Notes on Sales Pitch by April Dunford

I just finished reading ​Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win by April Dunford, and I loved it. It was direct, clear, concise, and very actionable. I loved the perspective of helping people buy vs. selling.

Below are my main notes and takeaways.

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​Intro
Helping customers buy
Positioning is about why your product is best in the world at delivering something a certain type of customer cares about
Why pick us over the alternatives
Sales narrative

Part 1

do you sell or do you help customers buy?
Considered and unconsidered purchases
Considered purchases very difficult as they impact many and could cost someone their job
Customers much less worried about missing out than messing up
Solving the how to buy problem: buyers want a guide to categorize their options and teach them how to select the right one
Typical B2B software purchase
Buyer is overwhelmed with choices
Demo is a wind tunnel of features
Buyer is nervous because stakes are high
Safest choice is the easiest choice (no decision at all, status quo)
Do nothing is your fiercest competitor
40-60% of processes end in no decision
Emotions in B2B selling
Build trust and confidence

What do customers want from vendors
Buyers place the most value on a rep’s teaching skills
Buyers want to understand different approaches to solve their problem, pitfalls and how to avoid them, what choices available and how to choose among them
Buyers are experts in pain, vendors in solutions
After a purchase, customers can tell you how they use your product and what they love or hate about it and what alternatives they evaluated and why they chose you 

Part 2

Sales pitch principles 
Qualification 
Make sure prospect is good fit for offering
Criteria like company size or revenue, technical fit, budget
Before real sales call, prospect fills out form or has quick call with business development rep
Discovery
Buyer teaches seller about pain, problems, situation
Seller teaches buyer about their point of view on problems and solutions in the space
Product demos
Most expect in first call
Walkthrough
Day in the life
Highly customized 
When you do a product demo, always show your best
Show what makes you different and better than alternatives
It is impossible to differentiate yourself without addressing the alternatives
If you customize your demo, do it in a second call
First show what you’re best at and differentiated in general
You can skip a demo in some instances
Skip in first call sometimes
If they did a trial or used free version
Sometimes no value in showing product in isolation
Differentiated value
Key to focus pitch on is differentiated value
Value is the answer to the question “so what”
Why pick us over alternatives
You can’t differentiate without addressing alternatives
Explain alternatives, how to categorize them, what their strengths and weaknesses are for different types of buyers

Four common approaches to storytelling in a sales pitch
Job as seller is to teach customers how to confidently make purchase decision
Product walkthrough
Click through features and explain what they do
Describe how to accomplish tasks
Customized walkthrough based on prospect
When does it work best
When buyer highly educated or solution they use now is very similar
Downside
Focused on features, not value
Too much time on capabilities that are not differentiating
All about solution and doesn’t leave room to discuss the market
To confidently choose you, buyers need to understand why alternatives can’t meet their needs
Leaves no room for discount
Problem/solution pitch
First describe problem customer has then position product as the solution before doing demo to show how you deliver solution
When works best
Buyer highly educated and can translate features into business value
When only competitor is status quo
Downside
Competitor define the problem the same way you do
Focused on features, not differentiated value
All about solution and data want leave room to discuss market
Vision narrative
You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything
Future state of product and company’s strategy
When works best
When pitching investors
Downsides
Ignored competitors beyond status quo
Gives buyers another reason to delay a decision
Not centered on differentiated value
Hero’s journey
Hero goes on quest, learns a lesson, uses it to achieve victory, returns home transformed
StoryBrand structure 7 steps 
Hero (customer) has a
Problem and meets a
Guide (you) Who gives the hero a
Plan and calls them to
Action which ends in
Success and helps them avoid
Failure
When works best
When primary goal to entertain and engage customer with story
Customer case studies
Downside
Focused on execution not how to decide what action to take
Concept of alternatives is missing

The road to a better sales pitch structure
What happens to positioning when a prospect moves from marketing to sales
Marketing tells story and how product special and different
Sales pitch forgets that typically and just goes into barrage of features
Discovering the magic of pitching a unique point of view (how IBM does sales)
Start with discussion about company’s unique point of view on the market
What company perceived to be important considerations for companies looking at any solution in the market
How different approaches to providing a solution stacked up
Stop selling. Start helping. 
Setup phase of pitch that positioned product in way that mirrored how we positioned in market
Structure demo to focus on differentiated value instead of contextless product walkthrough

