Tempting Sales Pitches that Broke Through the Clutter

Back Off a Bit
After going to about 10 car dealers who insisted upon either riding with us or even driving us in their test-drive cars, Liberty Hyundai gave us the keys and let us go. That, combined with low-pressure tactics and a great finance deal — better than our bank offered — sold us on our latest car.

—Howard Greenstein, President, The Harbrooke Group, New York

Take a Chance
One day we got a call from a vendor who had a news clipping and mounting service. Our marketing and public relations firm had been in the paper and he had clipped and mounted the article. He said he was ready to send it for my approval if I was interested. I was not only interested, I asked how many copies I could get in case I wanted to send it to other people mentioned in the article. He was ready for that, told me I could get as many copies as I wanted and offered discounted pricing. The approach was proactive and very well thought-out. He tailored his approach, did his research and won the sale.

—Kate Koziol, President, K Squared Communications Inc., Chicago

Be Clear About the Bottom Line
One of the greatest global sales pitches I received came from a woman business owner based in the Netherlands who outlined her service proposal in an easy-to-understand fashion. For example, in each phase of the project, she clearly identified how much time she would spend, why it took that long and how much it would cost my firm.

As a business owner, I find that many vendors do not come prepared with that information. I always respect a salesperson who tells it like it is and begs to be held accountable and responsible for their words and actions. Needless to say, I accepted her proposal.

—Laurel Delaney, Founder & President, GlobeTrade.com, Chicago

Show, Don’t Talk
I don’t do a lot of interviews with vendors. It takes too much of my time. My business [architecture] is very visual, so something visual — a brochure, easy-to-grasp research, or a sample — will catch my eye. Something simple that can sit on a desk or bulletin board that’s really, “This is what we do in one snapshot.” For example, I have a beautiful sample of flooring material here that’s gorgeous. That kind of thing really helps me choose and helps me when I make my own presentations.

—Tom Campiglia, A.I.A., owner, C+E Architects, L.L.C, Long Island and New York City

Have a Real Dialogue
I signed on the dotted line for a new car. Even though I am brand loyal, I switched from a Saab to a Lexus. Why? The salesperson took the time to ask me questions about my lifestyle and how I would be using the car. He helped me explore my financial options. He never resorted to heavy-handed sales techniques and never appeared to even notice there was anyone else in the dealership. Finally, he followed through with everything that he promised. Short of offering to be my personal driver, he did it all.

—Adrian Miller, Adrian Miller Sales Training, Port Washington, N.Y

Overcome Price Objections
I have a client who is in the sales training business. Their pitch is to find out what the lifetime value of a customer is to their target and then they relate that to the [sales training] fees. Let’s say the value of an individual customer is $50,000. The cost of sales-training services could be covered if, as a result of the training, the company sold two or three or whatever number of new customers. This gets rid of the clients’ price objections and works toward an ROI analysis. It’s a good approach.

—Steve Davies, Chief Executive, The Alternative Board, Long Island

Give It Your Time
My company had been in the market for an online backup solution, so I asked Jennifer Waltzer at BackupMyInfo! to have someone on her technical team talk through details with us. We were very impressed with the speed of follow-up. The clincher was a free trial — she let us install the software and try the service with no strings attached whatsoever, no data limit and no time limit. We were free to play around and see if it was a good fit.

The upshot is that we are now ready to proceed and will certainly use their service. It wasn’t so much a great sales pitch as it was a great sales process or conversation that unfolded over several weeks that led to our decision to buy.
—Tony Coretto, Managing Partner, PNT Marketing Services, New York and Virginia

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