How to Create a Sales Pitch That Closes More Deals

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You’ve made it to the short list and now it’s time for the final presentation to a room full of decisions makers. But, the real decision-maker in the room is not a person.

You’re really selling to a 3 pound organ called the human  brain. And as complex and amazing as it is, the process it uses to make a decision is both primitive and predictable.

When it comes to decision-making, there are two basic parts, and they can be categorized as either an influencer or the judge. You might be surprised to learn that neither logic nor emotion are the judge. They’re influencers, offering support for really big decisions, some of the time. The real judge is the “instinctual” part of the brain, the limbic part. Its everyday job is to eliminate threatsThreats What the primitive brain will act on. Whether real or perceived, the brain prioritizes acting on threats above and beyond any other action. This hurts sellers who are unable to connect the real impact of their product/service to a prospect’s threats., pains and fears.

What’s amazing is that about 90% of our daily choices only happen in this part of the brain. They’re the sort of things we do all the time, like braking when a light turns red, tying a shoelace that’s come undone, or avoiding a hornet flying near you. For the other 10%, the limbic part of the brain makes its move first, and then logic and emotion come in as backup support. You can’t avoid it; every human decision, including whether or not to buy from you, begins with an assessment of threats, pains and fears.

What We Know About the Brain

Process – Most sales people present in a way that conflicts with our brain’s decision-making process, citing facts and figures and features and benefits. As hard as it might seem, you need to flip it upside down, and talk about pains, threats, and fears first.

Speed – With 90% of decision made on autopilot, you must make it easy and fast for your prospects to say “that’s it!”.

Emotion – You must create emotional lift to spark commitment. Emotions are the trigger to decisions.

So, How Do I Present to the Brain?

#1 – Develop Your Three Convincing Why’s

Find the two or three ways you solve your prospect’s pain. Prove them over and over and you create alignment with your prospect’s entire team, each member able to remember and recite how you’re different and why they should buy. Those two or three reasons answer “Why you?” We call them Convincing Advantages™.

Well-crafted advantages that are unique to you, focused on your prospect’s pain and relentlessly proven, make it easy to communicate, easy to remember, and easy to apply – along every step of the sale.

 

#2 – Stop Talking About Yourself

“We have over 100 years combined experience on our team…”

“We’ve been a local resource for two decades….”

“We are trusted by over 10 of the Fortune 500…”

Do not start your presentation by talking about yourself. The brain does not care you are 100 years old, that you love your customers, or that your astrological sign is sagittarius.   

So many presentations lead with facts and figures, trying to win with logic, features or benefits, keeping you in the “wants and needs” part of the brain. We now know real connection happens below that line, at the subconscious level.

 

#3 – Focus on Solving Pains and Eliminating Threats

Your prospect’s brain needs to hear how you’re solving its pain first. During your presentation, start by setting the pain and showing resolution. This is called driving emotional lift. That last movie or book you enjoyed? It was a great example of setting up a pain or threat and then giving you the same kind of emotional lift through its resolution.

Your presentation doesn’t need Hollywood special effects, but it can make the pitch better if you follow the formula. Each pain you address must be quickly countered with its resolution–your product or service. Then, back it up with solid proof. This engages the right part of the brain–the limbic brain–first, then gets the influencers–emotion and logic–to stop by and agree.

Win More Sales with A Better Pitch

You can’t show up and look the same, act the same, and say the same things as your competition and expect to close the sale. You have to win the brain to stand-out and differentiate and carry the room to close the deal. You can start winning more deals with sales presentations that actually engage your prospects and position you as the only solution.

Let’s talk about winning more deals for your sales team with a NeuroPitch presentation >>

Should I Hire an Agency?

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  1. Cost Savings
  2. Team of Experts
  3. Tools and Technologies
  4. Industry Experience
  5. External Ideas/Opinions
  6. Time and Effort

6 Reasons You Should Hire A Marketing Agency

You’ve all heard it before, especially those business owners out there. You need to invest in digital marketing, or traditional marketing, or whatever marketing is trending right now. In order for you to be successful, you HAVE to invest, but how do you know where to start?

It’s difficult in today’s market to decipher what’s real and what’s fake. Will marketing really help drive more sales? How can you determine what’s working and what isn’t? Where do I start the search for the right direction, strategy, and execution for any marketing efforts? Should I hire an in-house marketing team or go with an external agency?

