Pitching is an everyday activity. We consistently pitch ourselves, our ideas, and our businesses to gain the interest of someone else. Pitching can be synonymous with selling. As an entrepreneur seeking investors, you pitch yourself and your business idea to gain much-needed capital for your business growth.
These 6 tips should help you in the preparation and delivery of a winning business pitch:
1. Research, test, and prepare: You want to be the master of the topic so ensure a thorough research into your industry, business concept, operations, and financial figures. Solid preparation of your key points builds your confidence which will show through during your delivery. Your content does not need to be memorized, to avoid getting stuck or forgetting important details. As such, feel free to utilize flash cards to note down your key points which you can refer to during the presentation.
2. Have and Know Your Purpose: This is the ‘why’ of your business. The reason you are doing what you are doing, and this reason must be beyond making money. You should share the uniqueness of the idea or product and have hard facts to demonstrate that this that is a solution to a customer problem, and the problem is widespread enough to build a business around solving it. This would help you grab the attention of your audience and hold on to it.
3. Keep it simple: When making your pitch, you need to concentrate on the primary message. This is the point you let your audience know the real catch in your pitch without boring them with irrelevant details. Start strong by sharing what differentiates you from your competitors to grant you instant success. Pay attention to the layout of your presentation. it should be consistent and easy to understand like making use of a visual representation.
4. Telling Stories: Storytelling is basically letting your listeners know how your product works through a real-life situation. To engage the minds of your audience, you can share a story during your presentation to help them recollect vital points easily. Storytelling also gives you the chance to connect emotionally, establish rapport and trigger a good relationship with your potential investors.
5. Know your numbers: Investors are always interested in numbers. Demonstrate your business mindset by having at your fingertips the past revenue turnover, costs, overheads, and profit of your business including the drivers of those numbers. Your forecast for the future and the rationale behind your ambitions should also be clearly articulated. Your financial acumen gives them some reassurance of the safety of their investment.
6. Be ready for questions: During preparation, get your team to role play as the investors and ask you various questions, which you must answer. This helps you anticipate questions and already prepare the answers for them. Well-thought-through answers to investors’ questions can make the biggest difference between getting the funds you need and being left with nothing.