We work with a wide range of businesses, primarily small businesses, that run the gamut from real estate agents, to financial and legal advisers, to franchisees and more, offering them cloud hosted PBX phone systems. There are a lot of differences between the clients we serve, but also some similarities.
One key similarity that all of our clients share is the need to quickly convey what they have to offer. It’s a need we can relate to, because we have the same need ourselves!
The service we provide is cloud hosted telecommunication services. That’s a mouthful. Just the phrase cloud hosted causes most eyes to glaze over. It’s technical lingo and, as we’ve learned from many client—and prospective client—conversations, the concept of “the cloud” itself is difficult for most people to grasp. Explaining what we do in a few, short, simple sentences is important to help potential customers understand not just what we do, but how what we do might benefit them.
That’s a critical distinction and one that many businesses, big or small, tend to overlook. When you’re focusing too much on what you have to offer, you’re not focused enough on what your prospective customers need. It’s human nature for us to be far more attuned to “what’s in it for me” than we are to the intricacies of the product or service features you may have to offer.
Know Your Target Audience
Most of our customers are small—five people or less. What’s important to them? They often want to convey an image of being bigger than they are, they’re concerned about sounding professional and they want the ability to distribute calls to staff members wherever they may be located (most often in dispersed locations). Cost is a common concern and most don’t have a physical office location—those that work for or with them are often located in multiple locations. But, regardless of size, locations or numbers of staff members or contractors the primary need they share is to have a single, “corporate” phone number and the ability to transfer calls to others’ cell phones while conveying the impression that they are all located in an office tower.
Our pitch is focused on their needs. “We provide hosted telephone systems for small companies.” That one sentence provides a good starting point, it quickly explains what we do, positions us in an industry and the use of the word “hosted” invites a question. So, we go on to explain: “We provide virtual phone numbers, either local or toll-free, and include a professionally recorded outgoing greeting, multiple extensions, call transfer and voicemail to email.”
What Should you Focus On?
So, what does it take to perfect your pitch? You should focus on using:
- Simple language
- An interesting twist
- A corollary
- A known benchmark
- Something memorable
The best pitch is one or two sentences that are direct and easy to understand. Just as when preparing to make a presentation of any kind, the first thing you need to do when telling someone about your business or the products and services it offers is to capture their attention.
“KISS” – Keep it Simple Stupid
For organizations like ours, and quite possibly yours, that means avoiding too many technical details or industry-specific lingo. Why? Because they’re just not as into you as you are into you! They’re into themselves—and you should be too. In developing your pitch seek to address that critical and universal desire to get the answer to the question: “What’s in it for me?” Hopefully, this sales pitch advice will help your business grow and succeed.
