One of the most common sales faux pas is to tell the story you want buyers to hear — rather than the one that matters to them. But your initial outreach to a lead should be like a movie trailer: showing just enough of what you offer to entice the prospective buyer to learn more.

It’s not easy to hold back like that, however. Most sales reps immediately launch into their entire pitch once they have a lead’s attention. It makes sense: They want to present the prospect with as much information as possible in hopes that the prospect will hear at least one message that strike a chord.

Blitzing prospects with information prevents them from hearing any of your messages. It shouldn’t be their job to filter through your pitch; they need you to serve up the content that helps them accomplish their goals. With modern attention spans capping off at eight seconds, it’s even more vital to keep pitches simple and direct.

Presenting a carefully curated message tailored to the prospect isn’t easy. Here are three tips for shaping more successful prospect interactions:

1. Set an Agenda

Creating an agenda in advance is a way to confine yourself to the relevant points and prevent you from overwhelming the prospect. Share the agenda with prospects in advance — it shows respect for their time and lets them know who should be in the room for the meeting. For example, if you’re discussing technical implementation, they may want to pull in their IT team, but if you’re talking through top-line strategy, they may bring in the president. With 50% of corporate meeting time wasted, you’ll quickly turn off any prospect who feels your meeting was a waste. A clear, concise agenda demonstrates your preparation and professionalism while helping you stick to your core concepts.

2. Share a Personalized Video

When your team takes a more conversational, personalized approach, the prospect senses that authenticity and is more likely to purchase. Sharing a personalized video demonstrates that you understand your prospect’s business, care about solving their specific pain points, and are putting your full efforts into creating a relationship with them. In fact, 57% of consumers say that watching videos gave them purchasing confidence. Just be sure your video quickly gets to the “What’s in it for me?” to demonstrate value to prospects.

3. Provide Value

Every interaction with a prospect — email, phone call, or in-person — must be able to stand on its own as valuable. For instance, instead of scheduling a follow-up meeting, you might offer to do an audit of the prospect’s current approach and get back to them in a week. You also provide value when you tailor your message to include the services you offer that solve the buyer’s specific pain points. When you do, you can emphasize the unique selling points that actually relate to their problems. Once your prospect understands that you’re helping them, not selling to them, they’ll be more likely to work with you.

If you’re ready to make every prospect interaction amazing, start your free trial today.