5 Successful Sales Pitch Examples That Worked Perfectly

Have you ever wondered how successful salespeople use sales pitches?

We’ll show you how as we go through five well-known examples of successful sales pitches that worked perfectly. 

We’ll also provide you with some tips and tricks that could make your sales pitches work. So, if you’re in the world of sales, this article is for you.

Let’s start by explaining what exactly a sales pitch is.

What Is a Sales Pitch?

Generally speaking, a sales pitch is someone’s way to persuade you to buy something. It’s a message that highlights the product’s benefits to the audience’s business and leads the client to take action.

It no longer involves long hours of boring presentations about mind-boggling half-truths about the business or products. People these days simply don’t have the time for that anymore.

In a nutshell, a good sales pitch is one that can make your client understand and appreciate what you’re offering by the time they’re done with their coffee.

Types and Examples of Sales Pitches 

There are many ways to pitch to a prospective client. But using pitches specific to your audience or their business is the way to success.

Here are some of the most popular types of sales pitches that work perfectly:

1. One-Line Sales Pitch

As the name implies, a one-line sales pitch involves writing a pitch only one line long but powerful enough to catch your audience’s attention immediately. Typically, it consists of only a sentence or two, sufficiently persuasive to interest your client.

A perfect example is the one used by Adam Goldstein, the founder and the CEO of Hipmunk. He founded this travel search engine in 2010 and initially struggled to find airlines and travel sites to collaborate with. 

The reason—no one wanted to work with a company with no other clients. 

After lots of hustling and begging businesses to spare him some time and listen to what his company had to offer, he eventually succeeded with Orbitz. This gave him the confidence to reach out to the United Airlines’ CEO at the time, Jeff Smisek. 

He used this one-line sales pitch, consisting of only two short sentences:

(Image courtesy of Close.com)

Within 15 minutes, Smisek responded, and the rest was history. The pitch led to an excellent deal for Hipmunk, helping it raise a whopping $55 million from investors.

Why It Worked

This sales pitch example worked because it was brief and casual, with the message clear enough to convey the potential benefits to the audience. 

Top management executives receive tons of emails daily. They don’t have time for fluff or convoluted introductions. This one-line pitch was straight to the point and certainly didn’t waste anybody’s time, which was why it was successful.

2. Phone Pitch

Did you know that the phone is still the most effective selling tool among the plethora of communication channels available today?

It’s fast and efficient, allowing you to deliver your sales pitch in real-time and get answers immediately. It’s the type of sales pitch that a billionaire investor Mark Cuban used when he took over the Dallas Mavericks in the early 2000s.

When he was still the new owner of the Dallas Mavericks, he and the team struggled with low ticket sales due to the team’s numerous losses. So, he jumped on the phone and reached out to the previous season ticket holders.

This is the perfect approach since 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers.

At first, he received many rejections and complaints about the team’s performance. 

But a few talking points within his sales pitch script made the pitch work. For example, he reminded the ticket holders of their childhood experience watching the game. He also compared the price and the value of a McDonald’s meal or a movie ticket with the value you get from buying a ticket for the game.

The Dallas Mavericks is now worth $2.25 billion, almost ten times its value when Cuban bought it in the early 2000s (when its price was only $280 million). 

Watch his video interview here

Why It Worked

Cuban’s was the right approach because he highlighted the value of what he was selling and not its features (e.g., the players or the front row seats). 

He reminded the ticket holders of their previous experience. More importantly, he personalized his approach by being friendly and building rapport. And personalization is an integral element of digital marketing when it comes to making a pitch.

In short, sales pitching over the phone works if you apply the right strategy. Try to focus on the benefits of your products or services, not on merely describing what they are. Most of all, be honest even if your product is not perfect because people always appreciate honesty.

3. Email Pitch

Email is another proven sales pitching channel. But only if you do it right. 

To begin with, an ideal number of characters for the subject line is only 41 characters or less to ensure it also fits on mobile devices’ screens. 

