Top Edit You've Made to Your Sales Pitch in 2024

For some of you, putting together a sales pitch using a slide deck, case studies, and product benefits gives you cold shivers. And for others, developing a B2B sales email marketing campaign can be challenging.

But don't worry — we've got your back! We know the score here at Leadfeeder. We understand the B2B sales market and we have created tools to help companies just like yours. 

The US B2B ecommerce market is expected to hit about $1.8 trillion in 2023—the latest big number from market research firm Forrester. It shows just how much of an opportunity is out there for your company, your product, and your business future.

But to hit that opportunity, you should stay in the know, learn new tactics and tricks, and become the B2B sales machine you always knew you could be.

If you’re still doing things the way you were a decade ago, it’s time to change things up!

• Traditional B2B marketing and sales have changed, as has the B2B buyer journey.

• Using old lead generation tactics is no longer the all-in-one strategy it was 10 years ago.

• To win at B2B growth, it’s become important to use all available channels to build awareness and demand.

• B2B sales mean creating high-quality content that shows viewers how to solve a problem. You must get in front of your buyers on the platforms they’re engaging on — not hiding it behind lead capture forms.

• Then focus on understanding intent signals, having a presence on high-intent channels, and engaging your sales team when prospects are ready to buy.

In this post, we'll discuss some of the best practices in creating your B2B sales pitches and how to know when it’s time to edit your pitches. You’ll learn why some sales pitches become successful and others just wither on the vine. 

We'll cover key points from creating effective pitches and slide decks to leveraging CRM automation and the power of case studies and testimonials. And of course, we'll talk about how to clearly communicate the value proposition and benefits of your products.

So, whether you're a seasoned B2B sales pro or a fresh starter, have a read below to learn some valuable tips and tricks for crafting the perfect B2B sales pitch. You’ll even learn a little about us, and how our Leadfeeder sales & marketing tool can accurately identify the companies that visit your website — even if they don't sign up or leave their contact information.

By the end of this post, you'll have the insights, knowledge, and tools you need to win over even the toughest prospects to close those deals with confidence. Let’s get started.

What does a sales pitch consist of?

Having a well-crafted pitch can make or break a deal. And in the fast-changing B2B sales world, keeping your sales pitch current with the latest trends and strategies is a must! 

The more you freshen up your company’s pitch with important statistics and dazzling new insights, you’ll find greater success in 2024.

Data finds that nearly 80 percent of all salespeople outsell their peers by using social media channels. Plus, it usually takes about 8 cold calls (via different channels) to reach a prospect. These are the cold, hard statistics that make sales a challenging job. But those who excel at it, using the right tools and techniques, can find success in big ways.

Let’s look at some of the key elements that should be included in a sales pitch to make it effective. We’ve broken it down to a shortlist of key ingredients.

Pitch decks/slide decks:

A pitch deck or slide deck is a presentation that outlines the key points of your sales pitch. Your pitch deck should provide an overview of your product or service, highlight its key features and benefits, and demonstrate why it's the best solution for your prospect's needs.

A well-crafted pitch deck is an essential tool for any B2B sales pitch to help you communicate your message well. But don’t make it boring! Liven it up with embedded product videos, visually appealing charts and graphs, and images of people in your company.

Automation in your CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) software can help you automate many aspects of your sales process, from lead generation to follow-up emails. By using automation tools, you can save time and ensure that no leads fall through the cracks. 

For example, you can set up automated email sequences that deliver targeted messaging to your prospects at specific stages of the sales funnel. Send the prospect follow-ups the next day, the next week, or more frequently.

When using the Leadfeeder tracking tool, you can track and filter company leads from their visits to your website. The software analyzes key criteria, like pages visited, location, incoming source links, or even the company size of the visitor. That data can then be integrated into your CRM, marketing tools, or other sales tools, like Pipedrive, MailChimp, and HubSpot. 

Case studies/customer testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are powerful tools for building credibility for your product or service. Prospects will get excited about the value of your offerings through these real-world examples of success.

Case studies are often written examples of how your solution helped other businesses overcome their challenges and achieve their goals. These are often written in three main sections: 1) the challenges faced, 2) the strategies involved, and 3) the results achieved. 

In effect, case studies show how you solved a customer’s pain points. When creating case studies or testimonials, be sure to focus on measurable results and use language that resonates with your target audience.

Value proposition/benefits 

You’ve probably heard the phrase “value proposition” more times than you care to count, and yet feel that it’s still a tough phrase to define. At times, It seems like it can refer to a number of your product benefits, as all of your product benefits are in some way a ‘value proposition’, right? 