The sales pitch structure
Goal of pitch is to help customers understand all their choices, the tradeoffs between each, and when to pick your solution
Help prospects understand entire market, including common alternatives beyond your product and pros and cons of each mapped to their particular situation
Accommodate rep’s need to do detailed discovery
Help prospects understand differentiated value vs alternatives and why the unique value only you can deliver is critically important 
Accommodate a product demo as a natural part of narrative flow of pitch
Include clear call to action for what prospect should do next
Two phases
Setup focuses on offering insights about market, competitive alternatives, discovery
Follow through focuses on your solution for the customer and the value that only your product can deliver including demo and call to action
The setup
Teach prospects the market context they need to know to understand the importance of the value only you can deliver
Three components
Insight: frames the convo by starting with what your experience has taught you about the customer’s situation, problems, and solutions in market. Explains why your differentiated value is important to them. 
Alternatives: discuss what solutions exist in market today and pros/cons of each for various customers
Conversational so you can do discovery here
Paint picture of market and understand prospect’s current situation
Perfect world: characteristics of a perfect solution for target customers. Draw on discussion about alternatives as guided by insight from first step. 
The follow through
Focused on exposing the value only your profit can deliver to prospect
Five components
Introduction 
Introduce company and product
Transition from setup part
Introduce your definition market category you position yourself in
Differentiated value
Value only your product can deliver for a specific customer and the features that enable that value, often done with a demo
Meatiest and longest part of first call
Proof
Show how you can deliver the value
Case studies, awards, third party validation
Objections 
Optional step to explicitly handle common objections you believe are critical to address before end of meeting
Concerns around difficulty to adopt, integration, pricing
Ask
Recommending next step for prospect
Templates at aprildunford.com/books

Part 3

A great sales pitch starts with solid positioning
Positioning defines your differentiated value and the target buyer for your message
Five components of positioning
Competitive alternatives
Status quo
Excel
Manual processes
Hire an intern
Unique capabilities
Capabilities of offering that alternatives don’t have
Features of product
Capabilities of company like professional services and special expertise
Differentiated value
Value your product enables for customers
Answers “so what?” About the unique capabilities 
Save money by reducing x or speed time to market by doing y
Best fit customers
Definition of target account that is a good fit
Firmographic info: company size, revenue, number of employees 
Rest of their software stack
Aspects of their team
Market category
Answer to the question “what is it”
How the positioning components work together

Preparing your positioning before building your sales pitch
What are you positioning and pitching
If you sell multiple products, focus will depend on sales process and what you usually try to sell first to a new account
Full company pitch in first call and do discovery to determine which products to focus on beyond that convo
Who is your audience
5-8 people involved in decision
Key is finding champion
Possible roles
Economic buyer holds budget and ultimate approval
Champion tasked with figuring out what product to buy, making a shortlist, evaluating, getting buy-in, and making a purchase recommendation 
End users involved in proof of concept, can stop a deal, and critical post sale
IT dept: can stop a deal if doesn’t meet requirements 
Legal and purchasing: can stop a purchase if doesn’t meet requirements
Sell to your champion
First convince champion
Then arm champion with info to handle objections from other stakeholders 
Worry about other stakeholders after champion convinced
Determining and documenting the positioning components
Competitive alternatives 
Two types
Status quo: what current customers were doing before they adopted your product
Direct: products that buyers put on shortlist of solutions during a purchase proces
Don’t need to position against competitors prospects don’t know about. Only focus on those that appear in shortlists. 
Unique capabilities
List of capabilities you have that competitors don’t
Features of product 
Features of company (pricing model, professional services, integrations)
Start with most common competitor and work down list to least common
Differentiated value
Value that only your product provides 
For each feature in list of differentiated, ask so what and why does customer care and what value does it enable for business
Cluster into 3 or fewer value themes
Best fit customers
Which customers care a lot about that value?
Firmographics and other companies things specific to solution like rest of tech stack
Market category
Context you position products in
Does the category point customers toward my value?
Capture and review your positioning
Summarize in one page format
Template on her site
What if product hadn’t launched yet
Create positioning thesis and later validate or adjust
Positioning will change over time
Review a couple times a year
Changes in landscape, competitors, buyer behavior
Mapping positioning components to sales pitch
Insight: combine differentiated value and best for customers. Critical concepts your best fit customers need to be aware of to understand why your unique value matters. 
Alternatives maps directly
Perfect world: maps to differentiated value. Define purchase criteria for customers you sell to. 
Introduction: introduce product using market category
Differentiated value: maps directly to differentiated value and unique capabilities. Demonstrate value only you can deliver and show the features that enable that value. 
Proof: proof you can deliver the value you say you can
Objections and ask: not from positioning

