How to Start an Enterprise Sales Pitch

Starting an Enterprise sales pitch can be the most difficult part in the process. As B2B Buyers continue to grow in their sophistication, sellers are facing an entirely new reality. Enterprise buyers are more demanding than ever and they have shifted how they buy. You’ll need to arm yourself with the tactics and technology to stop chasing after buyers and start making it easy for them to buy from you. Building and perfecting your sales pitch is the first step in achieving this. Here’s a framework to use as you prepare.

  • Use Content that Resonates. Access content tailored to the prospect’s business challenges and unique needs
  • Gather Advisors are Prepared. Provide personalized expert advice that goes beyond a generic sales pitch
  • Lead Conversations that Add Value. Be prepared to have consistent, high-quality conversations with every member of the customer’s team
  • Propose Interactions that are Engaging. Collaborate during and after the meeting on the perfect solution for your customers’ business

<h2>Perfect Enterprise Pitching</h2>

Perfect Enterprise Pitching

  • Sales pitches are as old as time, but delivering sales pitches has changed over time
  • Especially in technology, when trying to be a trusted advisor, the elevator pitch just doesn’t really work anymore
  • But even though as a whole this style of pitch doesn’t necessary work, that doesn’t mean you will never have to use an elevator pitch
  • There are multiple different scenarios where you might need to pitch, and your pitch should always be tailored to the person you’re speaking with
  • Pitching is one of the most difficult sales skills to master — but if you can do that, the world of sales is yours

Pitching in Different Enterprise Scenarios

Understanding how to tailor your pitch for different scenarios is critical to success. There are four main pitching scenarios that you need to be prepared for: 

Short Customer Story Pitch

This is the pitch you will do most often during calls

Long(er) Customer Story Pitch

This is the pitch you will use if you have a longer more in-depth call 

Industry/Persona Led Pitch

You will use this pitch when someone just wants to know what the product does from a practical high-level perspective, but you still want to tailor to their persona/industry or using your research

Elevator Pitch (General)

You will use this pitch when your prospect is impatient and you can tell they are annoyed and won’t really listen until you give them a high-level explanation of the product or bullet points per persona in the beginning — just in case you draw a blank!

Three Best Practices for Modern Enterprise Selling

As you’re starting your Enterprise sales pitch, it’s important to include a framework that supports the environment in which buyers are now operating. 

Get out of the buyer’s way: Optimizing the learning experience

Buyers now operate in hybrid, on-site, and remote environments. They learn about new solutions across multiple channels and touchpoints. Sellers can reduce friction across all buying channels by aligning content to the conversations they’re having with buyers. 

The buyer is in control, so let them own their journey. We call this frictionless selling. It starts with getting your go-to-market team prepared with the right information then removing barriers throughout the selling process. 

For example, a Shared Space or “digital deal room” lets buyers and sellers exchange information and collaborate without endless email threads and attachments. When it’s time to follow up with a buyer, sellers can lean on engagement insights within Shared Spaces to create a tailored follow-up that addresses any outstanding concerns and meets the buyer’s expectations. 

On the seller’s end, it’s about making the most helpful content as accessible as possible—that way they’re ready when a buyer does raise their hand. 

Be there when they need you: Optimizing the buying experience

More often than not, buyers recognize when a seller is reaching out with tired, boring content or a canned, copy-pasted response. 

Consider that 85 percent of buyers will open a piece of video content, but ignore any other type of content. At the same time, sellers that break through email inboxes with personalized video content see 3x greater response rates. 

Buying experiences tailored to buyers’ needs, timing, and preferences are going to be more effective. To do this well, you need to promote the right content at the right time, replacing low-engagement selling tools like static emails with interactive, visual content like personalized videos that engage the buyer. 

“Producing tailored content faster and interacting with more buyers means we can guide the customer through the buying process,” Tjeerd Veninga, Head of Sales Enablement at MessageBird, told us. “It really is a partnership between buyers and sellers involving frequent communication across Slack, email, Zoom, and calls.”

According to Tjeerd, a differentiated buying experience is one of the best ways to stand out from the competition. And an exceptional buying experience is an interactive buying experience. 

Give your sellers the tools they need: Optimizing the selling experience

Your selling team needs training strategies that go beyond in-person learning experiences and face-to-face meetings.

  • Think mobile
  • Think digital
  • Think on-demand
  • Think setting your reps up for success 

As with modern buyers, today’s increasingly remote and hybrid go-to-market teams want more control of their training so they can learn flexibly, move faster, and sell smarter. Technology makes this possible through on-demand development, like live training, video, text, and interactive eLearning. 

Sellers also need ways to follow up quickly and answer questions from prospective buyers in a way that’s timely, relevant, and contextual. They’ll need access to information for new prospects, existing customers, or upselling scenarios as well as a consolidated space to find relevant, effective content they can personalize to their buyer’s needs and journey. 

A collaborative environment (whether it’s a shared Drive, group chat, or Shared Space) will help your selling team stay connected and collaborative. An informed and repeatable selling experience is crucial to ensure sales effectiveness. But repeatability doesn’t mean formulaic in the traditional sense—it means building processes that empower sellers to deliver the right content to buyers in the moments that matter.

<h3>Top Sales Pitch Tips</h3>

Top Sales Pitch Tips

  • DO practice over and over so you can pitch in your sleep
  • DON’T pitch too early in the conversation 
  • DO tailor your pitch to whoever you’re speaking with
  • DO write down your pitch 

Want to learn more about Showpad?

Contact us for a personal assessment of your enablement journey.