The pitch. It’s potentially the most important point in your product’s development. Whether you’re standing in front of investors, potential buyers or outlets where your product will be sold, the pitch is where you make them believe what you believe about your product, or what your product can be. It’s a make or break moment.
No matter how well your product has been developed and designed, the pitch is where you make your case for how well it’s going to do its job. So how do you make a great pitch for your product? We’ve culled sometips from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneursbelow on how to make a great pitch.
Be brief
As much as you might like to go on at length about the features of your product, it’s not a good idea to take up too much time and overwhelm your investors or buyers with stats and features.
Boil your pitch down to the essentials. What is this product? What does it do? How will it make money for those interested in partnering with you? What’s the plan to roll it out? Make your points succinctly and leave them wanting more; it’s far better than leaving them bored.
Simplicity is king
To an extent, this point goes along with our advice to keep it short, but it bears breaking this part down a little more: Don’t overload your investors or buyers with too much jargon or complicated explanations of what your product does.
No doubt, what you’ve created is capable of great things that will dazzle people, and there’s a great story about how it was designed. But the pitch is not the time to tell too much of that story. There will be time later once your product has gotten investors or buyers. Make them believe in it first-then explain it to them.
Be comfortable
There’s nothing that helps a good speech like a laid-back, comfortable presenter with a sense of humor. No one’s expecting you to deliver a standup routine (and they don’t want you to either), and if you don’t feel like you’re a naturally funny person, that’s fine, too. Justbe as comfortableas possible, as long as you keep an eye on the clock.
Certainly, that’s easier said than done. This is a big moment, and tension and nerves are understandable. But that stressneeds to be put to the side if you’re going to successfully pitch your product.
Show them your passion
Think about how easy it is to get swept up in someone else’s passion when they’re talking about a movie or piece of music or television show that they love. They’re typically convincing enough to make you seek out what they’re talking about, right?
That’s the kind of passion you need to transfer to your pitch. Make the people in front of you believe in what you’ve created as much as you do, and don’t do it with features or design flair; do it with your zeal for what you and your business have created.
Be ready to listen as well as talk
The investors or buyers that you’re speaking to about your product are bound to have questions or even suggestions about what you’re trying to sell them. Make sure you’re maintaining, and displaying, an open mind, because your willingness to adapt to that feedback might be the difference between walking out empty-handed and making the most important sale of your career.
Listening to what your buyers have to tell you is an underrated key to potentially forging a great relationship with the people who will get your product out there.
Want to learn more about selling your product? Read our post “How to Create Buzz for Your Product on a Low Budget.”
