The 5 Pivotal Steps to Delivering a Perfect Pitch

IBF Entrepreneur Online-

How to convince prospective clients they need to buy what you’re selling

emember that scene from The Wolf of Wall Street? The one where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character asks a roomful of salesmen to show him how to sell a pen? There’s nothing special about that pen, but a good pitch person can make you see a need, feel the urge for a product or service.

Hamish McKenzie is trying for a moment like that: He’s coaching a Boston-based entrepreneur on how to sell his business to investors. The startup—GemShelf, a cloud-based information-management system—could save users a lot of time, says founder Colin Kennedy.

“Fantastic,” says McKenzie, a seasoned pitch consultant who has helped investment bankers, politicians and representatives of major global brands develop winning pitches and brand strategies. “We’re going to frame your pitch as a solution to a problem. So how does it solve the problem?”

Kennedy, who’s prepping for a pitch competition in New York, stares at the ceiling. Five seconds pass. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he says.

Entrepreneurs are great at coming up with ideas, but they aren’t always great at conveying them effectively to others. In a new book called Pitch, McKenzie—founder of McKenzie Pitch Partners—outlines the essential ingredients of a great sell. Here are five steps from his book that can help anyone pitch their business.

Plan your pitch strategically

Consider who you’re pitching to, and what their needs are. If they don’t mesh with what you can offer, walk away. “One client confessed to me that his team was 200 hours into working on a strategy-less pitch before discovering they couldn’t meet the client’s needs,” McKenzie writes. “It would’ve been a far more productive use of the team’s time to spend 100 hours developing business relationships with the client and the other 100 out of the office enjoying personal time.”

Tell a story that explains why a client should choose you

Customers don’t need to know the history of your company, so avoid telling elaborate backstories (no one is as interested in the evolution of your business as you are). Home in on what your company does that the client or investor wants and talk about that, McKenzie suggests, citing an adage by advertising legend Bill Bernbach: “Good presenters care about what he or she says. Superb communicators care about what the audience hears.”

Gather evidence to support your story

When you’re identifying a problem, cite statistics or an anecdote to demonstrate it. When you’re explaining how you can solve that problem, offer an example. Too many people grab whatever information they find interesting, “jam it willy nilly into a pitch and hope for the best,” McKenzie says. “If you want to be persuasive, you have to select the most relevant evidence for the story you’re telling.”

Apply the “barbecue test”

To test the strength of your pitch, imagine someone explaining it to another person at a barbecue party. Would they be able to sum up what you offer and why you won over whomever you were pitching? That imaginary conversation represents a crystallized version of your story—it forces you to internalize your pitch and learn to do it fluidly, without having to stop and think about it.

Prepare your presentation last—not first

“So many business leaders think they have to invest in presentation skills,” McKenzie says. “If you start off focusing on presentation skills, you’re putting a nice coat of paint on a dilapidated house. It’s going to fall down anyway.” Excessive focus on Power Point presentations or a too-polished delivery can make a message sound contrived and overmanipulated, he says. “The most important thing is your message. If you know what message you want to get across, you’ll be able to tell your story effectively.”

Source: Profit Guide