If you only have one chance to draw new customers in, how do you do it? Your sales team is meeting new prospects all the time. What first impression are they leaving?
What message will make those prospects want to stop and seriously consider doing business with your company? What is your team saying that will make that other person want to know more?
Your response when someone first asks about your company is considered your elevator pitch. I asked the distributor members of my Industrial Sales Management Peer Group whether they had a standard pitch and how they devised it.
The key, according to one distributor: Keep it benefits-oriented. You want to get your message across as clearly as possible, no matter the role your prospect plays. For example: We decrease downtime, increase productivity, decrease energy costs and so on. “You can’t get down in the weeds,” he said. “You need to keep it where everybody understands what you’re trying to accomplish.”
Others used internal focus groups or outside consultants.
Many of our group’s members said working on a new website or other marketing materials had forced them to think about what their companies really stood for and how they would communicate that.
The challenge these and other distributors have is ensuring that the message they’re selling is consistently delivered. Training helps. One distributor said that it works with new sales associates on their pitches before they are sent out to the field.
Elevator pitches are important. But unfortunately, when it comes to defining what sets them apart, many distributors rattle off the same three things: product, service and experience. Your competitor is probably saying the same thing. It’s time to get to the heart of why your customers really do business with you. Yes, you may have good customer service or great people, but think beyond that. Identify two to three areas you can bullet-point for your team that would entice a prospect to want to know more.
After all, you only get one chance at a first impression.
This blog series from Brian Gardner, founder of SalesProcess360, is based on monthly meetings with members of his Industrial Sales Management Peer Groups, which discuss issues important to distribution and manufacturing sales managers and executives. If you are interested in joining a Peer Group, visit salesprocess360.com/industrial_sales_management_peer_groups or contact Brian Gardner at brian.gardner@salesprocess360.com.
Gardner is the founder of SalesProcess360 and has spent more than 25 years in sales and sales management in the industrial market. He served as a sales manager for a major regional rep/distribution company for 15 years before founding Selltis LLC, the only industrial-focused sales team CRM solution. He contributed to the MDM book The Distributor’s Guide to Analytics and his new book, ROI from CRM, will be published by MDM this spring. Get notified when it is available to order.
