If you are a product manager, you may have to pitch a technical product to non-technical customers, such as investors, partners, or users. How can you make sure that they understand the value and benefits of your product, without getting lost in the details or overwhelmed by the jargon? Here are some tips to help you craft a clear and compelling pitch for any audience.
Before you start your pitch, you need to research your audience and tailor your message to their needs, goals, and pain points. What are they looking for in a product? What are their main challenges or frustrations? How do they make decisions? How familiar are they with your industry or domain? Use this information to frame your pitch in a way that resonates with them and shows how your product can solve their problems or improve their situation.
When trying to get to know your audience on a deeper level, reviewing any existing data you've already collected about this group is an excellent starting point. Starting with the data you already have ensures you're building on your current audience knowledge rather than starting from scratch.
Prior to commencing your pitch, thorough audience research is essential. Tailor your message to address their specific needs, goals, and pain points. Understand what they seek in a product, their primary challenges, and frustrations. Delve into their decision-making processes and gauge their familiarity with your industry or domain. Armed with this insight, craft a pitch that resonates deeply with their concerns, showcasing how your product can directly address their challenges and enhance their situation. By aligning your message with their needs, you increase the likelihood of capturing their attention and securing their buy-in.
Before pitching, thoroughly research your audience to tailor the message and resonate with their specific needs, goals and pain points. What are they looking for in this product category? What key challenges or frustrations are they facing that your solution could address? How do they typically make purchasing decisions - what criteria drives their evaluation? How familiar are they with your industry's domain and lingo? Leverage these insights to frame your pitch positioning and content. For example, if pitching project management software to IT leaders, emphasize how it streamlines cross-functional visibility and resource allocation. But for creative agencies, highlight how it fosters real-time collaboration and feedback.
?? Before pitching a technical product to non-technical customers, research your audience thoroughly. Understand their needs, pain points, and decision-making processes. Tailor your message to resonate with them, focusing on how your product solves their problems or improves their situation. Make the technical aspects accessible and relevant to their interests and goals. ??
Translate technical jargon into benefits, focus on user outcomes, use relatable analogies, and highlight simplicity and usability. Emphasize the value the product adds to their specific needs and challenges.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when pitching a technical product is to use too much technical language, acronyms, or jargon. This can confuse, bore, or alienate your audience, and make them lose interest or trust in your product. Instead, use simple, plain, and concrete language that anyone can understand. Explain your product in terms of what it does, not how it works. Use analogies, metaphors, or stories to illustrate your points and make them memorable. Avoid unnecessary details or features that are not relevant to your audience or your value proposition.
When pitching a technical product to non-technical customers, simplify your language. Avoid jargon and use everyday terms to explain how the product solves their problems. Focus on the benefits rather than technical details. Use analogies or visual aids to help them understand complex concepts easily. Show real-life examples or case studies to demonstrate the product's effectiveness. By using clear and simple language, you can make the product more relatable and accessible to non-technical customers, helping them see its value and how it can improve their lives or business operations
When pitching a technical product, avoid the pitfall of drowning your audience in technical jargon. Overloading with acronyms or complex language risks alienating or disengaging them. Opt instead for clear, straightforward communication accessible to all. Focus on articulating what your product achieves, rather than delving into intricate workings. Utilize analogies, metaphors, or stories to elucidate key points and ensure memorability. Trim unnecessary details or features unrelated to your audience or value proposition. By simplifying your message, you foster understanding, engagement, and trust, ultimately enhancing your pitch's effectiveness.
Use simple, plain language that anyone can understand. Explain your product in terms of what it does and the value it provides, not the underlying technical details of how it works. Illustrate key points through relatable analogies, metaphors or real-world stories to make them resonate and memorable. For example, when pitching cybersecurity software to non-technical executives, ditch acronyms like DDoS, SQL injections, etc. Simply explain it as "an AI-powered digital bodyguard that proactively protects your systems and data from criminal hackers and threats, with 24/7 monitoring." Use a relatable analogy like "Just as you insure your house and car, this insures your digital assets."
?? Avoid overwhelming your audience with technical jargon or complex terms. Instead, use plain and straightforward language that everyone can understand. Focus on explaining what your product does and how it benefits your audience, rather than delving into technical details. Utilize analogies, metaphors, or stories to make your points clear and engaging. Keep your pitch concise and relevant, emphasizing only the features that matter to your audience's needs and interests. ??
Another common mistake is to focus too much on the features or specifications of your product, and not enough on the benefits or outcomes that it delivers. Your audience does not care about how many megapixels your camera has, or how fast your algorithm is, or how secure your encryption is. They care about how your product can help them achieve their goals, save time, money, or effort, or enhance their experience or satisfaction. Therefore, you need to highlight the benefits of your product, and back them up with evidence, such as testimonials, case studies, or data. Show your audience how your product can make their lives better, easier, or happier.
Another common mistake is to focus too much on the features or specifications of your product, and not enough on the benefits or outcomes that it delivers. Your audience does not care about how many megapixels your camera has, or how fast your algorithm is, or how secure your encryption is. They care about how your product can help them achieve their goals, save time, money, or effort, or enhance their experience or satisfaction. Therefore, you need to highlight the benefits of your product, and back them up with evidence, such as testimonials, case studies, or data. Show your audience how your product can make their lives better, easier, or happier.
Focus on clearly articulating the tangible benefits and outcomes your solution delivers to make their lives better. For example, "Our AI forecasting software helped customers like AccuTech cut inventory carrying costs 25% while still meeting 98% on-time delivery." Quantifying positive impact in terms of hard metrics that map to your audience's priorities creates an "aha" moment. Features and specs only provide context - the "so what" that makes people care is when you illuminate the "what's in it for me" benefits. Does it save them time or money? Reduce risk or hassle? Boost productivity or satisfaction? Highlight the "better life" your solution enables, not just how it works under the hood.
