10 sales pitch examples that work (and tips for writing your own)

Can you summarize your offering in one to two sentences? Adam Goldstein can. The CEO and co-founder of travel-deal site Hipmunk was struggling to get funding for his startup. He reached out to the CEO of United Airlines with the following two-sentence pitch:

The CEO responded directly to Goldstein within 15 minutes. Hipmunk went on to secure over $55 million from investors.

Takeaway: You need a one-liner ready to go for those brief moments of opportunity (like a chance meeting in an airport queue or a long-shot tweet). Consider it your logline—in Hollywood, a logline is a one- to two-sentence summary of a movie. Your own logline should answer the following questions:

• What is your presentation about?
• What does your startup or product/service do?
• What’s your idea?

For example, Google’s logline was simply, “Google organizes the world’s information and makes it universally accessible.” It’s short and memorable, and it explains what Google does and what benefits it offers.

Try creating a logline that’s under 140 characters to help your audience immediately digest the information and determine if they want to hear more.

G2Crowd is a platform that gives software users the opportunity to share their opinions on a product. Here’s the company’s elevator pitch:

“G2Crowd is the user voice platform for people to be able to say how they actually think about software and not be told by the analysts or people who don’t use it, or the reference from your best customers,” the pitch begins. “You’re actually hearing directly from the user and engaging with people who actually use the product.”

Although less than 20 seconds long, the pitch clearly conveys the purpose of the G2 platform while explaining the problem that it solves for software users.

Takeaway: Shorter is often better. A concise sales pitch forces you to explain your product or service in layperson’s terms—and in a way that quickly generates interest. A short and snappy pitch will likely stick with a prospect longer than a rambling pitch that lists all your product’s features.

Aim to create a 20- to 30-second elevator pitch that answers the following questions:

• What does your product or service do?
• What distinguishes your product or service?
• What are your product or service goals?

Write down what you want to say. Cut out jargon and be specific. For example, if your company “eliminates the need for insurance agents to use a lot of paper,” you could instead say, “Our e-signature platform cuts down on the overwhelming amount of paper that insurance agents have to use.”

Back in the early 2000s, billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban was the new owner of the Dallas Mavericks. The team was struggling to win games, which resulted in low ticket sales.

To get ticket sales back up, Cuban led the charge with his sales team by getting on the phone with former season ticket holders.

“This is Mark Cuban, the new owner of the Dallas Mavericks,” Cuban would say. “I know you’ve been to a game, and I just wanted to sit here and tell you we’d love to have you back.”

At the beginning of these conversations, Cuban was met with objections, like how bad the team was. In response, he would remind former ticket holders of their own experiences going to games as a kid—when it didn’t matter if a team was winning or losing. The point was the game itself. The arena. The popcorn and cheering and time with parents, friends, neighbors, etc. It was a unique experience that cost only $8 a ticket and provided more value than going to the movies or McDonald’s.

His approach worked, and ticket sales began to climb. Cuban bought the Mavericks for $280 million. The team is now valued at $2.7 billion.

Takeaway: During a phone pitch, sell prospects on the benefits, not the features. Cuban didn’t promote good seats, talented team players, and tasty popcorn. Instead, he promoted a special family experience—something he and his team knew that former season ticket holders valued.

When crafting a phone sales pitch script, include the specific benefits that the buyer will experience thanks to your product or service. Maybe you’re a B2B company that offers sales training courses. Rather than listing all the classes you offer, you could explain how your training helps reps become more confident with cold calls and emails, increasing their win rate.

Also, don’t give the impression that your product or service is perfect—Cuban admitted that he didn’t know if the team would play well or not. People are more apt to trust you if you’re honest about the bad. In fact, when people are reviewing product ratings, a 4.5 rating draws in more customers than a perfect 5, according to Northwestern University’s Medill Spiegel Research Center. Be upfront about what your product or service lacks, but explain how you’re different from competitors and how you can still help solve the prospect’s problems.

Content marketing consultant Ryan Robinson often contacts businesses to offer his services. But before ever making his pitch, he finds something of value to give to the prospect, such as a share on Twitter. He then includes what he did for the recipient in his pitch.

The following email netted Robinson a $10,000/m retainer in the end:

Takeaway: “Your emails should provide value upfront,” Robinson says. Information about himself and his services doesn’t appear until the third paragraph. Only then does he open the door to give a more detailed pitch and ask for a conversation.

Oren Klaff, author of Flip the Script: Getting People to Think Your Idea Is Their Idea, adds to this line of thought: “Never tell the buyer what you want them to do—you never pressure them for a yes. You let them tell you they want to buy.”

Your email pitch needs to stand out from the white noise in your prospect’s inbox. Send a guide or resource that helps your potential customer overcome a challenge. For example, maybe you see on your prospect’s website that they’re busy hiring a virtual sales team. Because you work for a human resources company, you send the prospect an ebook about onboarding virtual employees before making your pitch.

When cold-pitching products or services to experts and influencers in your field, weave personal details from their social media bios and profiles into your outreach message. Take a few minutes to check out their LinkedIn or Twitter accounts, and use the information you find to your advantage.

Of course, you don’t want to come off as creepy, so if they have a public profile, avoid doing a “deep dive”—you definitely don’t want to reference something from 150 weeks ago that they may not even remember. Stick to mentioning information that is either readily available from a quick skim or an interesting piece of content they produced.