But, more importantly, your email must demonstrate the value of what you’re selling in a clear, concise, and direct manner. No trickeries, lies, or bragging. Just an honest and straightforward solution to the recipient’s current business challenges and needs.

One of the best email pitch examples is the one by Ryan Robinson, a freelance content marketing consultant who collaborated with many Fortune 500 companies and top brands, such as LinkedIn, Forbes, Google, Adobe, etc.

This particular email got him a retainer contract for $10,000 a month (wow!).

(Image courtesy of Zendesk.com)

Why It Worked

Remember we mentioned earlier that people receive tons of emails daily? This is why, when doing your sales pitch on emails, your email needs to stand out from the rest. That’s how Robinson made it work for him.

He began his pitch with a compliment, praising the recipient’s existing content and mentioning how he shared it on social media, as he found lots of value in it. 

There was no hard-selling—just facts. Robinson also mentioned the popular brands he worked with and added a link to his work, showing the recipient he’s someone they can trust.

In summary, this written pitch example worked because it added value, was honest, clear, and direct to the point.

4. Elevator Pitch

The idea behind this sales pitch is to try to make a pitch lasting approximately as an elevator ride. That’s ideally about 30 seconds or less. 

Sounds pretty rushed? 

The main idea is to give the pitch in a highly concise manner. You must state your purpose and the product’s value within that short timeframe for it to work. Instead of only describing what your business does, an elevator pitch also tells your target audience why you do your business.

This type of sales pitch is usually used for lead generation and networking, and it‘s often sent alongside a LinkedIn connection request.

Now let‘s take a look at this video from G2 Crowd (a platform where software users post their reviews and opinions), one of the most cited examples on how to pitch.

“G2 Crowd is the user voice platform for people to be able to say how they actually think about software, not be told by the analyst or people who don’t use it or the reference from your best customers. You actually hear it directly from the user and engage with people who actually use the product.“

Why It Worked

First of all, it took only 20 seconds to deliver the sales pitch. That’s even shorter than a few floors’ elevator ride. Most importantly, there was no overselling. 

It included only value-adding facts describing what users can do on the platform instead of what the platform can do for them—all in plain English and no jargon. 

Additionally, everything was delivered in a confident tone.

5. Sales Presentation Pitch

If you’ve come as far as to receive an invitation for a product demonstration, congratulations! Now, it’s your time to shine.

A sales presentation pitch is typically more detailed than other sales pitch examples mentioned above. You have to prepare a presentation, sometimes involving slides or a video. 

But remember, as is the case with all pitches, time is of the essence here, so you must make the most out of it.

It’s more of a traditional form of selling where you deliver your pitch in front of an audience (e.g., at a company event). So, your presentation must be compelling enough, with a lot of valuable information and visual elements.

An example of a successful sales pitch presentation is Aaron Krause’s Scrub Daddy Pitch (Shark Tank Season 4 Episode 7). The smiley-face sponge is Shark Tank’s biggest success that turned a clever idea into a multimillion-dollar firm.

Watch the full presentation here.

Why It Worked

This sales pitch example was full of visuals, as you may have noticed. You can clearly see the company’s logo and product name on the screen—on the title, background, even on Aaron Krause’s shirt. 

Best of all, he demonstrated how the product works to solve common kitchen problems. It made it easier for him to convey the message he wanted to send across, and all in less than two minutes.

The same applies if you’re using slides. As much as 94% of first impressions are based on visuals and designs, so make sure there are a lot of eye-catching visuals and imagery.

How to Make a Pitch That Wins

Now that we’ve provided you with examples of the most successful sales pitches, we’re also going to give you a few pointers for making a winning pitch of your own. 

So, keep reading.

Research Your Target Audience

To determine what type of sales pitch you need, you must identify your target audience first. Think about who you’re going to deliver your sales pitch to.

That said, you must research the company and the point person you’re targeting. This will serve as the foundation of the value you’ll incorporate in your pitch. 

Explore the profile of the point person you’ll be speaking to. Try to find out about their role in the company, their experiences, even their interests, as that’ll be your starting point in building rapport.

