How can you make your sales pitch more effective?

To capture your customer's attention and convince them, it is essential to perfect and adapt your sales pitch to your customer's profile. To make the transition from a product approach to a customer approach, you first need to develop a fundamental skill: active listening. Active listening enables you to identify the needs, obstacles and motivating factors of the person you are talking to. So what exactly is active listening? How can you make your sales meetings more effective? Véronique Perier, a consultant and trainer specialising in sales techniques, presents 3 methods for boosting the impact of your sales pitches.

Active listening: the art of getting your customer to talk

Active listening does not come naturally. It requires an active and empathetic commitment to the person you are talking to. It creates a climate of trust that is conducive to sales. It is the first step common to the 3 sales techniques presented below.

First of all, you will gather information and better understand your customer's expectations.

If they feel listened to, customers feel understood and valued.

Some key techniques:

Installing open questions to explore the context and environment :

• How has your sector evolved in recent years?
• What are your competitive advantages?
• What are your priorities this year?
• What difficulties, if any, are you encountering?
• What do you expect from a partner in the field of...?

Reformulate to validate understanding:

• I'm well aware that competition is tougher these days...
• OK, I understand that you are facing price increases for raw materials...
• In short, your primary objective is to maintain your position...
• If I understand correctly, you're looking for a solution to reduce your ecological impact... 

Observe non-verbal signals (tone, look, gestures, expressions...)

• Strong or distant gaze (lack of confidence or poor listening skills)
• Open or closed gestures (withdrawal, doubts...)
• Dynamic or monotone (lack of commitment, mistrust...)
• Smiling, expressive or impassive face (coldness, distance...)

This in-depth listening will also provide you with information about your customer's state of mind, fears and preferences. This will make your responses all the more relevant.

Here are 3 techniques to boost the impact of your sales pitches.

The CAB method: building a customer-focused sales pitch

The CAB sales pitch is a positive influence technique to be used after the active listening phase, once needs have been clarified. The acronym CAB refers to three levels that are essential to any sales pitch.

• Product features These are the technical components, the description of the product or service. This description is essential for the product to be understood, but it rarely generates enthusiasm in itself, except in the case of certain innovations that produce a breakthrough in the market.
• Benefits Each relevant characteristic must then be translated into a clearly identifiable benefit (keyword) for your customer: greater safety, productivity gains, time savings, savings in budget, human resources, energy, etc.
• Benefits : it's the concrete proof that lends credibility to the advantage you're advertising. Which key figure, which customer case study, which proven result can have a positive impact on your customer?

The advantage of the CAB method is that it goes beyond a simple description of the product to highlight the 2 or 3 major benefits for the customer.

To be even more effective, I advise you to prepare your sales pitch in the form of a table. Limit yourself to a maximum of 2 or 3 key features, so that you stay punchy and don't overwhelm the customer with too much secondary information.

An example of a Premium maintenance contract for a production tool

Features	Benefits	Benefits
24/7 technical service	Maximum safety	Compliance with legislation and ISO standard XXX
Team of trained experts	Peace of mind	95 % satisfied customers
Troubleshooting in less than 1 hour with stock of spare parts	Reducing downtime	Investment amortised from 1re year due to technical stoppages divided by 2

The SONCASE method: detecting buying motivations

The SONCASE method enables you to activate the main psychological levers that encourage the decision to buy, in order to put in place targeted sales pitches. Each SONCASE letter corresponds to a type of motivation that is useful for persuasion.

• Security Safety is one of the essential needs of human beings, second only to physiological needs. So it's a question of highlighting what your solution can offer in terms of safety.
• Pride Pride should be understood in the sense of self-esteem, the need to feel recognised. The aim is therefore to develop arguments that boost customers' self-esteem and their ability to make the right choices.
• New at The principle of novelty is linked to curiosity and the need for change. With a customer profile that is sensitive to novelty, you can further develop the innovative aspects of your solution.
• Comfort Comfort: the notion of comfort encompasses both the physical and psychological comfort of the customer. You can reassure your customer by highlighting the ease of use and peace of mind provided by your product.
• Silver Money: whatever the type of sale, money can act as a brake on or a motivation for the act of buying. The sales pitch can emphasise the fact that the purchase is not just another expense, but a profitable investment.
• Sympathy Some decision-maker profiles are more sensitive to the relationship aspect. By emphasising your availability and the quality of the follow-up you offer, you'll make an even greater impression on their minds.
• Environment This involves highlighting the beneficial effects of your solution on the environment and the conservation of resources. When faced with specific requests in terms of ecology, you may choose to detail the positive aspects of your product in this area.

An example of a sales pitch using the SONCASE method for a cybersecurity solution

SAFETY	Our solution ensures that your business complies with the new data protection legislation.
ORGUEIL	By choosing our Premium Support service, you can be sure of getting the best support for your business and priority resolution.
NEW	Our experts bring you the most advanced research in cybersecurity.
COMFORT	Easy and accessible to all, our solution saves your users valuable time.
SILVER	By protecting you from data theft and the risk of your business coming to a standstill, our solution is an investment that ensures the stability of your entire business.
SYMPATHY	Our service offers you a single point of contact who will support you at every stage of your project and answer all your questions.
ENVIRONMENT	We are committed to the responsible use of resources in order to offer you performance and sustainability.

Thanks to the questioning and active listening phase, you can determine the 2 or 3 dominant motivations of the people you are talking to and adapt your sales pitches accordingly.

The SPID method: creating the need for change

The SPID method enables you to develop a sales pitch that is guaranteed to capture the prospect's attention and interest. Thanks to the questions asked, the prospect is led to want the solution offered by your product/service. Here are the key steps to follow.

Stage 1: Situation current to be improved

Step 1 involves taking stock of the customer's situation. This involves asking them the right questions to understand what their problems are.

Stage 2: problems to avoid 

The aim of this 2nd stage is to highlight the shortfalls and threats for the future.

Stage 3: Involvement 

This 3rd stage involves raising awareness of the importance of the problems and therefore of the importance of dealing with them.

Stage 4: The desire for a solution 

The aim of stage 4 is to demonstrate to the customer that there is an opportunity to avoid the consequences of the problems. This means showing how the sales proposal is a solution.

The SPID method and its questions: an example of a dematerialisation solution

SITUATION	How do you ensure the security and archiving of your documents?  What are your observations on the management of paper documents?
PROBLEMS	What types of problems and incidents do you encounter with the management of invoices and paper documents?
IMPLICATION	Do you have any idea of the savings you could make by choosing a dematerialisation solution?  Did you know that our dematerialisation solution can save you not only money but also time?
DESIRE FOR A SOLUTION	Wouldn't it be better for your company to secure all your documents and save time that your staff could spend on higher added-value tasks?

The SPID method opens the door to the necessity and urgency of change.

By effectively questioning your interviewer and maintaining an active listening posture, you can gather the necessary information and identify the main motivations of your prospects and customers. In this way, your sales pitches are customer-focused, and you can persuade by personalising the benefits and demonstrating what your offers bring to your buyer in concrete terms.