What Sport Is Your Sales Pitch?

Written by Hal Alpiar

Are you, your boss, and your customers
all playing on the same field?

If your boss talks a never-ending stream of product/service features, and you’re selling charm, wit, good looks, eye-contact, great handshakes, reputation, integrity, and your track-record, but your customers only care about the (“What’s in it for me?”) benefits, you may want to re-think your strategies, maybe even re-visit your career options.

Why? You’re playing baseball on a chessboard or football in a boxing ring. The first thing you need to do is step back and determine who’s playing what sport and on what kind of field, then work at establishing compatibility. (You’ll never get anywhere trying to do a fast break on the basketball court in hockey skates!).

Start with the assumption, which is a pretty safe one, that every customer wants to buy what you have to sell as long as the emotional benefits are clear, and there are enough rational, logical, unemotional features involved that can be used to substantiate and justify the purchase.

Substantiate and justify? Whom might your customer need to appease? His boss, his wife (sometimes the same person!), his relatives, neighbors, friends, clients, customers, patients, community?

It may not seem like a great deal that this new printer cranks out quality equal to the printer you have but costs 30% more . . . UNTIL I tell you that it uses ink cartridges that also cost the same as what you have BUT you only need to replace these cartridges every six months instead of every month. The dollar savings over the long haul is so great that you’ll more than cover the added 30% price of the machine before the end of the summer . . . and then you’ll only need to run to the office supply store twice a year!“

The emotional trigger is fewer time-wasting trips to the office supply store, but the reason the boss will hear about is the dollar-savings.

I tell my friends and family that I spent the extra money and gave in to the lower mileage to buy this truck because it runs like a clock in ice and snow, pulls out tree stumps, is great for those off-road weekend expeditions, will drive through stream-beds and on ocean beaches, and will pull my trailer. The real reason I bought the truck — but would never tell anyone — is that I think I look good driving it!”

The only way you can make sure you (and your boss and your customers) are playing the same sport on the same field, is to ask questions, listen carefully to the answers, paraphrase what you think you understand someone to be saying (is the emphasis on features or benefits?).

People buy benefits and justify their purchases (even the most rational, logical ones) with features. Are you helping them to buy and justify by playing their game on their field? Or are you making your boss and customers be the visiting team and keeping them guessing about how to score points? How flexible are you?