How to Write a Winning Sales Pitch

What makes a winning sales pitch a success? the Mogul Mom, Heather Allard asked

Matt Alderton, freelance writer and editor. Learn more about Matt at Slivers and Scribbles.

Before becoming a mom and founding 2 Virtues Inc, I worked in sales & marketing for several large companies. After my first daughter was born, my love of writing and yearning for home based business inspired me to start my own freelance copywriting business. I had no formal training as a writer, so I had to land clients with the sheer strength of my initial pitch. This forced me to sharpen my proposal writing skills and gave me the experience that would later help me with 2 Virtues business.

When I founded 2 Virtues, I was starting from scratch I had designed an innovative product but there were several competitive products already on the market. To land customers and get media coverage, I had to do some serious pitching to wholesalers, consumers and press. I pitched so many times over the phone, in writing, by email that it became second nature to me. I developed a basic pitch outline that I would fill in with the appropriate names and details.

What is the goal of most written sales pitches? What’s the point? (Is it to introduce yourself to a new client, secure a meeting, make a sale, or what?)

For me, the goal of a written sales pitch is to land a sale. It might start off as an introduction or an attempt to secure a meeting, but it will typically end as a sale of some kind.

What makes a written pitch most successful? Is it content, style, presentation, organization?

In my experience, I’ve found that content and presentation make a successful written pitch. Now, good content takes research and organization you can’t be shooting in the dark. You have to do your homework on the person or company to whom you’re writing. Good content comes from an informed writer who is able to personalize the pitch. Great presentation can come from writing with style or from simply writing a clear, concise, well thought out pitch.

What are the tools that one needs to deliver an effective proposal? Do you need fancy paper and a binding machine, for example, or can you get by sending a Word document via e-mail?

A powerful pitch could be written on toilet paper and be effective. By the same token, a poorly written pitch could arrive on gold lined stationery and it wouldn’t make any impact. It all comes down to content and presentation.

What are the most common mistakes that people make in writing their new business proposals, and how can they avoid making them?

I think people writing their new business proposals can sometimes write too much which is easy to do when you’re starting a new business because it’s so personal for you, it’s your “baby” and you want to tell the reader every little detail about it. Also, new business proposal writers sometimes fail to ask for the sale or the meeting or they do ask for the sale but never follow up. New business proposal writers can avoid making these mistakes by following the how-to lesson below.

Walk me through a winning written sales pitch, start to finish. Give me a brief how-to lesson, complete with do’s and don’ts.

Do your homework know who you are pitching. Google and Google Alerts are invaluable tools to learn about a company and its key executives.

1. 1. Make sure the right person receives your pitch by addressing it to the right person. (See above) Don’t ever send a pitch to “Whom it may concern.” Make sure you spell their name correctly. If pitching by email, use a request read receipt or a program like Constant Contact that reports if and when your email is opened.
   2. Try to keep your written pitch to one page or one screen if using email. It’s easy to lose your reader if they have flip pages or mouse down their screen five feet.
   3. Introduce yourself in 1-2 sentences.
   4. Summarize what your company does/sells and your success/achievements in 1-2 paragraphs. This may take some editing to get it down to a concise descriptions work on it for a few days if necessary and get it right.
   5. State your purpose for writing. Be sure to include personalized details that show your reader that this is not just a cold call.
   6. Ask for the sale or the meeting and tell them you will follow up a few days after receipt of your pitch. Say, “I will email/call you in a few days to see if you have any questions” and then DO IT.
   7. FOLLOW UP. Most sales are lost by not following up.

            Once you’ve saved this written sales pitch, you have a form that you can use for all future pitches                 by simply changing the names and personalized details.

As a sidenote, are these proposal strategies applicable in all situations for all audiences? Or are they purely sales driven? For instance, if I want to give a proposal to investors, rather than clients, should my pitch look similar or different (if different, how should it look?)?

I think you could use these proposal strategies in most situations for most audiences you may have to alter the tone (formal, conversational, etc) depending on the reader, but the basic outline can be used for most pitches.

Is there anything extra you want to add, that I didn’t think to ask about? Final words of wisdom to the small business owner?

Don’t be intimidated by the pitching process just because you are a small business owner or new to the industry. All the tools you need to write an informed pitch are available online. Do your homework, know your purpose, edit wisely and FOLLOW UP.