Part 4

Constructing sales pitch storyboard
Bringing a team together to work on the pitch
Cross functional
Sales, marketing, product, customer success, founders
Build a storyboard first
Overall flow and concepts first then fill in details later

Step 1 insight
Start with market insight that makes your differentiated value important to customers 
Immediately establishes credibility as experienced and knowledgeable
Frames customer situation that orients toward your differentiated value and nobody else’s
Sets up discussion with prospect about overall market
Insight = the problem inside the problem
Problems aren’t unique. Insights are. 
Reverse engineer it from your differentiated value and why it matters
Your insight should point to your value
How to determine your insight
Consider the point of view of your best fit customers
What do your best fit prospects need to know to understand why your unique value is important to them
Your unique insight into the market is what leads you to build a product that is different and better than the alternatives 
Insight doesn’t need to be complex
One slide, 1-2 min

Step 2 alternatives 
Talk about completion as different approaches to the problem
How should your customers think about their options
Position yourself against the fearsome status quo
Excel
Consider direct competitors but only if they land on a prospect’s shortlist
Don’t give buyer reasons to do more research or delay a decision
Group competitors into approaches
Help buyer make sense of their options
We don’t compete with companies or products. We compete with approaches. 
Grouping competitors helps your customers understand your value
Breaking up approaches into groups shows gap that you fill
Should you call out competitors by name?
Generally prefer not to name competitors unless guaranteed to be on shortlist
Don’t give reason to research more
Rep can ask at this step what other solutions they are considering
It’s okay to position a competitor in a way they would disagree with as long as you believe that it’s objectively true
Discovery is a conversation not a lecture
Position competitors where they really land in market
Your role is to be informed guide who has customer’s best interest at heart
Outline pros and cons of each alternative for different customers 
Table of approach, pros, cons
This is a discovery conversation not a lecture
Do discovery in alternatives step
Both learning about customer situation and teaching them about the market
How are you handling this today? How is that approach working for you? What other solutions are you looking at?
Practical tips
Table with comparisons
Picture with different alternatives mapped onto four by four grid
Don’t spend too much time

Step 3 the perfect world
Clearly state what you believe the purchase criteria should be for a solution
Perfect solution would have upsides of all alternatives and no downsides
Perfect solution should map to your differentiated value
Getting aligned on your point of view on the market
Reiterate the insight you shared in step 1 and conclusions you can draw from the pros and cons of alternatives in step 2
“We know that (category) is incredibly important for (industry). In a perfect world, you would have a (category) tool that is as (upside of alternative 1) but is also (upside of alternative 2) all without the (downside of either). Right?”
Ask “right?” At end to get customer to agree or tell you different 
If they disagree, they are not qualified to buy from you
If they agree, they have chosen the value only you can deliver
All that’s left is to show how your solution delivers the value. 
They also agreed alternatives can’t meet their needs
Deal now is yours to lose from this point forward
Practical tips
Move on quickly if customer agrees
Setup part of pitch done in 5-10 min

Step 4 the introduction
Switch focus from market to your solution
Introduce company and solution
Position your entire company, the products you offer, and the particular product this pitch is focused on and how it fits in the overall portfolio
Diagram showing pieces of solution
Diagram showing where solution fits into prospect’s existing tech stack 
Family diagram, platform diagram, marketecture diagram (see her site for examples)
Family diagram
Multi product companies
All products in family and how fit together
Platform diagram
Range of functionality included in platform
Marketecture
How solution fits in with everything else
Move on quickly from this step after light intro

