How to Nail Your Opening Pitch

Opening pitch should be no longer than fifteen to twenty seconds.  Write out your opening.  Then read the opening and time it with a stop watch on your phone or a clock with a second hand.  If it’s longer than twenty seconds, you need to re-think your opening.  It must also conclude with an open ended question rather than a “yes” or “no” question.  If your opening ends with a “yes” or “no” question, you are losing sales.  Here’s my opening:

“Hi, my name is James Shepherd.  I’m a local business owner providing credit card processing services.  I actually do the processing for XYZ company and thought I would stop by to find out who you’re using for your credit card processing?”

That opening takes me about twelve to fifteen seconds.  We’re going to look at some of the elements in that opening.  You might want to use this one, or you might have a different one you want to use.  Here are the parts of that opening which you want to copy.

• Use your entire name. Don’t walk in and use just your first name.  I usually hand the client my business card at this point as I say my opening.
• Local approach. “I’m a local business owner.”  Use a local approach – however you want to include that.  Make sure the client knows you’re local.  You could say something similar to, “I’m a local business owner based in ______(city.)”
• Answer the question of what you do. Very simple, but don’t fail to answer that question.  The client will ask you.
• Answer the question of who else does it. So help them feel included.
• Ask an open ended question to conclude. This must not be a question requiring a “yes” or “now” answer.  Mine is “who are you using for your credit card processing?”  The client can answer in any way he or she wants; it will not affect my pitch.

Now it’s time to get out there and nail your opening pitch!

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