Pitch for success

Presenting & 'Pitching' Business Development for New Business

I am pleased to say that ‘we are about to embark on work with clients who are presenting or ‘pitching’ for big project and big ticket’ items.  Just a word about ‘pitch’ I have a problem with the word as do most customers and consumers who experience the ‘bad pitch’ as ‘buyers remorse.

For instance I can sell the idea of the importance of presentation skills to engineering professional, accountants and lawyers.  But use the word pitch and they leave the room.  Sorry, it the connotations with the Del Boy image.

’Pitch’ as a phrase has become commonplace since the televising of ‘The Apprentice’ series and often does portray the least ethical of selling techniques.  I don’t believe it as a ‘term’ is on par with presenting simply because to present ideas and proposals is far more sophisticated as throwing a pitch at potential business.

However, many companies have now adopted the term so I guess I am stuck with it depending on the Firm or Organisation’s culture.

I have been working with several partners and sales people to ensure they win their big item presentation or ‘pitch’ with both existing customers and prospective clients.

Invest in the Strategic Sell

Through a life time of running programmes on Interpersonal Mastery, Presentational and Platform Skills, Negotiation and Sales Training, I have come to the conclusion that too many people put off rehearsing for their big presentation and leave the work required for a ‘perfect presentation’  to the very  last minute.

Better to Over Prepare than Under Perform

I have developed an interpersonal skills programme called ‘Influencing with Integrity’ to equip businesses with the expertise to out present and outmanoeuvre their opposition by setting an impossibly high standard in the quality of the pitch.

Some People Fail to Rehearse to Perfection

For some presentations or pitches the one and only rehearsal they commit to is on the big day itself.  That really is too late. You can imagine the success rate for this business if the first time you make a pitch is in front the client.  It probably will be close to zero. I can guarantee anyone with this mentality will have to make a lot of presentations before they win one!

Our approach is to work with the content, the process, the technology and software to make presentations as natural as possible and authentic as possible for the presenter.  The presenter should be so well rehearsed that they know precisely what they will say and retain the attention of the audience.

Compare this to the ‘Del Boy’ quick win, win at all odds, short-term mentality that guarantees the remorse that failed customers experience too frequently.

Developing Unconscious Competence & Mastery

Rehearse until you don’t need to.  Developing presentation eloquence is like learning to drive a car.  If, practised sufficiently, you will not have to think about driving or for that matter presenting – it’s just natural to you.  You will just do it with a degree of flair.

The Presenters when they display this skill should not be distracted by assessing whether they are using; the correct tonality, and body language, or by worrying that might they forget something or express themselves poorly.  If they follow our advice the only emotion they will feel is that of authentic confidence.

Communication is what the Audience Receives

The Presenter’s message, the body language and the benefits and strategies of their presentation are all synchronised together.  There are no errors, only a perfect flow of communication without barriers between the presenter and their team and the client.

Running on Automatic is to perform in the state of flow

We train the presenter team or individual to run on automatic, and still have the ability to incorporate a flexible response to client questions.  We enable our clients to anticipate any resistance to the presenter and handle potential objections. Following our approach and advice puts the odds in their favour by as much as 80% of winning the sale, and that’s based on our personal experience.

We can make your big ticket presentation a business success

 I work in partnership with your sales or presenter team to agree objectives and methods of delivery.  We work on core benefits, killer ideas and innovative techniques based on research in social psychology and communications.  We work with those presenting the pitch as a support team and ensure that we take action to put our clients in the strongest possible position for the big day.

We simplify the complex and deliver high standards in tight timeframes

We can work on very tight deadlines and help you win business against your competition. Can you really afford to lose potential business because you have not invested in your pitch?  We can also ensure that you can cross sell to your existing clients and deliver a sales culture for your business.

	Pleasure not pain

Presenting should be a Pleasure not a Platform for Fear

Research tells us that people fear public speaking, presentations and pitches even more than they fear dying.  Most people have real problems in situations which require public speaking or talking on the ‘hoof’.

Good job I did not suffer from that one, when Nick Price of BrightPurple asked me to talk about positive strategies out of the recession to over fifty high performing executives, SVP’s, FD’s of Finance companies, IT Directors and HR people in Threadneedle Street in London last month.

How does that help me in business presentations?

We ensure that anyone making that ‘life or death’ pitch is in the best possible emotional state to sell their company and themselves to their audience.

We adopt a unique approach to taking any fear out of the presentation.  All our work is based on robust research in the applied behavioural sciences, together with cognitive behaviour modelling, evolutionary psychology and neuro science.

Know Psychological Types & Handle Objections

We prepare the presentation or ‘pitching team’ well in advance to cope with questions from every personality type that one would expect around a board-room table.

Many people who attend our pitching sessions go on to be even more successful in their chosen field simply because they have a new arsenal of psychological and behavioural weapons by which they can steer their career.

Who is the most successful in business?

It is the person who has the most flexibility in business communication and interpersonal skills.  If you know all there is to know about what makes people successful in social and business interaction, it’s highly likely that you only have one option and that is to succeed.

Consider the benefits of helping your team make the important ‘big ticket’ strategic pitches – you can only invest in their pitch to win.