Step 5 differentiated value
Helping customers understand the value only you can deliver should be the centerpiece
Scripted demo with slides
Demo and slides
Slide that introduces the value themes
Detailed demo that walks through key features that support each theme
Back to slide to reiterate themes
Demo only
Not a product walkthrough
We deliver a combination of Value A, Value B, and Value C to our customers
Let’s start with Value A. Here are the features that deliver that. 
Next let’s move to Value B. Here are the features that deliver that. 
Lastly we have Value C: here’s how we do that
Slides only
Ok if product hard to demo or doesn’t make sense in first call before a customized demo
Practical tips
Keep security and compliance capabilities or things that aren’t differentiated to objection handling step

Step 6 proof
Ways to prove a value point
Customer case study
Third party verification
Certification
Statistics validated by customers
Customer quotes
Quotes or reviews from industry analysts
Industry research or survey results from third parties
Awards
Practical tips
Use case studies that reflect the situation of the prospect (similar companies)
Facts tell, but stories sell

Step 7 objections
Optional step
Some objections may be crucial to address in first meeting whether or not the customer has raised them
Examples
This sounds difficult to deploy
We have a dedicated team that will help you with deployment. Here’s what a typical deployment schedule looks like and it usually takes two weeks.
The price is likely too high for us and we aren’t sure we have the budget
This is the way our pricing model works and what this would look like for three different types of customers. We can give you a specific quote for your situation whenever you are ready.
Getting end users to adopt this will be difficult
We have a dedicated training team that will work with you to get users on boarded. Here’s what some of our customers have to say about user onboarding. Here’s what a typical onboarding schedule look like. It usually takes two weeks.
We don’t want everything now, just pieces of it
Our platform is modular and it isn’t uncommon that customers want to start small and grow with us. Here’s how those steps usually look over time.
Anything we adopt needs to be compliant with certain regulations or anything we adopt needs to integrate with our existing infrastructure
We are currently compliant with all regulations necessary for a solution like this, and we would be happy to walk your technical team through this. We integrate easily with your current infrastructure through our well documented API. Most deployments take about two weeks for integration work. Our services team can help plan how best to do that, And we would be happy to talk to your technical team about how that would work
Helping customers understand how to move forward
Address potential objections about deployment and change management 
Professional services help, training, onboarding assistance, hands on technical support
Specific timelines for deployment
“We know that switching providers for a solution like this is never easy so we make it as seamless as possible to get started with us. Our clients often start with a small initial deployment. Our team can help you define what the requirements would be and usually we can get a client like you up and running in as little as a week.”
“Most of our clients find it helpful to start with a proof of concept where you can get a feel for how our solution works with your data. We can easily migrate your data into our system for you in as little as a day and we don’t need the assistance of your IT department.”
“Some clients worry about how our system would work with your existing tools. We have a set of prebuilt integrations that cover most tools teams like yours use. We also have an API that allows for custom integrations.”
“We know that you operate in a regulated industry so our solution is SOC2 and ISO 27001 certified. We have worked with X, Y, and Z corporations and satisfied their compliance and security requirements so we are sure we can satisfy yours. We often find it helpful to meet directly with the IT team at some point to help them understand the depth of our Security posture.”
Practical tips
Only bring up objections you have good answer to

Step 8 the ask
Be deliberate about how conversation ends
Embrace role as guide helping buyer through the purchase process
Ask depends on the best next step in your purchase process
Proof of concept example
Who needs to be involved with a POC?
Do we need to set up an additional meeting with those folks?
Are there other steps that need to be taken (sign NDA, complete security review, etc.)?
How to get those steps completed?
Other examples: custom demo in front of wider group of stakeholders, free trial, prepare detailed quote, ask for the sale
Sometimes the next step is for the customer to look elsewhere 
Ideally won’t even get to this point and would be disqualified earlier
Practical tips
Be consistent about your ask after the first call
Now storyboard of pitch is done 
Next step is to construct a deck, a demo, and a script that reflects this storyline and test it

