The Ultimate Guide on How to Pitch New Business
Boardrooms and meeting rooms might as well be unmarked graves for untold numbers of businesses.
All the relationship building and networking leads to the chance to pitch the great idea or business to possible clients. This is what entrepreneurs work must lead to.
But once they get there, it’s game day; it’s time to put on a performance that takes the gold in more ways than one.
And just like any sport, having a game plan is vital. In this case, game planning surrounds how to pitch to the audience and how to show the business in the best light.
Read on for our guide on how to pitch a new business.
Look Good, Do Good
The human brain judges other humans faster than anyone realizes. Until recently, the conventional wisdom was that it took seven seconds for people to form an impression. But studies show that humans form their earliest judgments of their fellows in less than a second.
Intelligence Is Golden
Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military strategist, wrote in his classic book The Art of War: “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles…”
Knowing a little about who you are pitching to goes a long way. Study their business; talk to the people you will meet with and understand what their business headaches are and think about how you can fix it. If you can’t get to your specific audience, talk to people who work with them or have pitched to them before.
Never go into a pitch blind.
Have Materials as Gorgeous as Your Idea
This one is an amalgamation of all the ideas that we’ve talked about so far.
Often, the people that get pitched to are busy and their attention spans are short. So, they will try to remember only what they have to in order to make it through the presentation and then forget everything else.
That’s is why presentations need to be damn sexy. People, at so many levels, are basically the same. But there are endless possibilities for what can appear in a good presentation.
This is where the best and most impactful information is displayed and preserved in the best-looking way possible.
Think Through How To Pitch
While preparing, step logically through the product’s or service’s possible impact in the specific context of the people you are pitching to.
Here’s a basic line of thought for presentations prep: What is the goal? Why hasn’t it been achieved yet? What is the problem? How does the product or service solve it? What will be the beneficial, measurable outcome of the product or service?
Don’t Be Underprepared…Ever!
Time is money. So the worst thing that you can do to a business leader is waste their time. It’s truly the only limited and unreproducible resource out there.
Sharpen your Small Business Sense by reading on the nextff article to make the most of your time on this site and the time of those you pitch to.
Remember, knowing how to pitch is key to generating new business. But you have to know how to get there and what to do afterward. Read on for our best insights.