I receive a lot of pitches from service providers and contractors who want to sell me their services and I’ve noticed a trend here: most pitches are lousy. We’re deep in the summer months when business slows down for a lot of people, and this is when these pitches start to pick up. This seems like a good time to share some suggestions on how to stand out.
1. Do Your Homework in Social Media Land. It seems that some people view the social networks as a giant directory of contacts with a license to essentially spam people with sales messages. Like cold calling, this is a numbers game. I imagine that if you hit enough people with your pushy sales message, eventually someone will bite. But a more effective way to do this is to do your homework.
If you want to pitch your services to someone via social media, take a personal approach. Understand what they do and what their needs are. Make a personal connection before you go straight into sales mode.
One of the best pitches I received was from a fellow member of a LinkedIn group, who sent me a message letting me know that we were both members of the same group. He made a point of mentioning some details he had seen on my profile (proving that he did some homework), then he mentioned his services along with a brief description of his experience. He further set himself apart by mentioning the benefits of working with him: super-fast turn-around, commitment to always meeting deadlines, etc. His came across as both genuine and competent, and we’ve been working together ever since.
2. Respect Time and Be Clear. Just this morning I received a voice mail from someone who said, “Hi, my name is XYZ and I’d like to work for you. You can call me back at xxx.” Who has time for this? I have no idea what he does, who he is or why he wants to work for me. I don’t have time to return calls like this.
3. Don’t Be Obnoxious. I know there are sales trainers out there who advocate aggressive cold calling. I don’t subscribe to this program. Last week, I received three messages in three days from a sales rep for a local sports team. I know their pitch—they want businesses to buy packages and come out to the games. They call me every year. But the guy who called this year was relentless. He even left me a voice mail at 10PM on Thursday night! This is not the way to inspire a sale.
4. Be Memorable. At a conference last year, I met a woman who owns a virtual assistant business. She was smart and engaging and fun to be around, but I already had someone doing that work for my business. Several months later, she sent me a gift—something funny that reminded me of the fun we had at the conference. It put her at the top of my mind and I ended up referring a few people her way. A month later, I had an additional need for her services so I called and hired her immediately.
5. Use Social Media the Right Way. Last week I received a tweet from someone who let me know he was sending me an e-mail. This showed me that he had researched me enough to follow me on Twitter and investigate what I do. He did send me an e-mail with a concise pitch regarding his services. It turned out that I didn’t need the services he was offering, but he did manage to get my attention.
Without a doubt, I delete more pitches that I answer. And the truth is that I’m very open to finding new service providers and I’m always on the lookout for solutions. I imagine that I’ve missed some potentially good opportunities because the pitch failed to dazzle. So if you do nothing else when pitching your services, aim to dazzle. That is the key to standing out.
