It is not always easy to present your qualities in a straightforward manner to a potential client, partner, producer, or other stakeholder. In this blogpost you will find the three biggest pitfalls and how to avoid them. Having a powerful pitch ready will help you to achieve professional goals faster, attract new clients and partners, differentiate from others and is useful at e.g. networking events and job interviews. It is all about creating opportunities, even when you have only one minute.
1. Too long… – so be prepared for 1 minute!
Most people are busy and if that person you want to talk to has only one minute, you need to grab his or her attention. What are you going to say in one minute? Make this minute memorable and focus on what you could do for the listener. What do you have to offer that might be interesting for him or her? Your goal with this one minute is to get a follow-up meeting.
2. Too boring… – so how to make your pitch memorable?
Especially in those introduction-rounds we get to see a lot of boring pitches. ‘Hello I am [name] and I am a composer’. Make sure you grab the attention from the beginning! If you pitch online or on a stage: engage your audience from the start. You could start with a short personal story, a catchy fact, a statement, or a question. Your name sticks better when you mention it after the catchy opening. So, don’t start with your name, but with something that makes people curious from the first second!
3. No Call-to-Action – so how to get your listeners to take action?
I have seen great pitches, but nothing happened afterwards. The story was great, but there was no call-to-action included at the end. You really need to propose a next step to the listener. Would you like to have a follow-up meeting? Or link on LinkedIn? Would you like to get in touch in 6 months when you have more information about your project? You need to ask for something specific at the end. With a more specific request you increase the chance that action will happen after your pitch.
Best of luck in improving your pitch!
Anna Heijker
pitch coachAnna Heijker is a pitch coach with international experience. Since 2013 she has trained over 850 startups and 7.500 professionals in pitching. Anna’s clients say they like her structured way of working, her creativity, and enthusiasm. Next to her work as a pitch coach, Anna leads (online) meetings, strategic sessions and brainstorms for business and government. As a professional moderator she keeps dialogues in flow, enforces any rules of a debate or panel, and ensures that all parties are able to share their thoughts. During her studies Anna specialized in public speaking and how to create a strong message.
Get in touch on LinkedIn.