On this page · 12 sections
- 01 What is a sales pitch?
- 02 What are the six parts of a B2B sales pitch?
- 03 Why does a sales pitch start with positioning?
- 04 What does a sales pitch look like? Five sales pitch examples by situation
- 05 What does a real B2B sales pitch look like, part by part?
- 06 How do you write a sales pitch?
- 07 What should you not say in a sales pitch?
- 08 Is a sales pitch different from an investor pitch?
- 09 How do you test a sales pitch?
- 10 Questions people ask
- 11 The bottom line
- Sources
The short answer
A B2B sales pitch answers the buyer’s questions in the order they ask them, in six parts: who it’s for, the problem and what it costs, what they do now, what you do differently, proof and one clear ask.
- A sales pitch is not a product tour. Your product shows up only in parts 4 and 5.
- The same six parts carry a cold call, an email, a meeting, a demo and a proposal.
- A pitch rests on positioning. Without it, every rep pitches differently.
When buyers say “interesting, send me something” and go quiet, or five reps describe your company five ways, the pitch is usually the problem, not the people giving it. Here is how to write yours in six sentences, fit it to each moment in a deal and test it.
My clients’ pitches stay with them, so the examples here are templates with blanks and lines from my own pages.
What is a sales pitch?
A sales pitch is what you say or write to show a buyer you can solve a problem they have now, so they agree to the next step.
A product tour answers the seller’s question: “What does it do?” A pitch answers the buyer’s: “Is this for me, and is it safe to say yes?”
What are the six parts of a B2B sales pitch?
The six parts of a B2B sales pitch are who it’s for, the problem and what it costs, what they do now, what you do differently, proof and one clear ask, in the order buyers ask about them.
| # | Part | The buyer’s question | Fill-in line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who it’s for | Is this for me? | “We work with [the person who feels the problem] at [type and size of company].” |
| 2 | The problem, and what it costs | Do they get my problem? | “Most [buyers] we talk to [the problem, in their words]. It costs them [the cost, in their numbers].” |
| 3 | What they do now, and why it no longer works | Why change what we do today? | “Today they [a tool, a process, a hire or nothing], and it stops working when [the trigger].” |
| 4 | What you do differently | Why you? | “We [what you do], so [the result], without [what they fear].” |
| 5 | Proof | Will it work for a company like mine? | “[A customer like them] went from [before] to [after] in [time].” |
| 6 | One clear ask | What happens next? | “Worth [time] to [one next step] with [who decides]?” |
Name the cost in part 2 before any gain: people weigh a loss more heavily than a gain of the same size1. Keep part 4 to one sentence. If it needs two, the decision behind it is not made yet.
Why does a sales pitch start with positioning?
A sales pitch starts with positioning because each part is a decision before it is a sentence. Part 1 is your ideal customer. Part 2 is the problem you lead with. Part 3 is what you position against: what buyers do today instead of buying from you. Part 4 is why buyers pick you. Skip those decisions, and every rep fills the gap with their own version.
Revvue, software for restaurant chains, changed the problem it leads with. Same tech, new problem: from “reduce waste” to “fix your Google reviews”, a hair-on-fire pain for chain restaurants. 30 demos in the first month, then 25% growth a year.
Decide the story first: with the free GTM Strategy Playbook, a 16-page PDF you get with your email and mobile number, or with me in positioning consulting.
What does a sales pitch look like? Five sales pitch examples by situation
A sales pitch looks like a few sentences in the buyer’s words that end in one clear ask. Its length fits the moment: about 30 seconds on a cold call, under 75 words in an email, two minutes in a first meeting.
1. Cold call opener (30 seconds)
“Hi [name], it’s [your name] from [company]. Most [people in your role] at [type of company] I speak with [the problem, in their words]. Is that happening to you?” If yes: “That usually costs [the cost]. Most teams [what they do now], and it breaks when [the trigger]. We [what you do differently]. Worth [15 minutes] on [day] to see if it fits?”
Parts 1 to 4 and the ask. Proof waits for the meeting.
2. Email pitch (under 75 words)
Subject: [the problem, in 3 to 5 of their words]? Hi [name], most [people in your role] at [type of company] we work with [the problem], and it costs them [the cost]. [What they do now] stops working at [the trigger]. We [what you do differently]. [A customer like them] went from [before] to [after]. Worth [15 minutes] to see if it fits [their company]?
All six parts, in five sentences.
3. First meeting (the first five minutes)
“Thanks for the time. I suggest two minutes on who we work with and why, then most of the call on how you handle [the problem] today. At the end, we decide together if [the next step] is worth your time.”
The next step is set up before the pitch starts. After your two minutes, ask: “What does [the problem] cost you a [month or year]?” Buyers believe the cost they say out loud.
4. Demo opening
“You said [the problem, in their exact words]. So I’ll show you only [the three things that prove it]. Then you tell me if that fixes [their problem].”
Part 2 in their words, then only what proves part 4. Selling a service? Walk through the first 30 days instead.
5. Proposal meeting
“You told us [the problem] costs you [their number] a [month or year]. This costs [price]. In the first [weeks], we [the first steps]. If [their biggest worry], [what you do about it]. Shall we set the start date?”
