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Remote working and digital transformation have quickly become part of our everyday lives. Delivering a sales pitch would once have meant traveling to a physical location and meeting in person. But thanks to ever-improving technology, we are now able to join a meeting from the comfort of our own desks—or wherever we happen to be.
While virtual meetings are convenient and free up time you’d otherwise spend traveling, they do also come with their own challenges. Forming a connection and fully engaging your audience can be harderIt can be harder to form a connection and fully engage your audience when you’re not physically in the same room.
Reading body language becomes trickier, making it more difficult to read the room and know if your presentation is being well received. Plus, you have the added challenge of battling to keep your audience's full attention when distractions like email notifications or other interruptions are just a click away.
So, with so many distractions and short attention spans in a virtual setting, how do you make your pitch stand out? Don't worry! We've got some great tips to help you create a virtual sales pitch that grabs attention, keeps your audience engaged, and gets your message across effectively.
1. Know Your Audience
You should have a good idea about who you'll be speaking to from your initial lead generation process, but for your pitch to really stand out, you'll need to get deeper into their specific needs.
Who are they and what do they need from your pitch? What are their pain points they’re looking to you to solve, and what goals do they want to achieve with your help? When you’re delivering a virtual pitch it’s more important than ever to capture your audience's attentionthe attention of your audience straight out of the gates. You don’t want to spend the first ten minutes going through a generic introduction and lose their focus before you get to the good stuff.
Do your homework and research potential clients or stakeholders before your presentation. Then, you can tailor your presentation to get straight to the information that will be important to the audience in front of you.
Knowing your audience also means being clued up on any industry jargon, trends, and the competitive landscape. Speak their language and prove you know what you are talking about in their industry as well as they do. This all helps to build credibility and trust.
2. Craft a Compelling Narrative
People naturally engage with stories, it helps usto organize information in our minds and makes the information in your pitch more memorable. When you use storytelling as part of your B2B sales techniques, you’re taking your audience on a journey with you and they’ll be more likely to stay engaged and keen to find out what happens next.
Your story should contain a problem—the audience's pain point—a solution (how your product or service can solve that problem), and a successful outcome or benefit from using your solution.
Then, substantiate your narrative with some real-life examples and case studies. Highlighting success stories or testimonials makes your story more relatable and credible.
3. Include Engaging Visuals
Nothing can turn off your virtual audience faster than the monotony of listening to a talking head for the entire presentation. We are naturally visual creatures, and using visual elements within your virtual pitch can make all the difference in how engaged your audience stays throughout your presentation.
Make sure your visuals aren’t just there for the sake of aesthetics but are relevant to the content of your presentation and support your message. For example, you could turn dry data into an eye-catching chart, or explain a more complex concept using an infographic. You can even embed short videos into your presentation to demonstrate an idea or illustrate a point.
When designing your slides, keep them simple and uncluttered. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with too much text or information on one slide, as you risk run the risk of losing their focus while they try to process everything. Remember, visuals should be there to complement your spoken words, not replace them.
As a general guide, it’s a good idea to stick to one concept or idea per slide. Use contrasting colors and large fonts for readability and use bullet points to make sections of text easier to digest.
4. Practice Effective Communication Skills
Good communication is key in giving a compelling sales pitch. You can’t expect your audience to get excited about your proposal if you don’t convey the same confidence and enthusiasm about your solution. When giving a presentation virtually, your communication skills need to be even more on point.
Without the benefit of physically being in the same room as your audience, you lose some vital communication tactics, such as subtle body language cues and direct eye contact, which can make your audience more comfortable and keep them engaged.
Pay attention to your tone, pace, and energy. There’s nothing more monotonous than listening to someone talk through a presentation in a flat, monotone voice, just reading the text from each slide with no enthusiasm or commentary. Speak passionately and excitedly about your product or service—your enthusiasm can be contagious and draw your audience in.
While you don’t want to drone on through your presentation, on the other end of the extreme, try to avoid talking too fast—you might come across as nervous or rambling and your audience will struggle to keep up with you and follow the presentation. Maintain a steady pace and use pauses here and there to let key points sink in.
Don't forget, while you’re not in the same room as your audience you still need to be mindful of your body language when delivering virtual presentations. Maintain good posture by sitting up straight, use hand gestures to highlight your key points, and remember to smile!
5. Encourage Audience Participation
Keep your audience engaged in your presentation by making sure you’re talking to them, not at them, throughout your presentation. Don’t wait until the end to ask if they have any questions. By then they might have forgotten what they wanted to say or mentally checked out and started thinking about their next task of the day. Instead, pause throughout your presentation and open up the floor for any questions, feedback, or commentary from your audience.
Even better, start the conversation right away and open up the presentation with a question yourself. For example, you might ask “What’s your biggest challenge in the workplace today?” This not only captures your audience's attention from the get-go but can give you key insights to tailor the rest of your presentation to address their specific needs and solve their problems.
