Perfecting Your Pitching
From Entrepedia: The Entrepreneurship Wiki
Watch Bill Joos explain how to deliver the perfect pitch
Keep in mind that slides are designed to be speaker support only, and that they can make your idea stickier if you use them properly. Your slides should hold your "so what" benefits without stating them directly. When planning your pitch, you need to be aware that potential investors see the pitch as SWOT analysis, and make sure to pre-address any issues related to this! Finally, remember that 50% of pitching is content, 50% is delivery. In most pitches the ratio is 95:5 rather than 50:50, so if you can balance the ratio better than most you will have the better pitch and a higher likelihood of hooking investors.
Contents |
Content
There are some key points to keep in mind when laying out the content of your pitch. First of all, remember to begin with "The End;" build the "About Us" slide first and make sure it tells investors clearly, "Here is why you should invest in us." It is also crucial to allow for a certain degree of pitch decay. One hour after the pitch people will remember 50%, a day later 20%, a week later 10% - it is your job to make sure the right 10% stays in their minds! Your best shot to achieve this is to be direct: say "I just want you to remember 3 things today..." and don't dilute!
Be brief, especially in the executive summary and the overview presentation for investors. This may sound easy, but keeping it brief is a lot harder to do than stretching it out. As Mark Twain said: " I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Keeping your pitch brief will be a bit easier if you kill any "Geek Speak." Investors don't want to know how you build aee watch, but what time it is! It is also incredibly important to realise that what you need to do with your is bait the hook, not feed the fish. All you need is to get them interested in what you have to offer; to do this effectively, make sure you tailor the hook to the audience.
When it comes to actually delivering the pitch, you'll want to get high and stay high! The high consists of your "what" and "so what" benefits; the low consists of the "how." You don't want to get into this! However, if for some reason you are forced to get down to the "how", get back up as quickly as you can. Note that benefits differ based on who you're talking to: there are technical benefits and business benefits, and it is important to be able to distinguish between the two and to identify which is more important to the audience you're addressing.
Slide Breakdown
Slides should obey the 12/20 rule, that is 12 Slides in 20 minutes (of uninterrupted time for presentation in a one hour meeting). The table below suggests content for each of the slides.
| Slide | Suggested Content | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Title | Title, speaker name, intro, contact, kick-off, tagline. |
| 2 | Company | Company overview (Elevator Pitch/Mission Statement). A slide sized version of the Executive Summary. Give the highlights upfront, don't do a highlight striptease. |
| 3 | Players, Problem and Pain | Market Definition (Get the problem and pain buy-in), Market size. |
| 4 | Painkiller (Solution) | Value Proposition, So what? benefits, ROI logic. |
| 5 | Technologies | Content: Your magic, Intellectual Property. |
| 6 | Competition | Competitor Analysis, Who else is doing this? Mention status quo and home grown approaches. |
| 7 | Business Model | This is how you'll make money. |
| 8 | Go to Market | Your marketing points and leverage points (= assumptions). |
| 9 | Metrics and Money | Finances and Funding, success metrics (business drivers), revenue/margin projections, assumptions. |
| 10 | Team | Who will be responsible for your success? Board of Directors (if you have one). |
| 11 | Timelines and Status | To date. On other people's money For the next x months How you'll use the proceeds? Possibly extend this to 2–3 slides (1. Where have you been?, 2. Where are you going? 3. What will you do with their money?). Include encore strategy. |
| 12 | Why you? | Here is why they should invest in you. (Remember you should develop this slide first!) |
Presentation
Don't start the presentation to soon; develop the agenda first. Ask what the 3 most important things are they want to hear about (and take notes). Ask what attracted them to your Business Plan, what you can do to convince them to become your lead investor, and how much time you have/ when you should be finished by. Don't stop taking notes once you have established an agenda - continue to take notes throughout the meeting - this will signal that you value what they're saying. To the same goal, avoid looking at your watch; take it off and put it next to your notes so that you are aware of the time without seeming disinterested or distracted.
It is a good idea to put the number of mouse clicks somewhere on the slide (e.g. little red dots in a corner; no one will notice these but you). This way you won't accidentally switch to then next slide without a transition first (furthermore, you won't be 'surprised' by the next slide). When switching to the next bullet point on a slide, grey out the other points and highlight the one you're talking about. You should only prepare Appendix slides if they answer potential questions; if not, then leave them out to keep your presentation cleaner and more simplistic.
If you're interested in some available online services to help make your presentation appear professional and unique, you can try using a service like Presenter Pro for templates. For graphics, have a look at iStockPhoto
Delivery
One of your primary goals with regards to your pitch delivery should be the ability to change people's pulse. Inform yourself about your audience: what have they funded before? Who are their partners? Furthermore, when adapting to your audience it isn't necessarily about changing your slides or presentation, but about changing your talk. In every pitch you want to try to bond with your audience; before hand you might want to find a connection to your audience (e.g. through LinkedIn). Similarly, do your research upfront: call ahead of the meeting and ask what they want to hear in the meeting. You will want to find out about their 'Hot Buttons' (e.g. "To make this meeting as effective as possible, what are the three most important things you want to hear about my business?"). When researching, make sure to only ask relevant questions (e.g. "Tell me about your last investment", "What partnership do you strut for one of your portfolio companies?", "How can you help us accelerate our business?")
When it comes time to deliver your presentation, mind the pitch, volume, and speed of your speech! Keep it regulated, well timed, and loud enough to be authoritative but without yelling. You will also need to have confidence in what you are saying to your audience; if you don't, they will know. It's up to you to make sure that you're telling stories that sell, and to show passion when you speak. Be energetic and compelling: it may help to videotape rehearsal sessions to help see how you are coming across to your audience.
Have a transition ready for every slide! You will need to know your slides: print out a slide overview with slide numbers so that you can easily switch back and forth. Your transition can consist of asking rhetorical questions, building upon your last topic, making a statement, or simply saying "Next." You should also practice and integrate feedback: it shows either way! That said, don't be slick. Set up a clear level of expectation between you and your audience: tell them what you are going to say; then say it; then remind them what you have already told them.
There is a sales technique used to overcome objections/ create rapport known as the FFF approach:
- Feel ("I understand how you feel")
- Felt ("Many others have felt the same way")
- Found ("But then they actually found that...")
It will help if you can develop an "attitude." Never give up (a lot of very successful companies have been rejected many times - some up to 35 times!), learn from any rejections and failures, and evaluate yourself! Record your meetings if you can; this will help you get better.
Most Important Points
At the end of meeting or in the closing points of your presentation, remove the mystery. You should tell them, or have already told them upfront: "At the end of this meeting I'd like to know if you will become our lead investor." Tenacity is a virtue! Wait for them to say something (and they will).
Another option is to ask what else they would need to know in order to fund you, or ask what the next step is. It is also most important to remember to follow up with them after the meeting: call them, don't wait to be called!
