How I Made More Money Once I Stopped Pitching

Written by on March 14, 2017

Years ago I stopped pitching clients.

And that’s when I started making a lot more money.

I used to get all bent out of shape if my sales presentation wasn’t “just right.” I think this stemmed from one of my first sales positions where we had to have our “presentation binder” with us on our sales calls and use it as our main tool to pitch businesses our telecommunication services.

Then, when I started one of my businesses a few years back, I spent a lot of time on my business cards, my brochures, my envelopes, and yes, my pitch.

I still hear people emphasize “their pitch” today. I hear things such as “I’ve pitched everyone on this, nobody wants it.” “Nobody wants to hear my pitch.”

The switch for me was one day when I forgot my pitch presentation. And, because I didn’t have my presentation, I essentially felt as though I forgot my pitch.

So I said to the prospect, “I forgot my presentation binder which I normally use to show an outline of our company and services.”

And he said in return, “That’s ok, let’s just talk. We’ll figure out if it makes sense for us to work together or not.” I could see his tension go down once he saw I wasn’t going to “pitch” him.

Let’s just talk. 

This is where I learned the most valuable lesson in sales.

You can’t sell anybody anything. They must discover they want it. 

And it’s your job as a sales or service professional to ask them enough questions so they can make this discovery for themselves.

Once I learned this I went from becoming a salesperson to becoming a consultant. 

A consultant is a trusted advisor. This was the new mindset that changed the game for me.

I started looking at business owners and their businesses differently. I looked at them, not as someone I needed to “pitch,” but instead a person who may have a problem that I can help them solve. And my role was to find out the real problem and determine if there is an opportunity for me to help them.

This was level 1 mindset and adopting it changed how I approached business owners.

When looking at my sales activity, it changed from “how many pitches” did I make this week? To “How many sales conversations did I have this week?”

Sometimes we call it strategy sessions, free consultations, etc.

I never call it a pitch.

I’ve made a lot more sales and a lot more money as a result of this mindset switch. More importantly, I started helping more business owners get results. That’s my obsession now. If they increase their sales as a result of my help, they’ll not just keep me around forever, they’ll refer me to others. Without me asking them to.

Clients don’t like to be “pitched,” they like to have conversations about themselves and their business. And, if you’re good at asking the right questions, they’ll discuss their biggest business challenges so you both can then have the insight you need on how you can help them.

I’m combining my ten years experience of owning a sales training company with my now six years of owning a marketing agency and putting that knowledge all into one course, Marketing Agency Academy. If you’re a business coach, consultant or agency owner who wants to 1) get a lot more clients and 2) get them better results so they pay you forever, then I invite you to check out it out. I giving away the ebook and 30-minute video training called “20 Proven Ways to Find Clients” (click here) just for taking a look.


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