Many entrepreneurs struggle to deliver an effective pitch to prospective investors and consumers. Whether your communication method is in-person or online, it is important to get your message across clearly and stand out from the crowd. Below are three effective strategies for formulating your pitch via your website, email, or face to face.
The Twitter Pitch
Use Case: Company Summarization
What is your product? How does it differ from your competitors? Why is it the best available option? These questions are all essential to answer when pitching your product or service. Too much clutter in your wording, however, can confuse a prospect rather than make your value proposition understood.
The Twitter pitch, as outlined in Daniel Pink’s book “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others”, asks companies to refine their pitch down to the absolute necessities. The idea is simple. Summarize what your company does in 140 characters or less. With the average attention span only lasting eight seconds, this can guarantee that your audience stays focused. By limiting pitch length, companies are forced to eliminate fluff and practice effective external communication. Whether it is a face to face discussion or a company description on your landing page, your pitch will need refining.
Example: LANDR (A TandemLaunch Startup). LANDR does a great job of explaining their company’s value proposition without the use of unnecessary language.
Adapting the Pitch
Use Case: Prospects with Different Needs
When pitching to a prospect, focus on what matters to them. Your internet service provider company may offer the fastest internet speed to download or stream movies in 4K. However, if your potential client is only looking for a way to answer a few emails throughout the day and browse the web, this information isn’t relevant. To deliver an effective pitch, you must show how your product or service aligns with the needs of your prospect. This means researching your prospect’s needs, finding the best solution to fit those needs, and delivering that solution in a clear and concise message.
Remember, you’re selling a solution, not a product.
Tip: Often after outlining the problem, we tend to explain how the product works, and then show the result. Flip these two steps. By showing your result right away, you’ll benefit from a straight before/after comparison and a wow factor that you might not get otherwise.
The Subject Line Pitch
Use Case: Email Marketing
Let’s face it, an email subject line is a pitch. The average office worker receives 121 emails and sends 40 emails every day. With such a bombardment of content, it can be difficult to reach your audience without captivating subject-lines.
In 2011, a series of studies at Carnegie Mellon University revealed that people open emails for two reasons: utility and curiosity. It’s no surprise that people wanted to read emails that directly affect their work. What is surprising, however, is that they were also likely to open emails where they were unsure about its content. A perfect example of the effectiveness of email subject lines is shown below.
Example:
Your e-mail subject line should be:
- Either obviously useful (Found the best & cheapest photocopier);
- Or mysteriously intriguing (A photocopy breakthrough!);
- But probably not both (The Cannon IR2545 is a photocopy breakthrough).
Using effective subject lines is an important skill for anyone in business. If you’re not selling a product or service, you’re selling yourself.
Proper communication is vital to the success of a business. Even if your product is clearly superior to your competitors, you won’t be successful unless you can deliver a clear, effective pitch. By applying these three strategies to your external communications, you can be sure to get your point across with ease and captivate your audience.