Translating storyboard into pitch
Where and how to use slides, demo, script
Joint effort between marketing and sales
Do you need standard deck and script?
Yes even for startups
Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do. 
Standard script endures everyone tells best story each time
Makes onboarding new reps easier
Need standard script to measure what’s working and not
Can be word by word story or bullet points but need to stick to same structure and content and points
Mature sales orgs recertify experienced reps by having them pitch to sales executive to ensure the story remains consistent
regular checkins and reviews
Slides versus conversation
Step 1 insight: usually a slide or multiple slides
Step 2 alternatives: simple table
Give key pros and cons of each solution in bullet points to reps plus a set of questions to work into discovery conversation
Step 3 perfect world: conclusion to discovery conversation. Slide to reiterate several points
Step 4 intro: slide with graphic to introduce your he offering like a suite or platform or everything a company delivers
Step 5 differentiated value: demo or slides with screenshots then customized demo later in sales process
If use demo, then needs to follow value themes
Slide to intro value themes, run the demo, wrap up with slide to reiterate value themes again
Should script the demo in full detail so new rep can use without help from sales engineer
Step  6 proof: case study, logo slide, sparklers like awards
Step 7 objections: slide or scripted talk track for rep
Step 8 ask: slide or scripted discussion

Part 5

Testing and launching the sales pitch
Testing the pitch
Limited test before roll out to entire sales team
Start with one rep, someone the team respects
Once trained, they can test on real qualified prospects
Test, discuss, iterate within limits
Folks who created the pitch should listen to each call rep is doing
After every call, team should compare notes on what did and did not work
Where was prospect getting lost?
Where was prospect excited?
Were there questions that might indicate there was something confusing in pitch?
Make small tweaks not to core of pitch to not invalidate test
Pass/fail criteria
Look at sales metrics like funnel conversion rates
Ask for feedback from rep
New pitch is validated when
Rep feels the pitch no longer needs further refinement or iteration
The rep decided to use the new pitch because it is better than the old one they have lots of experience with and may have bias towards using
We don’t know if we have the best story possible, but we know if it’s better than the old one
If test fails
Two causes
Sales team not involved enough
Positioning is weak
Read obviously awesome
Rolling new pitch out to sales team
Video of rep doing a pitch plus Q&A
Practice pitches
Test on pitch by someone on sales leadership team
Who owns the sales pitch?
Owned by someone who owns positioning and sales pitch
Product marketing function
Common mistakes
Insight that isn’t unique
Common industry trend not unique
Insight should be unique and differentiated 
Lack of discovery
Step 2 alternatives natural place to ask discovery questions
Spending too much time on setup
Should not take more than 10 min
Bulk of time on differentiated value
Weak or undifferentiated value themes
The customer’s perception is your reality
Need value that’s very differentiated
Proof that doesn’t match the prospect’s situation
Case study should be in similar industry or show similar use case
An ask that’s too complicated
Give prospect a next step that’s easy to say yes to
Rolling out the sales pitch and then forgetting about it
New reps need to be trained to do pitch properly
Training materials
Test and certification at end before they pitch to prospects 
Pitch should not be warping over time
Regular checkins and scheduled pitch recertifications
Pitch gets updated as needed
When major shifts happen in offerings or product landscape, update pitch

Using sales pitch story beyond sales calls
Incorporate story into marketing, website
Explainer video
Use sales pitch structure for video to share unique insight
Buyer’s guide
Marketing content
Lead gen content
Purchase criteria
Checklists of features a buyer should look for
When and why they should look for those features
Insight from sales pitch in buyer’s guide
How certain features map to value for them 
Which customers should include what features in their purchasing criteria
Telling the story using the product itself, including onboarding, tutorials, help
Product led sales motion
Assisted walkthroughs tell story
Differentiated value and how product delivers it should be made obvious to prospects during onboarding and initial experiences with product
Visual elements
Product suite
Company portfolio
How we fit in your current infrastructure illustration
Workflow graphic showing a particular use case highlighting value point like saves time or eliminates manual processes
Example visuals in book website
A well told story is a gift to the reader because it teaches them to confront their own discomforts
Conference talk
Insight from pitch is a good topic
Research, white papers 
Sponsor or conduct research to explore themes of market insight
Yearly research to track trends and adoption of solutions in market
Can repurpose into blog posts, social media content
Book
Content marketing
Graphic novel
Ebook

Conclusion
Buying is hard
Do nothing is the most fearsome competitor you have
If customers cannot confidently make a decision, they just won’t make one
Sales pitch is special
Great sales pitch starts with company’s unique insight into market
Help customers understand their options and they will be better informed to make decisions confidently
No need to bash competition
Differentiated value is the star of the show
Value more important than features


References
The JOLT effect
Building a StoryBrand
Inbound marketing