The best way to improve your sales pitch or marketing spiel
Is not by watching YouTube videos or reading books and articles.
Or chatting to the best sales person in your office. Although it is a great starting point.
Not even running role plays in the office. These are great too.
But the best way to solidify your sales pitch or marketing spiel is at your...
...company's exhibition booth at a trade show.
What?
Really?
Lend me thy ear (or eye, rather), my dear padawan. I'll explain.
If you're exhibiting at an event that has a lot of targeted foot traffic, you're in for a treat.
Bonus if you have your team's best sales person with you.
When the first few visitors trickle in, let your experienced colleague speak to them. Your job is to hover close enough without looking like a creep.
Carefully observe the interaction.
Pay attention to your colleague's pitch.
Pay even more attention to the visitor's response - body language, questions, comments.
After studying 5 or so interactions, it's time to put what you learned into practice.
Start talking to as many people as you can.
If possible, ask your experienced colleague to observe you (whenever they're not engaged) and give feedback.
Over the 2-3 day period, you'll have at least 50 conversations with real-time feedback from the most experienced person in your team.
Congratulations. You've just completed your Sales 101 Masterclass.
Here's why this works:
- Constant foot traffic = repetition. The more you practice, the better you get at it.
- Real-time feedback from your colleague(s) - You don't have to wait long to put what you learn into practice.
- No time to overthink - When people visit your booth, there's no time to overthink what you're going to say. You've got to swoop into action.
- It is a crash course - If you wait for your colleague to invite you on sales visits, there are too many variables that will extend your learning curve. From the number of visits they organise to how often you're able to accompany them.
This is a supremely effective way for marketers to learn "product" and "target audience". No amount of research can compare.