Pitching for success
A common problem that I see with entrepreneurs of all ages or stages of development is the inability to present or pitch properly. From young entrepreneurs in the undergraduate and MBA programs at the local universities, to budding entrepreneurs I meet at industry and networking events from Worcester to Boston, or seasoned small business owners, the problem is the same. Very few individuals really know how to present or pitch their ideas, their product or themselves.
I just returned from running a workshop in Belarus for entrepreneurs and small business owners, and their challenge was no different. Most often they would start talking details — the technology, 'speeds & feeds,' features or how their product works versus presenting content that the listener wants or needs.
How do you get started?
You must basically answer these four questions:
1. Who are you talking to?
2. What is their interest or potential interest?
3. What do you want to accomplish?
4. How much time do they have?
Whether you are giving a 15-minute talk, a one-minute introduction or a 20-second networking encounter, you need to answer these questions in order to select the right pitch. Just like in baseball, we need to select the right pitch for each situation — a fastball, a slider, a curve or an intentional walk. Often you have to do this quickly, especially at some networking event where you might unexpectedly meet the CEO of a prospective customer.
What is your objective?
Generally the objective of your pitch falls into one of these three categories — educating, marketing or selling. Often times we combine all three of these in the same conversation or presentation, but generally we are much more effective if we treat these as three completely different objectives.
If you want to educate someone, then you need to explain more, lay a foundation, give some background information, provide some scenarios, etc.
A good example of this was years ago in the early stage of the videoconferencing industry where we had to do a lot of what we called 'missionary selling.'
We had to explain what this new technology could do, how it works and present examples of how it might be of benefit. First we had to educate the market before we could even think about selling into it.
If you are marketing to someone, then you need to pitch or present in a manner to make them aware of your company, product or service.
You do this by explaining the business model, the features, functions and benefits that the buyer would receive. Make sure you can differentiate between them:
Features – describes what it is
Functions – describes what it does
Benefits – describes why you need it
Finally, if you are selling your product, service or yourself, then you need to convince.
Here you are focused on the benefits versus the features or functions. You need to focus on the 'why' versus the 'what.'
For engineers and technical entrepreneurs, this is difficult. You must transition from developer/engineering-speak to marketing/sales-speak.
The elevator pitch
The elevator pitch just means a short pitch. The problem is these days the elevators are very fast — so in some cases you only have 10 seconds to get your message across.
If you are at a networking event or reception, you often only have a very short time to make your point. Therefore, you must be very crisp and articulate. Get to your point quickly as you will surely be interrupted in a few moments.
Getting a strong succinct message across will often get the listener to ask for more or set up a later time to learn more about you and your product or idea.
When you have three or four minutes to present, then you can develop a more complete story, but the majority of the time you only have a few seconds to a minute to make your point.
Be prepared and practice
Always be thinking of those four questions whether you are planning a presentation, preparing for an elevator pitch, or serendipitously meeting an important person at an industry event.
Practice your 10-, 20-, 30-second pitches before your next meeting and you will definitely see some results!
Jeff Schiebe is an international advisor and educator in entrepreneurship. He's associated with Clark University, Babson College and Hult International Business School. Contact him at jeff.schiebe@verizon.net.
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