Section Takeaways

A great sales pitch focuses on the value of the product and what you deliver to customers, not the features and functionality
Telling a compelling story is key to get potential customers bought into your vision of the world and builds trust/loyalty over time

Introduction to the sales pitch

What is a sales pitch?

The story you tell to show prospective customers the value your product provides and why they should purchase your solution.

Why it's important: This is your chance to demonstrate the high level vision of your product and company, showcasing your value.

When you pitch your product, you are telling a story. Your deck is the picture book, supporting your story. With this in mind, think about your pitch just like you would think about telling a story. The most basic framework for stories is the “once upon a time” framework. It’s like this:

Once upon a time, there was...
Every day…
One day…
Because of that…
Because of that…
Until finally….

Think about a fairy tale or Disney movie–they famously use this framework. Check it out:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in provincial France, longing for adventure
Every day she went to the village to get a new book and the people in the village were dumbstruck by her
One day her father disappeared and she had to go look for him
Because of that, she found an enchanted castle
Because of that, she met a beast who held her captive in exchange for letting her father go
Because of that, she lived in the enchanted castle as a prisoner
Until finally, she fell in love with the beast, the spell was broken and they lived happily ever after.

Creating your sales pitch and deck will follow a similar formula to engage prospective customers.

Step One: Create your pitch

Sell the vision (this is high level, not focused on your product)

A popular framework to get people bought into your vision, popularized by Andy Raskin, follows this outline:

Define the shift in the world. What are the stakes and why is it urgent to solve?
What happens if people don’t get on board? What will they lose?
What happens if people do get on board? What will they gain?
What does the perfect outcome look like? This is not the time to introduce your product. This is the world that you are trying to create by using your product.
Why is your product the key to getting to the perfect outcome? This is when you introduce your product and the key features that will get them to the desired outcome. Keep this brief and only focus on the value (not how the features work). You’ll show the functionality in a demo later.

Using this outline, write down your pitch.

Why you need a pitch

The goal of a great sales pitch is to get your audience bought into your solution. The best way to do that is by telling a story. We’ll walk through how to break down your story using a pitch deck to help potential customers see the value that you provide so that they will be bought into your vision and become dedicated evangelists for you. Remember that you won’t always tell the whole story - the next step is to boil down your longer story into one or two sentences that will tease the larger story. Getting the whole story is the first step and you’ll adjust depending on your audience or how you’re communicating (i.e. a meeting vs. an email or phone call).

Bottom line: Your pitch isn’t about showcasing your product features. It’s about telling your story.

Create your sales pitch