We would all agree that to successfully pitch you need a fair degree of self-confidence. Through the ongoing drive for new business you’ll find the more you pitch the more self-confident you’ll become.
But what are the other keys to pitching successfully:
· Prepare well - get a firm grasp of your subject, brood over it; get to know it far more than you are going to use.
· Gather – get together all relevant intelligence and then cull to the most succinct and relevant, bearing in mind the audience you are pitching to.
· Appearance and delivery – be well groomed but not over dressed. One of the Directors here is renowned for his pinstripe approach – over the top, possibly, but they stand out from the crowd and that’s what you want to be able to do. Get gripped in your delivery and really live for the moment – all other mannerisms will fall into place like the dreaded limp arm syndrome!
· Platform nerves – everyone gets nervous, even the best of us. This will actually help you with your pitch. It will help you keep controlled if you remain friendly towards your audience. Remember they are not your enemies, but your friends who have paid you a compliment by coming along for you to pitch to them.
· Be vital – call on your own experiences as much as possible when delivering your pitch. To gain and hold interest, deliver in such a way that is empowering to your audience – you’re bringing the pot of gold to them so make them see it.
The client will want to not only buy into the concepts you are presenting to them but also that they want to believe that they can see themselves working with you for the long term.
A final example of this mentality comes from one of our previous experiences agency side. A major automotive company was pitching out their dealership programme and two members of the client team turned up at a major agency to see whether the environment matched with the potential creative output of the agency. They were disappointed to find a lacklustre, dark and unassuming office with little or no creative atmosphere – the pitch was lost on this point alone. The agency changed its ways and turned the office into a vibrant atmosphere, productivity went up and the actual quality of work, which was never really lacking, increased further. A harsh lesson learnt but they are now one of the leading agencies in their particular field.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
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