The core of your sales pitch is the excellent value provided by your product or service to your target audience. That's really it. 

Clearly understanding your value proposition means everything to your prospect. You must be able to articulate what’s great about your value proposition and how it fixes its problems. 

Ask yourself: What pain points does your product help the customer overcome? Will your customer increase productivity? Does your product help them reduce costs by increasing efficiency? Be sure to focus on the benefits that your product or service provides, rather than just its features.

A sales pitch should include a well-designed pitch deck, automation in your CRM system, case studies and testimonials, and a clear value proposition that highlights the benefits of your product or service. By focusing on these key elements, you can create a sales pitch that resonates with your audience and increases your chances of closing the deal.

Important elements of a sales pitch

Alright — we’ve covered the key elements of your sales pitch above. And maybe you’re ready to start making your own edits to your sales pitch. But wait! There’s more that you need to run with. 

I’m talking about three critical elements that every successful sales pitch must have: a sales hook, context, and a call to action. Let’s look closer at these to see if you can work any of these into the next edit of your sales pitch. 

Sales Hook

The sales hook is the attention-grabbing statement that captures the prospect's interest. More importantly, the sales hook keeps them listening. It’s the ‘a-ha’ that drives the meeting and makes your prospect sit at the edge of their chair. 

A powerful and engaging sales hook makes them want to learn more about your product or service. It’s like all those pitches you’ve seen acted out in movies. In other words, your sales hook should invoke wonder, inspire excitement, and encourage the prospect to engage with you further.

One of the top edits that sales reps have made in 2024 is refining their sales hook to be more personalized and engaging. This means tailoring the hook to the specific needs and pain points of the prospect. For example, instead of using a generic hook like "Our product is the best on the market," a sales rep might say, "I noticed that your company has been struggling with X issue. Our product can help you solve that problem and increase your revenue by X amount."

Who wouldn’t want a chance to learn more about that tantalizing hook? I sure would!

Context

Next, we look at content. The context is the reasoning for the pitch. Context is the information about their pain points, goals, and challenges. It explains why your prospect definitely needs your product or service.

How do you learn context about your prospect? You talk to industry people, read LinkedIn posts or press releases from the company, and follow the company’s industry articles.

From here, you can assume certain things about the company. Maybe they need a new CRM system. Or they need sales training, or something similar. Once you’ve researched the prospect, you have more details to round out your sales story.

Once you have content, it gives you an ‘in’ into the company. Use these details to provide context. This can help you establish rapport with the prospect and build a connection based on shared understanding. The benefit to the prospect is that they feel heard and understood, which can lead to greater trust and a stronger mutual understanding. And that’s the key to starting a great relationship.

Call to action

Finally, the call to action (CTA) prompts the prospect to take the next step, whether that's scheduling a demo, signing up for a trial, or making a purchase. It’s a clear and specific request for the prospect to take a specific action. This can be displayed in a link to click, a button to click, or a phone call to make.

The call to action is simply the decision point for the prospect. It doesn’t have to be emotionally driven, though sometimes it is. Rather, your prospect has all the facts and information that are important to move toward the decision. In reality, if you’ve done your B2B sales job right, the prospect’s decision should be as easy as checking off something on a list of things to do for the day.

How has your sales process changed in 2024?

Rapid advancements in technology and the growing importance of digital channels are contributing to significant changes in the B2B sales process.

CRM automation, AI initiatives, digital channels, and social media outreach are all speeding up the sales cycle. Chatbots and email marketing automation are increasing in use as well. All of these tools are helping B2B sales teams manage their pipelines more efficiently.

More sales pitches are being run through sales webinars, Zoom conference calls, and social media gatherings. Are you using channels like LinkedIn and Twitter for your sales outreach?

Smart sales reps are saving time and hunting down prospects more quickly and efficiently on these social media channels.

Customer data is also taking a front seat in sales outreach. B2B sales teams are leveraging data and analytics more frequently to acquire more sales intelligence on their customers. Filtering key data through a unified data solution helps sales teams better understand their customers' behaviors and preferences. Plus, sales teams can now tailor their messaging to specific customer segments, track engagement metrics, and identify opportunities for cross-selling or upselling.

Subscription-based business models focused on customer experience are also playing a part in B2B sales processes. And using personalized messaging is contributing to customer success throughout the sales process. 

Overall, B2B sales processes have evolved to become more customer-centric, data-driven, and technology-enabled. Successful B2B sales teams must embrace these changes and adapt to the new reality of digital and collaborative selling to stay ahead of the competition.

