When it comes to sales, we are always looking for ways to level up and deliver our pitch more effectively. One strategy for doing this is to elevate your sales pitch, a concept that sales expert Carrie Burggraf explains in a recent conversation.
Elevating your sales pitch means going beyond the traditional elevator pitch and developing a comprehensive understanding of your company, your differentiators, and your ideal client. This includes conducting research on your potential client’s LinkedIn profile and website, and identifying five reasons someone should do business with you and five reasons they shouldn’t.
To anticipate objections, it’s important to plan questions, rather than just features and benefits, that will help you understand the client’s frustrations and needs. For example, if you’re an IT company, rather than telling them about your free assessment, ask what the most frustrating thing about their current IT provider is.
But planning your pitch isn’t just about preparing questions; it’s also about setting the tone for the meeting. When you go into the meeting, share your roadmap with the potential client. Let them know that you’ve planned to talk about sales for 20-30 minutes, and that you’ll have questions for them about their business. This gives them control but also sets the roadmap for where the meeting will take them.
Overall, elevating your sales pitch requires intentionality and thorough preparation. By understanding your company, your differentiators, and your ideal client, planning questions, and sharing your roadmap, you’ll be well on your way to delivering a more effective and compelling sales pitch.
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Biography
Carson Vincent Heady was born in Cape Girardeau, MO, graduated from Southeast Missouri State University and moved to St. Louis in 2001. He has served in sales and leadership across Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
Carson is best-selling author of the Birth of a Salesman series, the first book of which was published by World Audience Inc. in 2010. He released The Salesman Against the World in 2014, A Salesman Forever in 2016 and Salesman on Fire in 2020. He is also featured in Scott Ingram’s B2B Sales Mentors: 20 Stories from 20 Top 1% Sales Professionals.
Carson is a 7-time CEO/President’s Club winner across 5 roles at AT&T and Microsoft and National Verizon Rockstar winner. He has been recognized as a top social seller at Microsoft and is consistently ranked in the top 25 sales gurus in the world on Rise Global. He is included among the Top 50 sales authors on LinkedIn.
With over 330K social followers, Carson has also been interviewed on over 30 sales and leadership podcasts, by such luminaries as Jeffrey & Jennifer Gitomer, Jeb Blount, Brandon Bornancin, Sam Dunning, Larry Levine, Darrell Amy, Scott Ingram, Thierry van Herwijnen, Jim Brown, Sam Jacobs, Luigi Prestinenzi, Donald Kelly, Marylou Tyler, George Leith, Pat Helmer, Eric Nelson, Ron Tunick, Jeff Arthur, Mary Ann Samedi, Jean Oursler, Andre Harrell, Marlene Chism, Bill Crespo, Matt Tanguay, Josh Wheeler and Chad Bostick. He has also co-hosted the Smart Biz Show on EG Marketing Radio.
His articles have appeared in several noteworthy publications such as SalesGravy, Smash! Sales, Salesopedia and the Baylor Sports Department S3 Report.
Carson lives in St. Louis, MO, with his wife Amy and daughters Madison, Sidonia and Charlotte.
The Life and Times of Carson V. Heady 