Prioritize driving an outcome as opposed to an output. Instead of getting caught up in technical details, emphasize tangible outcomes that your product delivers. For example, instead of diving into the details of how an algorithm works, focus on how it translates to a faster or more user-friendly experience. In terms of visuals, it helps to translate complex technical concepts into simple diagrams or drawings. This could be a flowchart depicting the user journey, a before-and-after scenario showcasing the problem and solution, or even a whiteboard drawing to illustrate how different components work together to produce a key product functionality.
?? Shift your focus from technical specifications to the real-world benefits your product offers. Highlight how your product solves your audience's problems, saves them time, money, or effort, or improves their overall experience. Avoid overwhelming them with technical details and instead, use compelling stories, testimonials, or data to illustrate the positive impact of your product. By emphasizing benefits over features, you can better connect with your audience and demonstrate the value your product brings to their lives. ??
A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it comes to pitching a technical product. Visuals and demos can help you show your product in action, rather than tell about it. They can also help you capture your audience's attention, engage their emotions, and create a lasting impression. Use visuals and demos that are clear, relevant, and appealing. For example, you can use graphs, charts, or infographics to show data or comparisons, screenshots or mockups to show design or functionality, or videos or live demos to show user stories or scenarios. Make sure that your visuals and demos are easy to follow, and that they support your main message and value proposition.
Pitching a technical product to non-technical customers can be effectively done by utilizing graphics to explain complex concepts. Visual aids such as diagrams, charts, illustrations, and infographics can simplify technical information and make it more accessible to a non-technical audience.
A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it comes to pitching a technical product. Visuals and demos can help you show your product in action, rather than tell about it. They can also help you capture your audience's attention, engage their emotions, and create a lasting impression. Use visuals and demos that are clear, relevant, and appealing. For example, you can use graphs, charts, or infographics to show data or comparisons, screenshots or mockups to show design or functionality, or videos or live demos to show user stories or scenarios. Make sure that your visuals and demos are easy to follow, and that they support your main message and value proposition.
Clear, relevant visuals capture attention, engage emotions and create lasting impressions in ways words alone cannot. Leverage graphs, charts or infographics to vividly illustrate data comparisons or metrics that quantify your value proposition. For example, a striking bar chart could spotlight how your software slashes server provisioning times by 80%. Screenshots, mockups and rendered concepts immerse the audience in your product's user experience and design far more compellingly than dry descriptions. Videos or live demos bring your solution to life, allowing the audience to virtually experience user stories, key workflows and transformative outcomes firsthand as if they were the customer.
??? Visual aids and demonstrations are powerful tools for showcasing your technical product to non-technical customers. Instead of relying solely on verbal explanations, use visuals like graphs, charts, and infographics to simplify complex concepts and data. Additionally, incorporate live demos or videos to provide real-time examples of your product in action. These visual elements not only enhance understanding but also capture attention and create a memorable experience for your audience. Keep your visuals clear, relevant, and aligned with your key message to effectively convey the value proposition of your product. ??
Finally, you need to be prepared to answer any questions or objections that your audience may have about your product. This can help you demonstrate your expertise, credibility, and confidence, and also address any concerns or doubts that your audience may have. To anticipate and address questions and objections, you need to do your homework and research your audience, your competitors, and your market. You also need to practice your pitch and get feedback from others. Try to anticipate the most common or likely questions or objections that your audience may have, and prepare clear and concise answers or solutions. You can also use questions and objections as opportunities to reinforce your value proposition, or to show how your product is different or better than others.
For common questions, like integration with legacy systems, outline your robust API architecture and highlight customer examples. Objection handling provides an opportunity to differentiate strengths over alternatives. If the concern is pricing, avoid getting defensive. Reframe it as an investment comparing total costs of ownership and opportunity costs of not addressing inefficiencies. You can first, paraphrase to show active listening: "I hear your concern around the upfront costs being higher than incumbent solutions." Then, resolve the pain point behind the objection with supporting evidence: "However, our customers see an 18-month payback period on average from productivity gains. AccuTech recovered their investment in 9 months"
?? Preparation is key when pitching a technical product to non-technical customers. Anticipate potential questions and objections by thoroughly researching your audience, competitors, and market landscape. Practice your pitch and seek feedback to refine your responses. Address common concerns with clear and concise answers that reinforce your product's value proposition. Use questions and objections as opportunities to highlight your expertise and differentiate your product from competitors. By proactively addressing concerns, you can instill confidence and credibility in your audience while effectively conveying the benefits of your product. ??
When pitching a technical product, avoid drowning your audience in a sea of technical jargon or acronyms. Simplify your language, focusing on clarity and accessibility over complexity. Describe your product's functionality rather than delving into intricate technical details. Utilize analogies, metaphors, or anecdotes to make your points relatable and memorable. Trim unnecessary features or details that don't directly contribute to your value proposition. By speaking in plain terms and emphasizing the benefits, you keep your audience engaged and ensure they grasp the value your product offers, fostering trust and interest in your pitch.
Remember, the goal is to make your non-technical customers feel understood, empowered, and confident in your product's ability to address their specific needs. Some other powerful tools that a PM can use include: - Storytelling & use cases - Customer testimonials & case studies - Offer tutorials, user guides, and online resources - Clearly communicate their costs vs their ROI - Solicit feedback esp. on barriers to adoption