Four Simple Tips to deliver the Perfect Pitch

A personal pitch should pique interest. It should be repeatable. And it should be simple so a 12-year old can understand.

As my clients are mostly micro – small business owners, I attend about a dozen networking events every month to meet people.

I’m always amazed at the number of people who invest time and money in attending these events but don’t have a clear idea of what they offer so their pitch misses the mark. Thus not being able to connect with prospects.

There are four simple steps to deliver a Perfect One-Minute Pitch

1. Speak clearly and don’t mumble. Say your name and your business name first in a clear and audible voice. If offered a microphone use it. (Tip – rest it on your chin if you aren’t used to using a mic). This might sound obvious but you would be surprised just how poorly this is done by many people.

2. Explain what you do so it can be understood by a 12 year old. Don’t use words that everyone in the room isn’t going to understand. Keep it simple. The importance of pitching is so it can be repeated by someone else. Your ideal client may not be in the room but if explain it simply it just might get repeated by someone else.

An example would be…”I manage web sites to optimise traffic by utilising the latest SEO strategies.”

Or you could say…”I help my clients increase their sales by ensuring their web site is attracting more customers.”

3. State your industry niche, your specialty & positive results.

Don’t pitch the benefits – pitch the value. And do it as a story.

4. Add a call to action which is subtle and a continuation of your story. I find this is much more effective than directly asking for business as it still enables the listener to understand exactly what they can do to assist.

The final product could sound like this…

“Hi, my name is Rob Jones and my business is called Robs SEO. Although I mostly work with small businesses to help them increase the amount of sales that comes to them through their websites, a large corporation I’ve been assisting to increase their sales by ensuring their web site is attracting the right customers, told me this week they were able to attribute a 30% increase in inquiries through their web site by implementing just one of the strategies we worked on. With those results already, it is likely it is going to go ballistic when we put the full plan in place. I always get a buzz when such simple changes create such amazing results. This is why I choose to work with small business, because many have a web site but don’t know how to drive traffic and make the most of their investment. Once they do though, their business takes off every time.”

How differently would you now write and say your business pitch?