How to Write a Winning Sales Pitch

"Good intros are the kind that contain insight and announce a profound experience. Good intros have edge and experience. Good intros make listeners hold their heads still and focus, with widened eyes and parted or pouted lips." – Carmen Taran

As many of you know, Treeline attended Selling Power Magazine's game show, "Make that Sale!" where sales executives participated in three different contests, one of which was to deliver a winning one-minute elevator pitch. Out of the four contestants, two of them were coached and consequently, the two that were coached had the highest scores.

So, what differentiated their pitch from the others? Carmen Taran, the author of, Better Beginnings: How to capture your audience in 30 seconds helped them with their pitch and ultimately, they captured the audiences' attention using one or more of her ten techniques.

In her book, Carmen Taran, one of the co-founders of Rexi Media, a presentation skills consulting firm poses the question, "Looking over the presentations you've heard, how many beginnings do you still remember? Two, three, five at most." According to Taran, if you use at least one of these ten techniques in the first 30 seconds of your next presentation you will be among the few presentations remembered.

1. Anticipation
2. Specificity
3. Inquiry
4. Incongruity
5. Novelty
6. Uncertainty
7. Complexity
8. Ease of comprehension
9. Indulgence
10. Staging

 

11.  
12.  

Taran organizes her book according to the emotional response you would like to trigger in your audience. She reminds the reader what the most important element is during a presentation: the audience!

Taran asserts, "Picture them with remote controls in their hands. They can shut you off at any point." She includes many examples illustrating how to get the desired response in your audience. The book contains eye-catching images, and the information relates to all types of speakers, not just sales.

In the brief video below she pitches the key strengths of Better Beginnings.