today in cape town office … i was on a conference call and looked up and saw one of the new sales guys roaming around the sales floor with his cordless phone in his hand …. pitching.
i had to put the 5 people on the conference call on hold as I inquired what in the F… the sales guy was doing….more importantly, what was the sales manager doing while this kid roamed the office?
Sticking to the pitch is about focusing on selling benefit … overcoming objections….selling more benefit….getting people interactive …and selling more benefit.
There is absolutely no way this sales guy was selling …. he might have been hustling… or charming…telling, but there is no way this new guy was consistent with the delivery of the pitch.
I was reflecting on this mornings blog as well as my dinner discussion last night with LP.
Consider this ….
LP was the number one sales person in the company in 2006.
LP was the number one sales person in 2007 and won the 700,000 euros rolex challenge.
Question: Is LP the best sales talent that has ever worked for me? No way.
Is LP the best sales talent in the company? No way.
Is he the sharpest dressed….the most consistent in work ethic…..the most focused in the company?
Probably.
He sticks to the pitch and does the sale exactly how he was trained. He does not add any perfunctory and meaningless words or phrases like “basically….” “actually” “to tell you the truth…”
This doesnt mean he is a robot just reading his pitch, using his objections, and benefits etc … no way
a good pitch lasts 30-45 minutes …. and sticking to a pitch as a foundation– selling benefit consistently and fluidly …. not getting pushed off the phone …. is the key.
Sticking to the pitch means …being very consistent with what you say … knowing your product, clients, competitors, etc like the back of your hand..not losing your focus during the week by staying up too late…
Furthermore, this concept of “stick to the pitch” can be applied to various aspects of our lives … example …
you join the gym … you start an exercise regiment …. you stick to a consistent plan - you stick to your pitch
you want to lose weight … you start a diet …. you stick to your pitch.
An old friend emailed me today … and made a small subtle reference to the blog…. proving that he understood that my point of “stick to the pitch” was not focused purely on sales….but more importantly in life.
Irronically - this same person was a super star sales talent that never stuck to the pitch, thus did not succeed in the end.
Pitching is easy …. it is sticking to the pitch that is the challenge.
One Response to “stick to the pitch II”
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April 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Absolutely !!
Sticking to the pitch is the key success factor in sales because it standardizes the customer approach and it makes it more professional
You reduce the risk of failure as the salesperson knows in advance all the possible reactions of the customer and is already prepared to overcome any objection
but I don’t agree in something with your approach
the sales pitch you describe seems to be undynamic…
my personal opinion is that the pitch has to be always reviewed, corrected, and improved..
And to make it close to perfection, you need the feedback of your sales team..
The sales team feedback is crucial, because at the end these guys are your army, they are in the battle and they know better than anyone else, what works and what doesn’t
Anyways…
What you’re doing in Naseba is amazing, but I think that there are always ways to do things better, even if you have the best practices in your sector…
So maybe this is one of them