Additionally, you should find out some basic information about the company itself. Try to get familiar with the business, its mission, goals, accomplishments, etc.

Personalize It

Once you’ve gathered enough valuable information about your target audience, you can personalize your pitch according to their specific needs. For example, someone from the travel industry will have very different needs from the one from the software industry, and so on.

That’s why many salespeople use templates for their pitches. Only, you should bear in mind that you must adjust every template according to your target audience. For example, you can research and add information about the potential customer’s company into your script.

Highlight the Value for the Customer

You’ll find all great opening sales pitch examples are always about the customer, not you or your company. So, when making a winning pitch, make sure it always answers the question “What’s in it for the customer?”.

Specify the value it’ll add to them and their business upfront. Think about what solutions you can offer to them. Can you help reduce their costs? Introduce them to some valuable connections? Increase their efficiency? Will it help increase their revenue?

Your pitch can also highlight the value it can add to the very person you’re speaking to. You can underscore how your product or services can help them get a promotion or some rewards and recognition from their company.

The bottom line is that it’s all about adding value to them, not you.

Spin It Around a Good Story

What does a good sales pitch include?

Sales pitching is all about good storytelling. Buyers love to hear success stories they can relate to. So, include a short one in your pitch. It should be a factual story of how you were able to help improve an organization’s status quo. 

However, keep in mind that the story should include no bragging or hard selling.

Select the Appropriate Channel

You can use many channels to deliver your sales pitch—email, phone, social media, etc. However, you have to select the one appropriate for your target industry. For example, bigger or traditional organizations might prefer to receive it through email.

The more modern ones probably won’t mind getting it via a social media messaging system.

But there’s no hard and fast rule here. If the first channel you used doesn’t work, you can always use another one to deliver your sales pitch ideas.

Call to Action

Finally, you must always include a persuasive call to action, telling the customer what you want them to do. You can ask them to respond to your email or call you back. Anything that’ll urge them to take action and lead you to win the deal. 

How Do You Start a Sales Pitch?

You’re now almost ready to deliver your pitch. Well done!

All that’s left to do is to discuss how to start it.

Remember that the first few words are crucial for keeping your prospect’s attention. Fortunately, there are a few methods you can use when starting your sales pitch.

Let’s take a look at some of them.

Start With a Question

Asking a question at the beginning of your pitch is a good old-fashioned way of immediately catching someone‘s attention. However, you‘ll need to ask the right question for it to work.

That means you have to revolve your question around your client‘s current pain area.

Here‘s a business pitch example that shows how you can start your pitch with a question:

“What do you think is the major challenge for your teams when it comes to meeting their sales goals?“

This question is specific to the problem (failing efficiency), clear, and concise.

Start With a Personal Experience

Don’t start your pitch by talking about yourself. Instead, share a personal experience showing how you were able to solve other clients’ problems with your product. 

Make sure it’s your own success story so you can deliver it genuinely in a way that your audience can empathize and relate to it.

But be careful not to sound like you’re boasting, especially if you’re delivering your pitch through text (e.g., via email). Tone matters here, so make sure to sound factual, not like you’re bragging or hard selling.

Start With Statistics

Starting to pitch an idea using statistics is also effective. However, you can’t just use random statistics. They have to reflect your audience’s situation and relate to the target industry or company.

You can also use hook phrases, such as:

• Imagine
• Did you know
• Are you wondering
• Have you noticed

Let’s say you’re offering low-cost health insurance to a startup company. You can start your pitch with something like this:

“Did you know that 53% of startups view the cost of health insurance as a significant concern for their business?”

Notice that there was no selling in this example. It was a simple and straight-to-the-point question mentioning actual stats about current issues that resonate with your clients.

Author’s Note

The whole point of sales pitches is to present your product in a manner that’ll leave your client asking for more. It doesn’t have to be a harrowing experience for you or the client. 

The good sales pitch examples and techniques we discussed here should be able to help you strike the right chords, and that’s all it takes to win some sweet deals.