Match You, Pitch You

An excellent pitch is customer-focused on how our product or service can save the customer money or time, make him or her more money, or help acquire more customers.

We focus on our customers’ needs and wants rather than the features of our product or service.

Which brings to mind Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is an abandoned 15^th century Incan city on the top of a tall mountain range in Peru that was recently named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Keep in mind that Machu Picchu is on the top of one of the steepest mountain ranges in Peru. In fact, it’s about 2,400 meters above sea level.

What, you may ask, does that have to do with pitching?

Well, Machu Picchu is a fun mnemonic to help you remember to match your pitch to your prospect’s or customer’s wants, needs, problems, and other characteristics.

First we match, then we pitch. Think about this for a moment. How are we supposed to pitch before we know what to say?

There are pitches happening all over the UK at the moment. Some of them work, but most of them will just be pitching standard stuff to clients, hoping that some of it will stick. The beauty of remembering Machu Pichhu / Match You, Pitch You, is that you’ve got to be able to find out what the client needs first, and then cleverly match it with the stuff you have to meet that need. You’ve got to meet clients where they are.

There are a few more things to know before you use Machu Picchu / Match You, Pitch You effectively in your presentations.

1. Match your language. Listen very carefully as the prospect or client talks about his problems, goals, and needs. Pay particular attention to the words he uses. Take notes of the phraseology he uses to describe his pain points or his pleasure points. This is key information you will need to present your pitch to him in a language he best understands. If your prospect says that he’s been taxed with gaining market share for his division or company, you should definitely relay in your pitch how “gaining market share” is achieved using your company’s product or service.
2. Match your prospect’s buying style. There are four major buying styles identified by David Merril and Roger Reid. We give examples of each style and the best way to match your pitch to these styles in our recent post “A Lesson From Darwin—How to Adapt.” We won’t rehash that here, but when you tailor your pitch to your prospect’s buying style, they pay more attention and gain a deeper understanding of your product or service. When you match your prospect’s buying style, you also build confidence, rapport, and trust, which we know is essential to closing a sale.
3. Match your USP to the prospect’s needs. This is an obvious point, but some sales persons tend to run through all of the features and benefits of their products, even those that aren’t applicable to this particular prospect. If you paid attention when the prospect was telling you about her needs, wants, and problems, you’ll know how to match the best benefits of your product and show her how you can meet or exceed her needs. And customers are generally interested in three things: time, money, and aggravation. Match your product’s USP to saving time, making or saving money, and eliminating aggravation, and the hard part of the sale is done.

Matching your pitch to these three key areas is the best persuasive technique today to close a sale.

Someone even further back in time than Machu Picchu’s creation was Aristotle, but his words still ring true today:

“The fool tells me his reasons. The wise man persuades me with my own.”

If you want to hone your pitching skills in a style that is natural to who you are, Natural Training offers many programmes that can guide you to the heights of distinction and help you reach that pinnacle of pitching, Match You, Pitch You. Call us now to find out more..