Have you ever been to a restaurant with a 4-page menu and a website that provides little information about the food philosophy, the talent that creates it and the attention to service they provide? Who cares? Is the chef that great? Is everything that good? Is there really that much enjoyment in all that stuff? Probably not. People want to make good decisions quickly based on quality, value and reputation among other things. Pitching your Business has the same mentality.
Entrepreneurs, business owners, salespeople, program directors and many others have to know many different audiences and be able to grab their attention quickly. Your audience may be a customer, an investor, a banker, a key new hire, or a visitor at a trade show. They all need to hear something that connects them to the value you provide and people typically do not like to wait.
Communicating clear and connective information quickly improves the opportunity to begin a customer relationship. That relationship relies in large part on your ability to connect with an audience in a way that helps them make decisions with confidence. Below are some quick tips to pitching your business effectively.
- Who are you and why should someone listen to you?
- People want to know you are knowledgeable and can either help them directly or lead to someone on your team who can. They may even want to know others that you have helped and how effective you were in solving their problem.
- What is the problem you solve and how does that affect them?
- Do you have a leaky roof? Did you miss a mortgage payment? Do you have a hernia? Do your hot beverages get cold quickly? Do you have difficulty staying on schedule with clients? Is it difficult to get your pills out of the case? Do you frequently misplace your facemask? Life serves us problems. A good communicator can restate a problem in terms that connect with the listener.
- Airbnb shares that they help people save money when they visit, make money when they host, and engage a great cultural experience from the convenience of a mobile application that provides full information in one easy process. Let’s go on vacation!
- Describe how you solve the problem in easy terms.
- Make it easy for your audience to understand the solution. Break your explanation down into the steps that matter.
- We get great food that is hot and fresh to your door in 1 hour.
- We do this by scaling our menu to select items that we excel at preparing and can complete an order quickly.
- We use a network of reliable transportation options that know the community and can pick-up and deliver quickly.
- This scales your value proposition to the customer. Hopefully you can under promise and over deliver and make them consistently happy.
- Make it easy for your audience to understand the solution. Break your explanation down into the steps that matter.
- What do you want?
- Remember there are many different audiences. The previous food delivery business may be seeking a delivery company, sourcing the right fresh food purveyor, enticing the right capital to help scale the best model, or attracting a prospective franchisee in a new market.
- Be sure to know what quality of goods or services, type of capital and involvement, or the right personality and work ethic required to meet your goals. Surprises are for parties.
- How do I get more information?
- Open doors and unblock bridges.
- Every moment with people is an audition and you cannot predict all of the opportunities the future will present.
You have done the work and hopefully your audience stays with you. A relationship has started. Be sure to give them ways to reach you and let them know when they will hear from you next. Thank your audience. They invested their time to listen to you and trust is establishing. If you want their business, let them know. Go draft your pitch and practice, practice, practice.
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