The Essentials of a Compelling Sales Pitch + Examples

You rarely get a second chance to make a first impression, which is why it’s vital to create an impactful sales or elevator pitch.

Whether you’re an executive meeting a prospective buyer by chance or a sales rep connecting with leads, it’s important to have a quick explanation of what you do and why you’re unique. You’ve only got a handful of seconds to make an impact.

What should a sales pitch look like? What do you need to include?

Knowing these answers will help you master the art of the pitch and provide effective sales pitch training for your team. Your reps will learn to provide key information and encourage potential customers to ask for more.

What is a sales pitch?

A sales pitch, or elevator pitch, briefly describes what problem your company solves, for whom, and what makes you different from other options. 

When you have a concise sales pitch, you can use it in various ways. Sales reps can use a sales pitch to get a prospect’s attention and encourage them to have a longer conversation. Done correctly, a sales pitch provides exactly what a prospect needs to decide that your solution could work for them.

Anyone in the organization can use a sales pitch when networking or at a work-related event outside the office. Rather than saying, “I’m a (role),” you can say, “Our organization…” and give the sales pitch. 

Not only does that give you a unique approach, but it also sparks interest in your product or service, which is a win-win. 

Why is a sales pitch important?

Why should your organization take the time to create concise pitches and create employee and sales training about using them?

The most obvious answer is that it allows sales reps and team members to quickly share the organization’s value and solution with others. This can lead to longer conversations that ultimately lead to sales and boost the bottom line.

A less obvious reason for creating sales pitches is that it helps solidify the solution and value proposition in the minds of your employees and sales reps. Remember, you’re not just selling to customers; you’re also engaging your team and helping them understand the value they’re providing. A sales pitch creates an understanding of why your company does what it does—and, by extension, why each team member does what they do.

Essential elements of a sales pitch

We’ve all heard terrible sales pitches that made us want to fall asleep—or even run away. 

The content of your pitch and how it’s put together is key to avoiding that result. Here are some essential elements that can improve a pitch, which improves sales team performance and makes it easier to answer questions about the company. 

The problem your company solves

The goal of a sales pitch isn’t to capture everyone’s attention; it’s to capture the attention of the right people. 

That’s why you lead with the problem you solve—you want to engage prospects who struggle with that problem and are looking for a solution. 

Who your organization serves

Once you’ve stated the problem, you also want to include your ideal customer—who you solve that problem for. This is another way to attract the right person’s attention while weeding out those who aren’t interested or in need of your solution. 

It’s common for businesses to try to serve everyone, but in doing so, you’re appealing to no one. The more specific you can be, the more you’ll catch the ear of the right type of customer. The more general you are, the more everyone will tune you out.

Why your solution is different

It’s also essential to include your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), which is your answer to “Why should I do business with you instead of your competitors?” 

As they say, there’s nothing new under the sun, so many other companies have similar solutions to yours.

Having a very clear understanding of what makes your business unique and why your solution is different helps you create a better sales pitch and create a more compelling customer journey.

Tell a story

Depending on the length of your sales pitch, you might be able to tell a story about a customer who benefited from your solution. Keep it concise and focused on the core value of your product or service—otherwise, you could lose your audience. 

If done well, however, a story can be very engaging and help your listeners see themselves benefiting from your solution. 

Ask an engaging question

As you end your sales pitch, ask an engaging question that encourages further conversation. 

This may be a call to action to take the next step or a follow-up encouraging them to tell you more about their specific problems and needs. 

Sales pitch examples

What does it look like to put all of these components together in a single sales pitch?

Here are a few examples to get you started. 

For these examples, we’ll keep it simple by discussing what we know—the benefits of the Learning Cloud.

Cold email pitch

Cold email marketing can be highly effective if it’s well-targeted, personalized, and has a brief sales pitch. Here’s an example highlighting the problem WorkRamp solves, who we serve, and one thing that makes us unique.

Hey {Name},

I saw you profiled in Training Magazine recently, and your comments about the importance of microlearning were spot on! I’d love to chat about how you implement microlearning in your organization. 

To let you know about us, the Learning Cloud from WorkRamp gives B2B companies an all-in-one platform to run engaging, impactful training programs for employees, customers, partners, and more. This helps organizations increase revenue and employee retention.

Can we set up a time to connect next Tuesday afternoon?

Networking sales pitch

When you’re networking, you don’t necessarily know if the person you’re speaking to is your ideal customer. The idea is to use your sales pitch to appeal to them if they are. 

Here’s an example of how to answer the question, “What do you do?” at a B2B conference or networking event.

“Great question! WorkRamp provides an all-in-one training solution for B2B organizations. For example, Reddit used WorkRamp to decrease sales ramp time by 33%, and Zappi was able to create employee onboarding that allowed them to scale hiring and increase new hire satisfaction by 26%. What about your organization? Is your training process as smooth as you’d like it to be?”

Why does this sales pitch work? It offers a succinct answer to the specific problem WorkRamp solves and for whom. Then, two concrete examples show different use cases, followed by an engaging question to encourage additional conversation.

Sales pitch to a lead online

For our third example, let’s look at sales reps interacting with customers online. Almost all B2B buyers—92 percent—prefer virtual sales interactions, which means sales reps are more likely to pitch on a platform like LinkedIn than in person. 

Here’s a sales pitch that could be sent to a warm lead, where the rep already has had some interaction about their training process.

“It’s great to learn about the training process at your Company! One thing I’ve noticed is that you seem to be paying for multiple subscriptions to create training content, organize it, and deploy it. One of the biggest benefits of the Learning Cloud is that everything is built in for a single, affordable price. Whether you want to run employee development programs, new hire onboarding, sales enablement, customer education, or all four, everything you need is on a single platform! Would you like to see a demo?”

This sales pitch notes that their current training process involves disparate solutions and highlights a key feature and multiple use cases where the Learning Cloud could be more effective. It doesn’t stop there—these kinds of sales pitches need a call to action that invites the lead into the next step of the sales process. 

Train your team to create compelling sales pitches

As you can see, an effective sales pitch can work in various situations. In addition to the examples above, you can adapt sales pitch elements for call and voicemail scripts, follow-up messages, social media outreach, in-person sales presentations, and more. 

The question is, how do you train your team to give persuasive pitches? 

One of the best ways is to include sales pitch training in your sales enablement or employee development training. Of course, that means you need a powerful and easy-to-use training platform, such as the Learning Cloud.

Creating effective, engaging training doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Discover how the Learning Cloud can help you create engaging to train your team and improve sales results. Contact us today for a free, personalized demo.