By the proposal, the risk is that the buyer does nothing. Matt Dixon’s research covered about 2.5 million recorded sales conversations: 40 to 60% of deals were lost to the customer doing nothing2. Mostly, buyers worried about making a big mistake. So set the price against the cost of the problem, not against zero, and make yes feel safe.
My clients never changed the pitch alone. For Encamina, an IT services company, what changed was a new way to package the offer, with the risk taken off the buyer. Then proposals and pitches built around what their buyers worried about. Their close rate on $50K deals tripled.
What does a real B2B sales pitch look like, part by part?
Here is how my B2B sales training page makes its case. Every line below is published there, in different sections of the page.
| # | Part | The line on my page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who it’s for | “Owners and CEOs of B2B technology and services companies with 2 to 10 reps, or a first sales leader.” |
| 2 | The problem, and what it costs | “Your reps work hard. Each one sells a different way.” The cost: “Big deals still need you on the last call to close.” |
| 3 | What they do now | “A generic course teaches skills your reps then have to translate to your deals on their own.” |
| 4 | What I do differently | The headline ends: “the story first, then the skills.” |
| 5 | Proof | Akio Aida, Founding AE, Grammarly Enterprise: “I tripled my closing rate in less than 1 month.” |
| 6 | One clear ask | “Book a 25-minute exploratory chat”, with “If your team needs something else, I’ll tell you on the call.” |
Note part 4: six words a buyer can repeat. And the ask is small and safe: 25 minutes, and an honest answer if it’s the wrong help.
How do you write a sales pitch?
You write a sales pitch by deciding the story first, then writing the six parts, one sentence each, in your buyer’s words.
Collect their words from call recordings, lost deals and emails.
Fill in the six lines from the table above.
Cut anything a buyer would need explained.
The pitch is one part of a sales playbook. My sales playbook template guide has the rest, built from your own won deals, including the six buyer risks parts 4 to 6 should answer.
What should you not say in a sales pitch?
In a sales pitch, don’t say anything that makes the buyer work to see why it matters to them. Five things do that:
- Features before the problem. “Our platform has 40 integrations” answers a question nobody asked yet.
- Jargon. “End-to-end solution” needs a second sentence.
- A monologue. In Gong’s 2025 analysis of 326,000 sales calls, reps talked 57% of the time on won deals and 62% on lost ones3. Pitch for two minutes, then ask a question.
- Pressure. Fake deadlines add fear to a buyer already afraid of a mistake.
- Two asks. “A demo, a trial or a deck?” lets the buyer pick none.
Is a sales pitch different from an investor pitch?
Yes, a sales pitch is different from an investor pitch: a buyer wants a problem solved safely, and an investor wants a large return.
| Compared | Sales pitch | Investor pitch |
|---|---|---|
| What they need to hear | That you solve their problem, and that it’s safe to buy | That the market is large and your team can win it |
| What counts as a win | The next step in the deal | A second meeting, then an offer to invest |
How do you test a sales pitch?
You test a sales pitch on real buyers, by watching what they do next, not by asking your team whether they like it.
Say it out loud to someone who plays the buyer and pushes back.
Run the repeat test. Ask a buyer: “How would you explain what we do to your boss?” If they can’t say part 4 in a sentence, rewrite it.
Count what happens next: replies, meetings and next steps agreed. Email two versions of part 2 and let the replies pick.
Listen to the recordings. Rewrite the part where buyers go quiet.
Give the whole team one version, updated each month from the calls.
I run this test one-to-one with owners and CEOs in sales coaching, and with whole teams in B2B sales training.
Questions people ask
What is a good hook for a sales pitch?
A good hook for a sales pitch names the buyer’s situation in their words, as a question they answer with yes. My sales coaching page opens with “Still the one who closes the big deals? Work on them with a coach.” My go-to-market consulting page: “Launching, entering a market, or stuck on a plateau? Decide before you spend.”
What are the 5 steps to a sales pitch?
The 5 steps to a sales pitch, and the five things every pitch needs, are who it’s for, the problem and what it costs, why you, proof and one clear ask. I add a sixth after the problem: what the buyer does today, because your pitch has to beat that too.
What is the 3-3-3 rule in sales?
The 3-3-3 rule in sales has no single meaning: sales blogs use the name for different rules of three, for messages, channels or follow-ups. What they share is a limit, and a pitch needs one too: six parts, one sentence each, and part 4 short enough that a buyer can repeat it.
The bottom line
A B2B sales pitch is your positioning said out loud, in the order your buyer thinks: is this for me, do you get my problem, why change, why you, does it work, what now. Write it in six sentences, in their words, and test it until buyers say it back.
A good sales pitch is one your buyer can repeat to their boss when you’re not in the room.
Sources
- Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk”, Econometrica 47(2), March 1979: the value function “is generally steeper for losses than for gains”. doi.org/10.2307/1914185
- Adrian Swinscoe, “The problem of customer indecision and how to get over it: Interview with Matt Dixon”, CustomerThink, October 12, 2022: “anywhere between 40 and 60% of all deals are actually lost to the customer doing nothing”. customerthink.com
- Dan Morgese, “Mastering the talk-to-listen ratio in sales calls”, Gong Labs, August 21, 2025: 326K sales calls; won deals 57% rep talk time, lost deals 62%. gong.io
