The history of performing virtual sales pitches started with the dawn of video conferencing. In today’s digital era, they’ve become more important than ever. They’re now both a priority and necessity for many businesses operating worldwide, from remote staff to business conferences.
With the increasing number of remote operations, virtual meetings will continue to rise and become a growing demand for companies across the world. However, the challenge remains the same, whether it’s virtual or not, to ensure the effectiveness of the sales pitch.
If they’re done correctly, they’ll be one of your most powerful sales weapons that will help bring more deals and make your business operations efficient. Also, they’ll keep your audience away from distractions and grab their attention so you can close more deals.
There are many ways to make your virtual sales pitches effective and engaging. You can create fun virtual events or multimedia discussions. However, these may not work if the meeting is not well-planned. Below are the following easy steps that will help you organize your sales pitches to make them more effective and engaging.
- Create An Outline
Before you deliver your speech, it would be best to prepare everything you need, from start to finish. Otherwise, you’ll end up confused and unsure of what to say throughout your entire sales pitch, and that’s what you need to avoid doing.
In that case, it’s a good idea to create an outline of the conversation that will guide you through the process beforehand. Also, it will help you avoid making mistakes, such as bringing up inappropriate topics and using filler words, like uh, um, so, well, etc.
To begin with, here are the things you might want to include in your outline:
- Clear objectives and purpose of the meeting
- Proper flow of the meeting from your presentation to possible audience questions
- Enumeration of the things you need to discuss
By creating a sufficient outline, you’ll be able to proceed with your discussion filled with and fueled by confidence, making you look more credible and reliable to your audience. However, it’s important to note that outlines are not made to be read; instead, it only acts as a guide to prevent mistakes and ensure a seamless process flow.
- Share Information Before The Presentation
As much as possible, you want to avoid leaving your audience, especially your major prospects, clueless about what’s going to happen during the discussion. Therefore, you might want to share all materials needed to keep them informed.
Since it’s virtual, you may send a copy of the presentation in a PDF file, samples, or other elements via email a few minutes or days beforehand. This gives your prospects a chance to be prepared for what will be discussed and how the meeting will flow.
- Practice, Practice, Practice
Creating an outline is a good idea, but it may not be enough to ensure that your presentation will flow accordingly. With that said, you might be interested in having sufficient practice before your sales pitch.
Practice what you need to say by talking to yourself, so you’ll have a chance to know what adjustments you should make based on the goals you set. Also, keep in mind some possible questions that may arise and practice how you’ll answer them.
If you’re well-prepared, it’ll be easy for you to keep your audience engaged since you know where every detail is heading and have an idea to back them up.
- Invest In Making Visuals
Have you imagined yourself listening to a presentation without anything in sight but the person discussing the topic? How boring would that be, right? If you don’t want this to happen on your sales pitch, you need to invest your time in making great and engaging visuals.
Visuals can be an important element of a successful sales pitch, especially if you make them extremely creative. They help people remain entertained and engaged throughout the discourse. Also, visuals will help your audience understand what you’re trying to present, especially when discussing numerical data using graphs and tables.
On top of that, make sure your visuals are colorful and alive by showing some pictures, graphs, tables, videos, or examples regarding your discussion. In short, avoid using plain text throughout your sales pitch. After all, it’s a presentation and not a book or newspaper reading session.
Furthermore, send them a copy of your presentation for review and follow-up.
- Build Connection With The Audience
Having a strong and mutual connection with your audience is one of the most important things you shouldn’t miss. This bond will help you interact and communicate with them seamlessly. So, you might want to consider logging in on the platform around five to ten minutes before you start. In this way, you’ll have time to get to know them better, even with just a small chitchat.
Furthermore, you may use the chat box function to start communicating with them. Also, don’t forget to add a slice of humor to boost your relationship-building tactics.
- Familiarize Yourself With New Technology
Another tip to have an effective virtual sales pitch is familiarizing yourself with the technology you’re planning to use. It is to prevent technical errors that may occur during your presentation. Remember, technical errors show that you’re not prepared for the discussion, and your audience would most likely know that.
Therefore, you might want to practice how you’ll be using some items, such as speakers, additional webcams, projectors, etc. Also, make sure that your slides or presentation works fine, and you should know how internal functions work, such as share screening, unmuting, and turning on your webcam.
Furthermore, you may conduct a test run with your tech team to address any possible problems as early as possible. And make sure that everything is clear and free from any roadblocks that may hinder your success in delivering your sales pitch.
Final Words
Virtual sales pitches have become more important than ever, considering the constant and steady growth of companies transitioning to remote work operations. That brings the need for an effective yet engaging sales pitch.
Planning an effective sales pitch starts with an organized strategy. You may follow the simple steps above to help organize and improve the flow of your discussion for an active yet meaningful presentation.
