pitching

# Pitch Perfect


## Content
A pitch is not a presentation. In a presentation your audience are there to listen and have been prepared to spend time listening to you and only you, while in a pitch you are fighting for their attention and a place in their memory. Your pitch will hopefully last for more than one minute, but you do not get more than one minute to convince them to listen to you further.

* Less is more  
  The longer you talk the less attention you get.  
  Get the most important points across in the first minute.

* Make sure these are clear
>* The name of your company
>* The product you are selling
>* The “What’s In It For Me”

* What is the differentiator  
  Be sure to make very clear what differentiates you from the competition.  
  This is dependant on your audience, for example, a cutomer will be very interested in the templates while another will be most interested in the device or the cloud service.

* Only mention what you know and confident discussing

* It should be a conversation  
  Nobody likes a monologue, ask questions to get the customer involved. BUT  
  Never ask a question that can kill your pitch mid way such as "So, are you interested to hear more?" or "this is a good product, don't you think?". These are good questions to end the pitch and open a discussion, but half way the answer can be NO and then you lost  
  Ask questions to help you tweak your pitch, "What is your budget?" or like "do you think cost is important?" and so on

* Tell a story to get the customer to relate to the product  
  Stories create a personal connection with product, and bad stories or poorely chosen ones can kill your pitch  
  
* Try to create a positive association with the product  
  Best done with success stories  
  Or with a hidden secret, somekind of teaching them something new

* Be prepared for objections  
>* Uncommon approaches: a customer can abrubptly cut you and ask questions

* This is a decent hierarchy
>* introduce yourself, company and product
>* Tell them about your product
>* End with a "call for action"

## Delivery
Pitching is about how you deliver as much as it is about content. You need to keep them interested, Remember that you are fighting for their attention and memory. A dull delivery will nt get any attention or memory  
Remember these points wehn rehearsing

* Demonstrate enthusiasm  
  If you're not passionate about the product, your listeners won't be

* Eye contact  
  Keeping eye contact helps keeping the customer engaged, and helps you get feedback

* Positive body language

* Keep talking but read your customer  
  It is important to be aware of how your customer is reacting to your pitch

* Be prepared for different customers  
  One customer can abrubptly cut you and ask questions


## Conclusion
The final advice is

* Keep Calm and deliver your pitch
* Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse
* Be prepared

## Good reads
* [saleforce blog](http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2014/02/how-to-make-good-sales-pitch.html)
* [businessweek](http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-03-14/how-to-pitch-anything-in-two-minutesbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice)