Marketing Against The Grain

The 3-Step Framework To Win Every Sales Pitch ft. April Dunford

Jan 16, 2024

April Dunford, author and executive consultant, joins Kipp and Kieran to discuss the framework for creating compelling sales pitches. They explore the importance of blending company perspective with customer needs, personalized AI assistance in sales, and the challenges sales teams face in translating positioning into a pitch. They also discuss tailoring sales pitches for different levels and handling customer skepticism.

01:00:59

Episode guests

April Dunford

AI Summary

Highlights

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Crafting a winning sales pitch involves understanding differentiated value, identifying best fit customers, and determining market category.

Effective discovery during sales calls involves understanding the customer's current situation, pain points, and offering tailored solutions.

While AI is valuable, relying solely on AI-generated content for sales pitches can lead to inaccuracies; AI should supplement human expertise and engagement.

Deep dives

Crafting the Perfect Sales Pitch

Crafting the perfect sales pitch for a product is crucial for winning more pitches. Understanding the perfect inputs to a pitch deck and conducting the right research are key. Differentiated value, best fit customers, and market category are important considerations. Building a sales pitch starts with establishing alternatives and determining what sets your product apart from the competition. Discovering the customer's current situation and pain points is vital during the initial sales call. Educating the customer about your company's perspective on the market and aligning it with their needs creates trust and credibility. Good sales reps act as guides, providing insights and solutions tailored to the customer.

Different perspectives on the role of a database in the tech stack

01:20

Building trust and credibility in sales conversations

01:27

Engaging in Discovery during a Sales Call

01:23

Building a Strong Sales Pitch

01:03

Introduction

2min

Disagreements on Positioning Statement and Sales Pitch Framework

3min

Importance of a Well-Crafted Sales Pitch

11min

Tailoring Sales Pitches for Different Levels

13min

Challenges in Choosing Accounting Software and the Struggle of Sales Pitches

2min

Overcoming Buyer Challenges in the B2B Market

3min

Handling Customer Skepticism

7min

The Importance of Discovery in a Sales Pitch

2min

The Importance of Effective Discovery in Sales

9min

10.

Creating a Pitch for Zapier

7min

What are the research methods and information you need to know to craft a great pitch?

Kipp and Kieran are joined by April Dunford (executive consultant, speaker and author) to dive into what goes into the framework for creating compelling sales pitches. Learn more on how to win more pitches than you lose, the importance of blending company perspective with discovering customer needs, and the importance of personalized AI assistance in sales.

About April Dunford

April Dunford is the author of the bestselling books, “Obviously Awesome” and “Sales Pitch”. She is the Founder of Rocket Launch Marketing & CEO of Ambient Strategy. Previously, she was VP of Marketing at high-growth startups and executive at IBM and Nortel. She is currently a public speaker and consultant.

Connect with April!

Twitter https://twitter.com/aprildunford

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/

Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/positioning-with-april-dunford/id1690104435

Substack https://aprildunford.substack.com/

Website https://www.aprildunford.com/

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