The last question is what we’re here to answer.

More and more, small to mid-sized businesses are turning to agencies to help deliver a return on whatever monies they are able to invest in their marketing. As such, the number of agencies that are out there grows every day, as individuals look to take advantage of a growing industry, new technologies, and innovative solutions. It’s a difficult decision to make, entrusting your marketing efforts to some “outsiders” who might not be experts in your industry, may not know your product or your people, and might not be available to call upon every hour of every day. However, we have six reasons for you to consider as to why an agency is not only a solution to your marketing woes, but is THE solution.

  1. Save Yourself the Expense of More Staff Members

According to Robert Half, an internal Marketing Director can cost on average around $102,000 in salary for your company. That’s one person to guide the strategy, manage a team, and execute some of that direction. Often, those Marketing Directors have some specialization in certain areas, but are not able to execute on all the various spokes of marketing today. So maybe you have to hire an SEO Expert at around $60,000, then you might need a Social Media Marketer for another $50,000. If you continue down that road, you hire a Paid Search Specialist for another $40,000. All in for these four individuals you’d be spending more than $250,000 on staff members, and that of course doesn’t include benefits, equipment, utilities, etc…for these people.

  1. Team of Experts

If I had a penny for the number of times I’ve heard the phrase, “I could hire an internal resource for that much.” Often, it’s not a wholly inaccurate statement. You COULD hire ONE internal resource. However, let’s say you had $10,000 per month to invest in your marketing efforts (a very low number). You could invest that all in your one internal resource. Alternatively, you could put that money in the hands of 15 experts who work together as a team to come up with the best strategies and solutions for your brand. Each of those 15 has a different set of skills, experience in any number of industries, and familiar with a plethora of solutions that could benefit your company in ways that you’ve never seen. You get an SEO expert, a paid search specialist, social media manager, account manager, strategist, content marketer, graphic designer, and more with one agency.

Go ahead, though. Tell me more about that one internal resource you can hire.

  1. Latest Tools and Technologies

I will tell you one thing. Digital marketing tools to monitor results, look at trends, schedule and execute project, or determine A/B testing results are expensive. You could easily spend $1,000 or more per month on a variety of tools and still not have everything you need. Generally, agencies invest in these tools on behalf of their clients. They need to be able to show the return on investment, monitor goals, track progress, and make sure the strategy and direction are working. It just comes with the business, and using an agency will allow you to get the cutting-edge tools and software packages working for you at no extra cost.

  1. Industry Experience

Many agencies have team members with years of experience in different industries and fields. Often companies may not consider this when deciding to hire an agency. While every company is unique, there are always similarities to be found based on experience. It’s very possible that the agency you choose has run a successful campaign in a similar field or even in your same field! That saves time, energy, and money in planning and executing on the various strategies and goals that you have set for your company.

  1. External Ideas/Opinions

Working inside your company every day gives an individual insight into the day-to-day operations, the culture, the characters, and the products or services. However, over time those opinions and thoughts can get stale, old, and blurry. You might have the perfect solution for your current audience or market, but what about a new market? What about that audience that you haven’t looked at yet but provides a way for you to grow your market share? How do you find out about everything OUTSIDE of your company? An agency can provide a fresh, new perspective, helping you discover even more about your company but also more about your clients and prospects. Don’t sell yourself short by doing what has “worked for years.” Find something new!

  1. Time and Effort

Hiring an outside marketing agency really lets you spend your time and effort on what matters most: growing your business. With so many different solutions and tactics out there, internal resources can often get lost in the marketing forest and lose focus on what is most important. You can stay focused on the core of your business, taking the reporting and strategies provided by your agency relationship and leveraging those experts to improve your core business goals.

The other side of this is that you don’t have to spend time training and onboarding yet another internal resource. An agency already understands its role, has defined clear goals and expectations (or they should), and provides you the information that you need without the extra clutter of managing a staff member.

In conclusion…

Ultimately, you have to do your due diligence and make the best decision for your company. Whether you’re the CEO, CMO, or a marketing manager looking for a good partner, there is an agency out there that can help maximize your budget, deliver you results, and help you grow your business. That’s the goal, right? Ask the right questions and find the right partner. They’re out there!