“It is the cold that is dead, NOT the calling“, once said Trish Bertuzzi…a famous sales guru & business head. And I couldn’t agree more!

Cold calling has almost become a thing of the past… hardly effective. Warm calling is the way forward in today’s hyper-competitive market. And to do warm calling, you need to do thorough homework on your customers & follow up with them on regular intervals.

Let’s talk about 7 important points you should consider while preparing your Sales Pitch strategy:

Ideal Customer Persona

The first step is to analyze & prepare an ideal customer persona for your business. It will go a long way in giving you clarity on who you should target, which industry & how to reach out to them effectively.

Ask yourself the following questions, while preparing an ideal customer persona:

• What solution are they currently using?
• What are their challenges or bottlenecks?
• Where are they located, and their time zone?
• Which department in the company can use your product/service?
• What is the industry they are in?
• What is the size of the company; small, mid-size or enterprise?
• What is their head count?
• How much revenue/profit does the company make?

Medium of Communication

A good sales guy will make sure he covers all the popular mode of communication, while reaching out to a prospect i.e. Email, Social Media, Call, SMS etc. Just make sure, you’ve done your homework on the industry & persona of the prospect you’re chasing… Choosing the most important medium for any particular prospect depends on that. A tech entrepreneur won’t have the same choice as an agri-entrepreneur.

Spend some time on analyzing their web activities. Try to figure out the platform they are most active on, & focus on that.

Another very very important factor most people ignore is the timing of your follow-ups. The sole purpose of a sales pitch is to catch the prospect’s attention & hence doing it the right way… at the right time is key!

Most people hurry up to their offices every morning, which means they’re highly likely to ignore your email or call early into the day. Same way, people won’t really like to talk about work on holidays & weekends.

You should always aim towards following up with your prospects at a time of their convenience. And figuring that out will take some efforts. Start with everything you’ve got, figure out the more effective channels & build your strategy around those.

Number of Attempts

Most sales folks are unaware of the number of attempts they should make to reach out to a prospect. They just don’t follow up enough. Twice or thrice & they don’t get a response… they simply move on to new prospects.

Note that patience & persistence is key here. An ideal sales pitch strategy will have somewhere between 8 to 12 touch points. Research says that on an average it takes up to 7 follow-ups to get someone’s attention.

However, every industry demands a different strategy. You should be flexible enough to decide a minimum number of follow-ups & stick to it. With consistency & prospect behavior, you should be able to find out that sweet spot i.e. the ideal number of follow-ups that work for your business.

Time-gap between Follow-ups

Nobody likes to be flooded with emails & sales calls. Overdoing your sales pitch has more chances of you loosing the deal, rather than winning.

Spacing between follow-ups is very important for a sales pitch to succeed. After all the prospects also need some time to think about your offer, how it can solve their problems & then decide.

Getting in touch with someone multiple times in a day is a strict no-no. Even daily follow-ups don’t work in most of the industries. You should keep at least a day or two in between every follow-up of yours. If you don’t get any response, try leaving a voicemail or asking for a convenient time to talk.

Note that, consistency is the key here. Maintain a specific gap between every follow-up of yours.

The Content

First impression lasts long. The way you start off over a call or the way you construct your email subject has a BIG impact on the prospect. Try to be cordial & use words that are intriguing. A touch of personalization also helps in these cases.

Try mentioning the prospect’s or his company’s name on the email subject. People are 60% more likely to open their emails which have a mention of them or the company they represent. Also don’t miss out on addressing how you can help solve their pain-points in the email body.

Cover the following points in your email:

• How can you help?
• Why are you reaching out to them?
• The benefits of collaborating with you.
• Mention others who are benefiting from you.

Test & Improvise

There is no magic formula to prepare the perfect sales pitch strategy. Always be curious to see if the current strategy is working for you or not. If not, don’t hesitate to go back to the discussion table. It’s never too late for it.

Don’t rush into a conclusion too soon. Back your strategy just enough for you to have adequate information.

If your email open rates are low, try changing your email subject lines. If the response rate is low, try a different email template. Change your email contents. Keep a note of your most effective channels & most effective time-period for follow-ups.

Above all, remain consistent!

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