How to Perfect Your Pitch at Work
There will always come a time at work when you will be required to deliver a pitch; networking events or pitching a new idea to your team or even potential new partners or clients.
Not planning your pitch can be detrimental in being able to clearly communicate your ideas and plans. Here are some ideas on how you can ensure you deliver an effective pitch.
Precision
You may be tempted to share a big background story, but the chances are you may steer away from the main purpose of your pitch. There will be certain details that you will need to address, but you need to make sure that you do not lose your audience’s attention by providing unnecessary information. Be sure to prioritise your points that you need to convey to your audience. This will help you keep the pitch controlled and heading in the right direction whilst keeping the attention towards your main aim.
You need to also consider the timing of your pitch. It’s something you need to keep in mind when you are putting together your presentation. Allow time for discussion and questions and try to spend the same amount of time on each section.
Address Competition
You need to address your competition and let potential investors or clients know that you know who your competitors are and how you will compete with them. This is where your USP will come into play, as this will help you separate yourself from the competition and enable you to stand out.
Your Product
This is something so simple yet so many people forget to consider when delivering their pitch. Its one thing to discuss your idea but demonstrating or showing it is different and will have a more positive impact to your audience. It may not be possible to show your complete product. You could show a visual representation of your product. By being able to see the product or the development of the product, it will help the audience fully understand your idea and what they might be investing in. Showing the product and demonstrating its purposes could be especially important for the audience to clearly understand your USP.
Research
It is always a good idea to research on who you are pitching to. If you are pitching to an investor, then try and find relevant information on them. You should consider looking at their previous investments, their success rate, as well any other relevant information. If you are pitching to clients or customers, find out the needs and expectations of your clients and make sure that you use that information to form your pitch.
Facts and Figures
It is important to share facts and figures to back up your idea. By doing so it show that you have carried out substantial market research, such as finding out sales forecast, costs and budget, expected revenue and profits.
Make sure that you are being realistic when it comes to estimations and predictions, as anything unrealistic will not help your case in selling your idea or whatever the purpose of your pitch might be.
You will need good communication skills to relay your vision with clarity to your audience, whether it’s your co-workers, investors or clients.