03 May
A fundamental problem continues to exist for Entrepreneurs wanting to make a sale either online or offline. And that problem is communicating exactly what they want to solve.
Very often, we are told to sell values. What that simply means is “SOLVE PROBLEMS”.
We all know that every product or services out there are meant to solve someone’s problem or satisfy someone’s urge.
Let’s take an example of someone who sells fruit drinks.
The obvious reasons are probably to quench thirst, provide natural vitamins for the human body, avail a quick solution instead of having the customer go to a mango tree in his/her village, get a mango and come home to peel before eating. That’s a whole lot of stress and the food drink seller wants to provide a quick solution. There are definitely several reasons for this.
But a Food drink seller may not have the kind of sales because he or she doesn’t have the right approach to communicating his values to his target audience. It doesn’t matter if the product is the best in the world or maybe one of its kind.
Entrepreneurs suffer this a lot and before you get to know, they are switching to another business because they become discouraged.
It’s a known fact that more sales bring more wealth for every business and that’s really important to our survival as business owners.
In this article, I took my time to elaborate on the important elements that make a great sales pitch for any product in the market. And it is expected to be used both by online and offline entrepreneurs to communicate values to their target audience and start raving in the kind of sales they want to have in their business.
Back in the days when I started out with one of my businesses before I took the Business Development, Marketing and Sales Course with one of the first business schools I attended, I had this wonderful product to sell and I was so excited with a title to blog about.
That anxiety cut me up in the early hours of the morning (About 3 am) and I couldn’t sleep. So, I got up and went straight to my study to script it out.
It took me almost 4 hours to script it.
Gladly, I ended with a superscript that within me I felt was going to be the best ever. And I was so sure of raving in a lot of sales, because the product was superb, and was just entering the country.
I went on to post it on my blog and other social media handles. Unfortunately, the only comment came from my elder sister and the few likes from my brothers.
13 hours later, I went online to take a look at the performance of the posts. But nothing else.
Many days later, it was still as dry as I had left it.
That was a turning point for me. Most importantly, I was confused and angry.
To be sincere with you, no one wants such an experience.
Many years later, it made me laugh so hard on myself after understanding what I missed.
So, let me take us through it step by step.
I captioned the acronym as HP-PESAH, such that anytime I want to write a sales pitch, I just walk through with the alphabets in mind.
H stands for Hook;
P – Problem
P – Purpose
E – Example
S – Solution
A – Action
Let’s start with the first even though it is usually last for me and I suggest it should be last for you too.
Ready to roll?
Let’s do it.
HOOK
This is your headline, your caption and it is what attracts people to read your contents or want to listen to your audio or video when you are set to sell something to them. The good part like I’ve always said is that you can use this both for your online and offline sales pitch.
Headlines can always come as your last script after writing every other thing, but you should start by scribbling something down that looks like a problem you want to solve to be able to guide you through the other steps.
For example, if you are selling a fruit drink, you can start with something like this. “How To Lose Weight Naturally With ABC Food Drink”.
PROBLEM
The best way to get to the heart of your target audience is to start with the problem directly or stating a story that explains the problem.
This is what I mean….
Your product solves a problem and that’s the problem you need to start with. Even if there are many problems, pick one and in furtherance, touch the others briefly.
Assuming, it’s a cleaning service company, you could start by stating the obvious facts that people are so busy that they forget the part of handling their cleaning job. Of course, they want to be healthy and live a good life, but the challenges that come with the day to day hustle can afford them the luxury, and this leaves a toll on their health and that of their children or workers.
You can do more on this, but for our time, let me move on to the next.
PURPOSE
The purpose is basically why you are writing or talking about the values. Do you want to teach them something, do you want to help them solve a problem, do you want to create a partnership, is it a product you want to offer or you want to just thank them.
This is what is going to guide your pitch and direct you in the way that it resonates with the problem you’ve identified.
Let’s use an example here;
Assuming I want to solve a problem that has to do with providing a cleaning service, this is what I could do.
“My purpose for doing this is to help entrepreneurs reduce workload so they can focus on their jobs more that will bring them more monies. I want to assist employers to reduce their cost on staff health. I want to help staff become more productive at work. I want to help parents solve issues with taking care of their homes when they’ve to wake up every morning to rush to work and come back late thereby leaving the kids at the mercies of microorganisms that will fest on these children and cause them to fall ill very often.”
There can be many purposes, and you should be able to scribble it out and find a way to connect the dots, for easy delivery.
This will guide you in the step of creating a perfect example that resonates with your target audience.
EXAMPLE
At this point after stating the problem, just find an example that relates to them and the problem you’ve talked about and make it as real as possible.
You don’t have to lie, please. If you don’t have a personal story, find someone else’s story and talk about it.
For example, using the cleaning service company, you could do something like this.
I remember visiting a company a few years ago and the Managing Director was complaining about the sluggishness with his staff and their attitude to work. He complained they’ve turned serious clients to hospitals and that is taking a toll on his finances and sales as well. With my knowledge of human resource management, I suggested he should invite a human resources manager to have a talk with the members of staff and he did. We were surprised at the findings.
80% of the staff complained that once they resume work after going on a long rest, they usually fall sick immediately and they just couldn’t understand the reasons behind it.
At the end of the exercise, the human resource manager advised the managing director to do an overhaul of his office, and introduce new cleaning services.
Indeed I was wasn’t at this time into cleaning services, but my experience of the tremendous change in the attitude and results of the workers after that experience encouraged me to learn and start this service.
Performance for the entire staff shot up by over 200%.
He found out later that though they cleaned their office daily there wasn’t an expert touch in the cleaning that takes cognizance of human health and performance.
I realized, at home and workplace, work effectiveness can be inhibited by dust, smell, physical work tools, and lots.
That indeed changed my whole experience that to get over a 100% attitude and commitment of staff and people generally, you need a clean environment.
Now, I want you to think through what you’ve just read.
This example gets to the heart of your target audience in one swoop.
It works like magic.
In fact, a lot of people may not even resonate with your highlighting the problems, but the moment you can take them through an example that is real-life experience, they become alert to what you want to offer them. That’s the point where you can now place your offer and Call To Action.
ACTION
Finally, you need this to close your pitch.
This is where you instruct them on what to you.
It is the point, you either offer them your product or ask them to do something for you.
It is popularly called CTA (Call-To-Action).
Let’s use the above cleaning service as an example again.
After all, you must have done, at this point, this is what you should do.
Start by informing them that you have all the secrets and exactly what they should do to get that problem out of the way with little or nothing.
So, let me phrase it here.
“It is important to state that while people deserve the best for work effectiveness, the knowledge about how to do it may be a militating factor, and I want you to have it for Free. You can call me on +345 794 890, xxxx or send me an email at cleaningserviceextra@bestcleaner.com to give you the recipe for cleaning.”
Or
“I know you don’t have all the time, so I want to help take a look at your office and home next week. And I’ll provide you just a one-day cleaning service. If you liked what you’ve seen, we can go on a one year deal to ensure we handle your cleaning service and turn your office or home a perfect working environment. Call us now to book an appointment on +345 794 890, xxxx or send me an email at cleaningserviceextra@bestcleaner.com
You can apply this approach to any business ever.
You will thank me later if you are able to follow these steps correctly.
Today, I am offering my book that captures how to attract customers to your business, how to find the right customers, how to create great and sellable contents, how to identify the right markets, how to reach out to the many target audience that will buy your products both online and offline.
It’s all in this book. “How To Start A Business Without Money”.
Call or Chat me on WhatsApp now to place your order.
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