Sales pitch examples that failed and why

Believe it or not, fellow sales professional, you’re not going to bag a deal on every one of your sales pitches. You will have prospects who just say no. And that’s gonna sting a bit.

But remember, the business of sales is the game of relationship building and persistent reminders. You will need to learn from these failures to refine your pitch for future prospects.

Pitches often fail because they don't address the prospect's pain points. Have you provided a solution that fixes their problem? Can you do it faster, more efficiently, and cheaper? Be prepared to explain why your product is different and better for their use case.

Why do some B2B sales pitches fail?

• Showcasing too many product features. When you overload the pitch with features instead of benefits, you’ll lose their attention. They want to know how your product can benefit their company, not how technologically advanced all your features are. Stay focused on the true benefits that can solve the customer’s pain points.

• Failure to understand the prospect's buying process. Have you made a personal connection with the person who writes the check? Who controls the budget? Get to know your prospect’s decision-making process. Find out their criteria for buying your product.

• Not earning trust or showing credibility. B2B buyers want a near guarantee that everything’s going to be fine. They typically avoid any kind of risky deal; that’s maybe why Outlook remains the top corporate email program around, as it’s been truly tried and tested for years (even if there are better email solutions). If your sales pitch isn’t credible, you may not gain a new customer.

• Lack of follow-up. Remember, only the persistent win in gambling and B2B sales. Failure to follow up with the prospect after the initial pitch may result in missed opportunities or lost sales.

For your B2B sales pitch to be successful, you must meet the prospect's needs, understand their interests, and know their buying process. Focus on your customer’s pain points, earn their trust, listen to their challenges, develop out-of-the-box solutions, dial in on the benefits that you can provide, and follow up with enthusiasm and care. Your pitch should be personal, credible, and focused on your product benefits, not just features.

Sales pitch examples that worked and why

In the tech industry, several high-profile sales pitches have become successful because of great B2B sales work. So, here are four sales pitch examples that worked because they followed the principles we’ve outlined above:

• Salesforce's pitch for CRM software focused on emphasizing the value of data and analytics and highlighted how their software can provide insights into customer behavior and preferences.

• HubSpot showed customers the benefits of inbound marketing. It showed companies how they could attract customers through relevant and helpful content, rather than using traditional outbound marketing tactics.

• DocuSign's pitch showed companies how to use paperless processes to increase trust, safety, and security for their high-level documents. The pitch highlighted the convenience and security of digital signature software, which can help businesses streamline their operations and reduce costs.

• Slack's pitch focuses on the importance of collaboration and communication in the modern workplace. They emphasize how their software can help teams stay connected and work more efficiently, with features such as channels, messaging, and file sharing.

Sales pitch templates

You can use several sales pitch templates to make your case with a prospect. At Leadfeeder, we use several different sales pitch templates, like a sales cadence template, a retargeting template, a timing template, and others.

Your approach may be similar. Maybe you met a company rep at a B2B conference and learned about the rep’s challenges. You enjoy your talk and make a mental note to follow up. Here’s a short follow-up conversation email template that might work for you.

When you follow up with a prospect with this type of template, you’re likely to score a demo call and present your product or service.

Don’t be shy. Remember, buyers are interested in your sales pitches. A recent study found that 82 percent of buyers accept pitches for meetings from prospective sellers while they are in the buying process. By and large, they are interested to learn about the best possible products on the market that can help them overcome their current challenges.

Key takeaways

Making a successful sale pitch is a key driver for business growth. Your confidence and salesmanship — and the right product —can accomplish big wins. Do your homework on the prospect. Know their pain points and their challenges. Understand their buying process. Get a glimpse of their company calendar and when they need a solution in place.

Now, edit your pitch to meet these areas. Incorporate social media in your outreach. Explain your product’s benefits. Show them compelling case studies of other companies in the same position. All of these approaches can help you win the big account.

Conclusion

Making edits to your sales pitch is crucial. Circumstances change, and market environments pivot and sway. In these times, you need to understand your prospect’s specific pain points. You need to focus on their business challenges and share messaging with them that resonates on a personal level.

As you learn more about the prospect and their different customer personas, you can make changes to your sales pitch that hit closer to home for them. Regular edits to your sales pitch can make or break your sales calls and lift your presentation to a new level.

You can do much of the heavy lifting with our B2B sales tools. Leadfeeder improves engagement with your sales leads and focuses on ABM. Our system shows you how well your sales and marketing campaigns are performing and provides substantive insights into which topics and content you focus on to round up your prospects.

As technology continues to evolve and new communication channels emerge, sales teams must stay up-to-date on the latest trends and tools to ensure they are delivering effective, personalized messaging to their prospects.