You can further encourage audience participation by using features like polls or live chat to facilitate real-time interaction. Wrap up your presentation by asking your audience if they have any further questions or areas they’d like more information on. This gives you the chance to head off any concerns there and then, but also shows that you’re genuinely interested in listening to your audiences and meeting their needs.
6. Prepare for Technical Challenges
The nature of virtual sales presentations means that they rely heavily on technology, and any technical issues you encounter could make or break your pitch. There’s nothing more frustrating and embarrassing than being all set to start your presentation, only to discover you’re unable to share your screen, or that your audio isn’t working.
So, make sure you thoroughly check and test all your equipment, including your microphone, camera, and internet connection, ahead of time. You’ll also want to make sure that your presentation software and any multimedia, videos, and animations are working smoothly.
Always have a backup plan in case of any technical hiccups.
For example, if your virtual meeting platform crashes, have another one ready to use. If there is a video or audio clip that does not play, be ready to explain the content verbally instead
As long as you are well prepared for any technical issues they don’t need to derail your presentation or knock you off your stride. With contingency plans in place, you will be able to deal with any problems in a calm and professional way, maintaining your audience’s confidence in your abilities.
7. Keep It Concise and Focused
It’s far easier to get distracted or let your mind wander when you’re sitting behind a screen than when you are physically present in a meeting. To keep your audience on board, your pitch must be concise and focused. Don't fall into the trap of wanting to give every minor detail about your product or service. Concentrate on the main points that address your audience’s needs and pain points.
Aim to keep your actual presentation within 20-30 minutes, which allows time for interaction and questions at the end. Remember, with virtual presentations, less is often more. You can always provide more detailed information in follow-up emails or detailed proposals later.
8. Demonstrate Value Proposition
In any B2B marketing plan, the value proposition is crucial because it communicates why your offering is the best choice. Similarly, in your sales pitch, you should articulate clearly the specific value that you have to offer by highlighting the unique features, benefits, and advantages that make your solution stand out.
Avoid vague statements and instead provide clear and measurable benefits, using data and statistics to back up your points.
For example, if you were comparing CRM vs CDP, instead of saying, “CDPs provide better insights than CRM systems,” you could say, “Businesses that implement CDPs have experienced a 25% increase in customer segmentation accuracy and a 35% improvement in personalized marketing effectiveness.”
9. Finish with a Strong Call to Action
Unlike in-person meetings, where you might engage in small talk afterwards and naturally suggest follow-up actions, virtual presentations lack that opportunity. If you don’t give your audience a clear call to action, they could log off, continuecarry on with their day, and lose interest.
What do you want the audience to do after hearing your pitch? Finish your presentation by providing clear actions for your audience to take the next step.
For example, share a link to book a meeting, or offer a special limited-time discount for signing up there and then.
10. Follow Up After the Pitch
Once your presentation is over, you might feel like sitting back and breathing a sigh of relief—but your work isn’t over yet. Following up promptly is crucial for keeping the momentum going and solidifying the new relationship you are building.
You'll want to write a follow-up email to thank them for their time and summarize the key points you made in your presentation. Attach any additional information, resources, or links that you had promised during the presentation. Integrating email tracking into this process allows you to monitor engagement, helping to tailor your future communications effectively based on recipient interactions.
An immediate and thoughtful follow-up reflects professionalism, reiterates your commitment to the process, and helps keep you on your audience's radar. Using an automation tool like Mailchimp alternatives to manage these communications can help ensure that your follow-up is timely and organized.
11. Make the User Experience Seamless
The experience your users have during your virtual sales pitch could make all the difference to how well your pitch is ultimately received. If they struggle to find a link to join the meeting or have to jump through hoops to log into your platform for example, they’ll potentially have a negative impression of you before you’ve even got started.
Ensure the audience's experience is hassle-free from start to finish. Choose reliable and user-friendly virtual meeting platforms, provide step-by-step instructions that include links to join the pitch, and provide technical support if needed.
Try to find a well-lit, quiet spot for your presentation where you won’t be interrupted, and pre-test your audio-visual quality beforehand. This way, everything should run smoothly, helping you come across as more professional and keeping your audience focused on what you’re saying.
12. Leverage Analytics and Feedback
We’ve covered some of the key challenges of virtual sales pitches and how to navigate them—but there are also some distinct advantages to presenting virtually that go beyond the convenience of being able to do so from the comfort of your own office.
One major benefit of a virtual sales pitch is being able to track and analyze engagement, to see how well your presentation has been received. Similar to how to track website visitors, you can use analytic tools to track how your audience is interacting with the pitch using metrics such as attendance rates, time spent on each slide, or participation rates in polls or Q&A sessions.
You can use this information, along with direct feedback from your audience, to continue refining and improving your future pitches.
Effective Virtual Sales Strategies
As virtual communication becomes the norm, knowing how to nail virtual sales pitches is key to success. By following these tips you’ll be all set to deliver virtual sales pitches that grab attention and get results. So, get ready to engage, persuade, and close deals—virtually!
