Add Hope to Your Sales Pitch and Increase Your Sales

Every type of sale, in every market, can benefit from adding Hope to the benefits the buyer will receive. The amount of hope that can be added to boost the prospect’s desire depends upon what you are selling.

At one end of the scale you have pure hope. Sales of lottery tickets, get rich quick schemes, and high return investment opportunities are all examples of sales based on pure hope.

At the other end of the scale are the products and services that take some work and creativity to spot how Hope can be added to their sales pitches. These are technical sales, practical products, and necessities rather than desires eg utility services, insurance, maintenance contracts, security products, the things that people have to have but don’t really want to pay for.

When you add Hope to your sales pitch you are using your products and services as a way for the prospect to potentially get what they really want.

Here’s an example from the middle of the Hope scale

You’re selling a vacation to a potential customer.

As part of the sales pitch you have asked all the usual sales questions about what the prospect wants from a vacation. They have told you about the location they want, and their other needs such as accommodation, entertainment, and their budget. The better the skills of the salesperson the more effective the sales questions and the more needs and wants are discovered.

Most sales people stop asking questions when they have established the needs and the wants that will enable them to form a sales presentation. But the really good sales people discover something else when they question sales prospects. They discover the prospect’s desires.

Think about our example of a vacation sale and the possible hidden desires that a prospect could have:

The quiet couple that really want to party and let themselves go for a change.

The middle aged couple, which one is it that thinks a vacation will recover the romance they used to have and save the relationship.

The group of guys going on a stag or bucks night, it’s not difficult to find their real desires, but dare you ask.

Or the girls that sound refined and are not give too much away because they are not sure what the others will think of them. Find their real desires and you will close the sale.

Present a vacation to a prospect after finding only their superficial needs and you are offering just the same as your competitors. Ask the questions and listen to the answers, and give a presentation that gives your customers hope that they will get closer to their desires.

Put hope into your sales pitch

You can add hope into any sales pitch.

Some product types are more difficult than others to associate hope with, but if you can do it is well worth while. You are giving your prospects something they really want and that’s something your competitors will not be doing.

Prospects will not give away their innermost desires easily. There are many reasons for this: embarrassment, not wanting the people around them to know what they really want, desires conflict with beliefs or upbringing, not wanting to appear selfish or silly, and many other reasons why you will have to dig deep to find the desires that your customers are hoping to gain.

All products and services pitches can benefit from some hope

Not sure if your sales pitch can use the hope technique.

Some sales at the top of the hope scale are easy to see how hope can be brought into the sales pitch. Vacations, fashion, car sales, homes and real estate, are all sales based on hope.

Hope that the vacation will give them something they desire. That the fashion item will be envied by friends or admired by potential partners. And what’s a car, a symbol of wealth, a partner magnet, a status symbol, an escape, there are many desires that a car buyer can have.

What about the other end of the hope scale, the B2B sales or service type sales. how do you bring hope into those sales pitches. Sometimes you have to take another step to relate the sale to hope. I

If the service or product saves money you can look at what desires the saved money could be put towards. Question and read your buyer to see if this is a personal desire or a business one.

If the customer will save time do they hope for desires that require more of their time. This could be less time at work more time at play or with family.

What about your hope and desires

Now the big question, what about your desires. You have somehow found this page so you are interested in techniques to increase sales. If I was selling you a training course I would look for signs of what you really hope for from an increase in sales.

If you have your own business are you looking to make yourself rich, if so what dreams will that make true for you. Is it a rich lifestyle that you want, a secure future, or an investment with an exit plan.

If you are an employed sales professional what will my sales training course do for you. Yes it will increase sales but so what, what desire will that fulfil. Are looking for more money, if so what will you do with it.

Is it recognition or promotion, and what are they linked to. It could be power, status, making yourself more attractive, or securing your career. When you understand your own hope you wuill start to understand and recognise it in others.

Use a sales process and make it easy to add these techniques

I often get asked, how can I add these techniques to a sales pitch,.

How do you remember what to do and what to say. How do you prevent confusion and keep your sales pitch running smoothly.

The best way to build a really effective sales pitch is to use a process. A step by step process has many benefits:

• You always know where you are in the sale and what comes next.
• You don’t need to learn words, just the steps of the sale.
• You can add as many skills and techniques as you like to your process.
• A sales process can be adapted for any product or service sale.
• Using a sales process has proven successful for many professionals.

Use a sales process when selling and you can add the techniques on this page and create hope in your sales pitch..