Let these decision-makers know you care enough to have taken the time to learn a little bit about them before reaching out. Show them that you value their time, too, by keeping your message brief.

Takeaway: Personalize your pitch by looking at the prospect’s LinkedIn or Twitter accounts—take 10 to 20 minutes to find valuable insights about the buyer before contacting them.

Lead with a social talking point—such as a mutual connection or experience you’ve shared—to establish rapport and show you’ve done your research. Then, connect your offering with the prospect’s needs. You should send several messages to build trust before asking for an appointment.

A sales presentation pitch is typically more in-depth than the other pitches we’ve mentioned. Aaron Krause’s sales presentation on season 4 of Shark Tank is worth revisiting:

The smiling sponge product received $200,000 from Shark investor Lori Greiner and has made more than $50 million in sales.

Takeaway: Include eye-catching visuals and demonstrations in your sales presentation. In the example above, not only is the Scrub Daddy logo clearly visible, but Krause also incorporates a demo of the Scrub Daddy tackling tough stains. Krause gives the Sharks a glimpse of how the product solves a common household problem.

This approach follows the tried-and-true adage, “Show, don’t tell.” For your own presentation, paint a picture of what your customer’s life will look like if they buy what you’re selling. Adding charts, graphs, and photos can make your pitch even more interesting for the prospect.

Check out our 13 tips for a perfect, Shark Tank-worthy sales presentation.

A follow-up sales pitch can be a phone call, email, or social media message. A MailboxValidator team member sent this follow-up pitch after meeting a prospect at an event:

The email highlights where the two met and references their conversation. Only in the third paragraph does the sender, Janet, mention Jim’s problem and how she can help. She then asks directly for an appointment.

Takeaway: Remember, the point of the sales pitch is to get the prospect to the next step (e.g., another conversation or an appointment). Janet includes a clear CTA at the end of her pitch—a phone call. She suggests a time for them to talk and puts the ball in Jim’s court.

In your follow-up emails, propose specific days and times for a conversation, especially if you’ve already established trust with the recipient. Don’t simply say, “Would you like to meet?” Prompt the recipient to take action.

If you’re not excited about your product or service, how do you expect anyone else to be?

While delivering his Startupfest pitch, Willie G certainly didn’t lack excitement. In a room full of people pitching tech solutions, Willie pitched a unique party experience. He brought his larger-than-life personality to the stage and used it—and every moment—to his advantage.

Though not everyone has the same type of charisma, Willie G’s pitch wasn’t necessarily about him. His pitch worked because he was energetic, fun, and joyful—everything a party should be. He did something different and made an impression.

Takeaway: A bold, unconventional approach may be appropriate if it fits your personality as well as your brand’s personality. But if you’re going to “break” the sales-pitching rules, you must first know them better than anyone else and know your product or service inside and out.

Keep in mind, too, that this tactic won’t work for every product or service. Make sure that you’ve developed at least a few general branding guidelines and that the “tone” of your pitch matches your brand’s voice. You have to do your research and be confident that a big swing is the best way to attract the right kind of attention to what you have to offer.

Here’s another Shark Tank success story. At the start of his pitch, Brightwheel founder and CEO Dave Vasen shows he did his research by stating that he knows all the Shark investors are parents. He then touches on a personal pain point for parents of toddlers and pre-K children.

Vasen’s pitch highlights a pain point that every parent or guardian experiences: not knowing what their kid is doing in daycare or preschool every day. And with 1.62 million preschoolers in the U.S. alone, that’s a lot of not knowing. He relates to his audience through a shared experience—one that is especially close to the heart.

He also uses himself and his daughter as a case study, providing solid proof that the solution works. This not only appeals to the investors’ emotions but also shows them that Vasen truly believes in his product—so much so that he was able to get Brightwheel into 2,500 schools across the country.

Brightwheel ended up raising $600,000 from Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca. Since then, the company has been through several rounds of funding and is now valued at $600 million.

Takeaway: A great way to find success is to recognize a pain point that many people face and develop a solution. And instead of going deep into the technical aspects of a product, focus on the emotional, real-life benefits that come with using it.

Matt Macnamara of architecture firm Formcraft demonstrates that sometimes it doesn’t take more than 60 seconds to catch a prospect’s attention. In his straightforward, one-minute pitch, he explains exactly what his company can do for Philadelphia business tenants and even allows time for the listener to daydream about their ideal office space.

Although this video is an explanation of how he goes about pitching to potential clients, it also serves as a pitch in itself. Macnamara doesn’t ever bring up material or labor costs, blueprints, or details about his business. What he does do is give the audience permission to visualize what a better workspace could look like. He focuses on the benefits that Formcraft can provide rather than on the company itself.

To add more intrigue, he puts a timer in the bottom right corner of the video to prove to the viewer that he can, in fact, make an engaging pitch in only one minute. He also includes a CTA, saying he can help others create a one-minute pitch, which broadens his audience even further.

Takeaway: Practice distilling your company’s product or service down to its essence, and time yourself to stay accountable. Remember to focus on your target audience’s end goals. Highlight the benefits they’ll experience, not the details of “how” they’ll get there. You don’t want to waste time explaining the processes behind what you offer.