improvise during the sales pitch. A strong marketing backbone allows you and your fellow sales reps to then follow up and reference solutions better, creating a personal feeling for each customer you pitch to.
You have several tools at your fingertips to learn some of the information you need to know about your customer:
• Visit the company website if it has one.
• View other company marketing materials.
• Look up their partnerships and close associations.
• See what they post on social media.
Armed with this background knowledge at the time of your sales pitch, you will be almost as familiar with their product as they are. You will be able to use this information at specific points in your pitch, tailoring it to their needs. And, you'll be prepared to use their language and pain points when talking about your solutions.
Once the meeting begins, though, listen more than you speak. No matter how much public information you find about the company, you will learn more detail from your contact. The information they share will help you further refine your actual pitch when the time comes.
Ask leading questions, and listen closely to the answers. If possible, show how your product can solve one of their greatest hurdles. Ideally, offer some solutions for free. As an industry expert, you may know of a low-cost or no-cost answer. Perhaps the company should rearrange its physical space so that materials are located closer to the workstation where they will be used instead of stored in a separate warehouse building.
Use the information they give you to help directly. Take a position of expertise, suggesting solutions that speak to their situation rather than about your products in general.
Associations, chambers of commerce and online searches can produce lists of manufacturers. As a salesperson, though, you need current information. You don’t want to waste time cold-calling companies that have gone out of business. You don’t want to be transferred within a company several times before reaching the correct person.
IndustrySelect provides detailed profiles of 460,000 U.S. industrial businesses. The database is current, updated regularly and easily searchable. Key information about each manufacturer rests at your fingertips. With IndustrySelect, you can spend less time researching leads and more time creating a personalized sales pitch for your best prospects. Try out a free demo today!
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