Four Steps to Follow When Evaluating Your Sales Pitch

1. Start by writing out your prepared lines or using mine and try them in the field. As a general rule, try a line ten times and track the results before judging as good or bad.

After you leave an appointment, make quick notes concerning what happened.  Include the exact lines you said before the client started moving towards “no” or the line which got them to move to the next step in the sales process.

2. For those of you who don’t understand this yet, let me explain something to you. When you leave a sales appointment, that appointment was either successful or unsuccessful.  There is nothing in the middle.  A successful sales appointment moved the client to the next step.  An unsuccessful sales appointment did not move the client to the next step.  When you leave an appointment, success at that appointment has nothing to do with feelings.  Whether you like the client or the client likes you and how you feel or how you think the client feels has nothing to do with the success of the appointment.  Success in sales is:  “I need to get a processing statement from the merchant.”  That’s the next step.  If I get a processing statement when I walk in, that is success.  If I don’t, that is not success.

3. Once you have a decent pitch, the priority is delivery. Getting really good at delivering an average pitch is more important than delivering a perfect pitch poorly.  Remember, one of the most important elements is that you don’t want to sound robotic.  You want to be able to deliver your lines with emotion.  Once you have a pitch which sounds pretty good, keep working on that pitch.  Deliver it over and over and over again for a few weeks.  Try to get really good at delivering that pitch.  This would be better than if you spend hours working on an absolutely perfect pitch which you keep changing.  All that is for nothing if you basically have to read it to the client because you don’t know it.  You really need to get excellent at delivering your pitch.

4. Work on your opening to make sure you aren’t rushing it or giving it too early. You should always have a big smile and ask, “How are you doing today?”  Wait for a response before you launch into your opening.  Be casual and relaxed at all times.  When someone walks towards you, you need to just put your hand out and offer the hearty greeting.  Introduce yourself.  Be very relaxed and very casual.  One main mistake of many sales agents is starting into the opening line way too early.  When the business owner is still fifteen feet away and walking toward the agent, he or she may be thinking about what was happening in the back room or what needs to be told to an employee.  While the owner is in this frame of mind, some agents launch quickly into a squeaky, “Hey Mr. Jones, my name is_____, and I came in today to _________.”  Slow down!  Wait until the client gets to you.  Have a big smile on your face; almost overdo the smile.  When the merchant gets to you (still wearing your big smile), then ask, “How are you doing today?” and shake hands.  At that point get out a business card and hand it to the client.  Then say your opening pitch.  Don’t rush into the opening pitch.

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