A Simple Hack to Transform Your Pitch Into One Customer Can’t Ignore!

There’s an all-too-common (and hidden) mistake I see salespeople make that completely ruins the impact of their pitch, especially when it comes to capturing the attention of senior or executive-level buyers.

Most sellers know they should lead with the problem their customer is experiencing, not the product they’re selling. After all, purchasing decisions are driven by emotions. And because humans are biologically programmed to prioritize threats of pain and loss in our environment, leading your pitch with problems and the visceral emotions that drive them is a powerful way to deliver your message.

But here’s the issue:

A lot of salespeople think they’re leading with problems when they’re actually leading with products.

They’ve simply disguised the product as a customer problem.

And because those “problems” aren’t things customers actually care deeply about, their pitches get ignored.

Here’s what I mean.

Many salespeople lead their pitches and prospecting narratives with questions that sound like these:

• “Are you looking to get a 360-degree view of your customer?”
• “Are you frustrated because your systems don’t talk to each other?”
• “Struggling to provide your customers with an omnichannel shopping experience?”
• “Are you looking for an e-signature solution that saves time getting customers to execute contracts?”

But the answer to all of these questions is a resounding NO!

Buyers (especially senior executives) don’t wake up in the middle of the night wishing they had ANY of these things!

These are thinly veiled solution pitches or at the very best, downstream problems you should be raising MUCH later in your narrative.

If you want to get your customers to lean in and say, “Tell me more!” after they hear your pitch, you need to take a step back and lead with a high-value problem they actually care about.

 

A Simple Fix to Transform Your Pitch

If you want to boost the impact of your pitch, here’s a simple fix:

Step 1: Read your pitch

Step 2: Ask yourself, “Why is that important to my customer?”

Step 3: Repeat step 2 until you are clear on the high-value problem you’re solving for*

Step 4: Lead with that problem instead! **

* This problem should exist with or without your solution.
** Because that’s what your customer cares about!

 

 

For example:

❌ Low-value solution pitch: “Are you looking for a 360-degree view of your customer?”

Why is that important? Because it’s important to know how and when you’ve interacted with them across all your channels.

Why is that important? Because the more you know about them, the more likely they’ll be to engage when you reach out.

Why is that important? Because if you reach out to them in the wrong way, at the wrong time, or with the wrong information, they’ll get angry.

Why is that important? Because customers who have bad experiences don’t buy things from you.

✅ High-value problem pitch: “We work with companies struggling to hit their revenue targets because they’re creating a bad buying experience for their customers!”

 

Related article: How To Sell More by Nailing the Buying Experience

 

The same approach can be applied to the other narratives as well.

❌ Low-value solution pitch: “Are you frustrated because your systems don’t talk to each other?”

Why is that important? Because when systems talk to each other we have access to more accurate and cohesive data.

Why is that important? Because having better data allows us to learn and make better business decisions faster.

Why is that important? Because good business decisions drive growth and competitive advantage in tough markets.

✅ High-value problem pitch: “We work with companies who love to win but hate that they’ve lost their agility and their competition is sprinting past them because it takes WAY too long to make good business decisions.”

 

❌ Low-value solution pitch: “Do you want to provide your customers with an omnichannel shopping experience?”

Why…? Why…? Why…?

✅ High-value problem pitch: “Online retailers are missing 20% of their potential revenue because their customers want to buy products on platforms they’re not on.”

 

❌ Low-value solution pitch: “Are you looking for an e-signature solution that saves time getting customers to execute contracts?”

Why…? Why…? Why…?

✅ High-value problem pitch: “One of the biggest reasons sales leaders miss their targets and forecasts is because they can’t predict when deals will get signed. We can help.”

 

See the difference?

 

Then you can deliver the narrative by working your way from the high-value problem to your solution.

For example…

“We work with organizations struggling to hit their revenue targets because they’re unknowingly creating a bad buying experience for their customers.

Things like:

• • Not knowing about the customer’s history with your company
  • Which products/services they’ve already bought
  • Reaching out on platforms they rarely use
  • Getting multiple calls from different reps
  • Saying their name wrong.

And the biggest reason why this happens is because you don’t have a 360-degree view of your customer.

That’s where we can help! Interested in exploring?”

 

So the next time you’re struggling to land your pitch, ask yourself, “Am I leading with a low-value product or a high-value solution?” And if you’re not sure, ask “Why is this important to my customer?” as many times as it takes to arrive at that high-value problem pitch!

 

---

PS – Did you find this approach helpful and want to learn more like it? Check out the popular Cerebral Selling Sales Academy training program!