Be sure to register for my free training on, "The 5Step Formula to Closing More Deals without the Price Pushback, 'ThinkItOvers' or Ghosting": https://salesinsightslab.com/training/

1. The pitch isn't about you; it's about them.

This is such an important distinction. Prospects only care about themselves. They are focused on their world, and they don't care about your product, about your service, about your company, about how your company's been in business for 300 years or that you've got the best service or that you've got the best offering. What they care about is a solution to the challenges that are plaguing them right now.

2. Use a small whiteboard.

This is one of our favorite techniques that we're focused on right now, which is the whiteboard pitch, where we're using a little whiteboard at the very beginning of a conversation. Now, of course, if you're on the phone, you're not going to be using a whiteboard. However, you can still layout the same process without actually showing them the whiteboard, but if you're on a Zoom or in a facetoface meeting, you can have a small whiteboard, a little 8.5 by 11 whiteboard or your iPad.

3. Lay out the top three challenges you see.

This is where the whiteboard pitch gets really interesting. Use your whiteboard to start a conversation with your prospect by laying out the top three challenges you see your prospects facing right now.

In my world, my prospects are highlevel executives in sales. So I would say something like, “Right now, I see a lot of clients similar to you facing three key issues with sales…” And then I’d turn to my whiteboard and write as I explained:

Challenge #1: Losing sales to lowcost competitors

Challenge #2: Being treated as just another vendor

Challenge #3: Struggling to maintain quota

4. Share a root cause for each challenge.

Once you’ve used your whiteboard to lay out the top three challenges, you’ll share a root cause for each challenge. I’d say something like, “Now, what we see with these three sales challenges is that there are clear root causes behind each…” Then, I’d turn back to my whiteboard and write as I explained:

Root Cause #1: Salespeople aren’t engaging in conversations around real value

Root Cause #2: Salespeople are winging the sales process

Root Cause #3: Sales reps are doing the same thing over and over again

5. Give one piece of data for each root cause.

The final piece of the whiteboard pitch is to give one piece of data for each root cause. This is where you really start to show your expertise. Here’s what I would share on my whiteboard:

Only 18% of salespeople today are classified by buyers as trusted advisors whom they respect
68% of salespeople are behaving in ways that actually drive down performance in sales
Only 24.3% of salespeople exceeded their quota last year

6. Engage them to talk.

After you’ve just shared that entire whiteboard pitch (which by the way, only takes about two minutes) it’s time to engage your prospect to talk.

Simply wrap up your whiteboard pitch by saying something like, “Now, based on what I've just talked about, do any of these issues ring true to you?"

This is a critical part of the perfect sales pitch, because this is where you start to uncover what the prospect is truly thinking about in their world.

7. Disqualify.

After your whiteboard pitch, the next and final phase of the perfect sales pitch is the disqualification process. In order to disqualify, simply ask a series of intentional questions to engage the prospect in a highvalue conversation and determine whether they are a fit.

Once your prospect has shared their top challenges, ask questions like, “Can you tell me a little bit more about how that challenge affects you?” Since you’ve taken the time to walk your prospect through the perfect sales pitch up until now, they will open up to you and talk to you like you’re an expert who has demonstrated that you understand their world.

Based on their answers to the questions you ask during the disqualification process, you can then decide whether the prospect is a good fit, or if you should focus your time and energy elsewhere.