How to Pitch Your Business - Start Up Pitch

Getting Started

PITCHING: HOW TO SELL YOUR NEW BUSINESS

In order to make your sales process to potential customers as seamless as possible, it’s imperative that you’ve taken the time to craft an immaculate business pitch. A well-done pitch will cover these main points:

Customer Pain Points: Difficulties or frustrations customers may have experienced when utilizing services like yours in the past.
Problems and Solutions: Identify some of the problems your customers are facing, and what solutions you offer.
Proof: Have at least three facts that back up your ability to solve this specific problem.
Value Proposition: A summary of why potential customers should pick your business to solve their needs, and how it can give that customer more value than your competitors.

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PAIN POINTS

Before crafting your pitch, it’s important that you identify some of the common pain points your customers may have experienced with contract work in the past. This could be anything from cost, lack of knowledge, lack of flexible scheduling, feeling overwhelmed researching options, or feeling taken advantage of.

There could also be concerns about the safety of their pets or children, wanting to make sure the job was done right the first time, or wanting custom or specialized work.

Here are a few types of common customer pain points:

Productivity: Your customer’s time is valuable, so try to eliminate any redundancies in the service process. How can your product or service help the customer use their time more efficiently?
Support: The customer is not getting the support they feel they deserve during the buying process. If your potential customer can’t get the answers they need easily, they will take their business elsewhere.
Cost: This pain point occurs when the potential customer feels like they’re spending too much on a product or service currently. Examples of this can include expensive plans or membership fees, overpriced products or services, and lack of transparency about the final cost.
Process: Process pain points usually occur when there is friction between the customer and the provider due to inadequate processes. This could be anything from short operating hours to difficulty navigating personal accounts, websites, or billing platforms.
Scheduling: These pain points occur when the customer has an unreasonably difficult time scheduling a service to be provided due to complex scheduling platforms, lack of availability on the provider’s part, or not receiving a confirmation that their appointment has been scheduled.
Lack of Knowledge: This occurs when the customer feels overwhelmed by the buying process due to not understanding the service they need, or not understanding the services offered.
Lack of Trust: Either the sales representative hasn’t done a good job explaining the processes, necessary information, time requirements, and costs, or the customer has dealt with service providers like you in the past who they felt were untrustworthy. As we mentioned in the introduction of this section, this can go as far as the customer not feeling safe having you in their home. They could also just feel like due to their lack of understanding, they’re opening themselves up to being taken advantage of.

Ask yourself, based on what you’ve learned under Customer Analysis, what are your customers’ three biggest concerns?

PROBLEM & SOLUTION

Now that you’ve taken the time to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and selected their three biggest pain points, you’ll need to draw a commonality between them.

Keep in mind, your customers may have different pain points that we haven’t listed above like demanding work schedules, need for a speedy emergency service, or this could be their first time utilizing a service like yours, so be sure to pay attention! Once you’ve done this, you’ll see a way to solve that specific problem.

For example, if I said my customers’ most significant pain points were a lack of funds, lack of knowledge, or fear of being taken advantage of, I can assume that the customers’ most significant issue will be trust.

To combat this, you want to show your customer that:

They can depend on you
You won’t take advantage of them and their lack of knowledge
You’ll charge them a fair price, and present them with both affordable and premium options
You’ll prioritize their problem
You’ll be available to answer any questions they may have about the service or billing

Next, you’ll want to explain to them how your service will solve their problem, and why the value you’re offering is better than your competitors.

For the example above, your pitch could say that you offer fast, fairly priced, and high quality services. Then, utilize the next section that covers Proof to select three specific facts about your business that can back this statement up.

Ask yourself, based on what you’ve learned under Customer Analysis, what are your customers’ three biggest concerns?

PROOF

What are three clear facts about your business you can share that will back up your ability to solve this specific problem? In your SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), you already identified what makes you stand out against the competition. Are there any you can use?

Here’s a few ideas:

Family Owned. If your business has been family owned and operated since its inception, this is a great value offering to present to customers.
Professional and Licensed. This may seem like a given to you, but your customers want to know that they’re in good hands and have a pro making sure that every last bit of the project is completed at the highest level of quality.
Pricebook. If your business utilizes an electronic pricebook that can present good, better, and best pricing/service offerings, this is an excellent value offering to include in your pitch. If you don’t already have a pricebook system in place, take a look at the one we offer here.
Financing Available. If your business offers financing options for services provided, this can help you win customers that may have a price pain point.
Highly Reviewed. Having excellent customer reviews on your website and business listings helps your potential customers feel like they can trust you to do a great job.
Specialization. Showcasing that your business not only focuses on common services, but highly specialized ones can help convey your value to customers who may be looking for custom or highly detailed work.
Quick Turnaround. If your business is excellent at getting high quality work done at a fast pace, this is a great value offering to use with customers who may have time pain points.
High Quality of Work., If your business’ main value offering is excellent quality of work, you’ll absolutely want to include this in your pitch.
Range of Services. If you target customers that have larger projects that require a wide range of services, you should consider including this in your pitch.
Great Customer Service. If your business’s customer service is top notch, include it in your pitch, but also be sure to shout it from the rooftops on every platform your business is on.
Serving An Underserved Market. If you offer niche services or focus specifically on an underserved market, let your potential customers know by including this in your pitch.
Warranties. Not all service businesses offer warranties on the work they do or products they install. So if you do offer warranties, this can be an excellent value offering to add to your pitch, as it will help comfort customers who have trust/lack of knowledge pain points.
Unbeatable Pricing. If you’ve decided that you want to stand out from the competition by offering unbeatable prices, be sure to also include factors like excellent customer service, warranties, high quality of work, or quick turnaround times in your pitch.

From the example given, I might decide that my business’s most significant advantages that show I’m a trustworthy, affordable business are:

VALUE PROPOSITION

Now that you’ve identified your customer pain points, proof, and main value offerings, we’re going to put this information together into a pitch that you can use for your website, marketing materials (like flyers), and even one-on-one conversations or calls with a potential customer. An effective pitch should:

Identify a specific problem the user is experiencing
Show how your service can solve this problem, backed by facts
Highlight how your service is uniquely valuable
Deliver a short and direct message
Motivate the customer to act

At its most basic, your value proposition should say: We help ___ do ___ by ___.

A few examples:

Need a plumbing company you can trust? Flush Gordon Plumbing and Heating is a family-owned and operated business trusted by the community for over a decade and offers affordable, transparent service and pricing.

Get your plumbing problems fixed fast by licensed professionals with I Pity the Stool’s around-the-clock, full-service plumbing repair.

Turn your house into a home with Ace Contractors Plumbing’s plumbing and bathroom remodeling services. From simple shower remodels to custom, luxurious bathrooms, we’re able to accommodate your unique style and update your bathroom with the latest in smart home technologies.

And just like that, your pitch is complete! Once you’ve decided where you’re going to utilize your pitch, go ahead and start uploading it. The information above should give you plenty of resources to craft an impeccable pitch.

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Getting Started

PITCHING: HOW TO SELL YOUR NEW BUSINESS

Download All our business resources

PAIN POINTS

PROBLEM & SOLUTION

PROOF

VALUE PROPOSITION

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