Video: Media Sellers Must Embrace the "Pitch & Stop" Rule

Sales expert Andrew Davis learned a lot about the art of selling by pitching TV show ideas to producers. Many of the lessons he learned about pitching TV shows can be applied to media sales. (For more tips, watch the “Invert Your Sales Pitch: Pitch Like a TV Producer” sales course here.) One of those lessons is the "Pitch and Stop Rule."

“When you’re pitching a TV show you have to balance it on how they imagine the show and how you imagine the show,” explains Davis. As soon as the presenter over-explains the show, the TV producer recognizes the gaps between what he envisioned and what the presenter envisioned, and he becomes disappointed. The same rule applies in media sales, says Davis. Salespeople should not over-explain a solution. Instead they need to leave some details open to the prospect’s imagination.

Davis’ advice is to stop the sales pitch as early as possible and ask the prospect what they think. This allows the salesperson to collect input from the prospect and use that input to refine the solution to fit their needs.

In the following video Davis explains how media sellers can implement the Pitch and Stop Rule.