Why Utilizing Technology in Sales Pitches Leads to Success
The influence of technology is now being felt in every area of life. Technological tools are changing the way customers browse, buy, seek feedback and make decisions. Even the types of devices shoppers use to purchase products and services is shifting.
In this post, learn how to effectively use technology for the most effective sales pitches.
Show, Don’t Tell
With technology as your ally, there is absolutely no reason a prospect should ever have to take your word for it that your product or service is the latest, greatest thing. Not only do people take in visual-based information much faster than verbal or text, but they will retain up to 80 percent more of it later on.
Tools to show off your product or service visually:
- 3-D modeling
- Training games
- How-to videos
- PDF or Powerpoint presentations
- Photos and images
- Infographics
Listen, Then Talk
In the sales industry, communication is still the foundation of turning even the best sales pitch into an actual sale. According to Shapiro Negotiations, “The best sales negotiators are people who listen effectively.” In an e-commerce driven world that is feeling increasingly disconnected and impersonal, this is more true today than ever before.
Listening means giving your prospect the floor 80 percent of the time and using your 20 percent of airtime to respond, answer questions, address concerns and meet needs. Listening means learning from each sales pitch to improve the next.
Tools to improve your listening skills:
- Chat, text and social media apps. Make yourself available to listen before and after the sales pitch as well as during.
- Voice dictation or note-taking apps. If you sometimes struggle to remember key points from a sales call, use note-taking or voice dictation apps to capture your thoughts before they slip away.
- Customer response management (CRM) program. CRM software today is sophisticated enough to act as a full-time virtual assistant. The software can issue reminders of important actions, automate appointment reminders and confirmations, keep each prospect’s contact information current, track sales history and integrate with email and social media marketing apps.
Meet Needs Before They Become Needs
With the ever more hectic pace in today’s global e-commerce marketplace, no one – salesperson or prospect – is sitting around at their desk waiting for the phone to ring anymore. As such, the most effective salesperson will position themselves to meet a need before the prospect has even really realized there is a need.
Today’s technology makes this much easier. By choosing the right technological prompts, prospects can be gently nudged along the sales funnel until the time is ripe for them to notice their own need and take action.
Tools to improve lead generation/nurturing:
- Lead generation and nurturing software. By issuing targeted marketing content (social media, blog posts, infographics, etc.), you can increase your number of pre-qualified prospects and nurture each one with a steady flow of useful content.
- Analytics from optimized landing pages. By analyzing where prospects go, what they look at and how long they stay on your site, you can craft future pitches to more closely match their interests and unmet needs.
By having all the resources you need to meet a prospect’s need, you gain the advantage over competitors and win your customer’s trust. While it can seem overwhelming at first to select the right technology, the effort can produce a big payoff when it comes time to make your big sales pitch and close the deal.
