The Best Way to Pitch Ideas

Welcome to DX Weekly — a free newsletter to help you unleash the power of digital for your company. Subscribe here. Digital transformation is the antidote to any company becoming irrelevant, and each week, I’ll share new actionable information to help you and your organization succeed in the digital world.

?

Pitching big ideas can feel daunting, and it’s very common for many presenters to pitch using a format like this:

1. Explain the idea.
2. Describe how you will execute it.
3. Share the numbers and promise you will meet them.
4. Beg for approval.

While it can get you some positive results, there’s an alternative approach that can massively increase your chances of getting that sweet approval, and with less begging.

It’s called storytelling.?

Large, ambitious projects are full of risk and they’re never guaranteed. While you need a rational argument for any investment, appealing to the emotions of decision makers is equally, if not more important.

What can they accomplish if the project succeeds? How will it change the way your customers behave? What kind of glory awaits them on the other side?

And there’s no better way to engage your audience emotionally than through storytelling. This article will present you with a “storytelling outline” that you can use for any kind of pitch.

WHAT MAKES A STORY

Every story has a hero, a goal, and something standing in the way of that goal, such as a villain. Stories then progress to reveal some sort of plan or strategy to overcome the obstacle/villain and end with the hero either achieving their goal or not.

If that doesn’t yet sound like a business pitch to you, read on.

ESTABLISH THE WORLD OF THE STORY

The first thing any story needs to do is establish the “world” of the narrative, which includes introducing the characters and their current situation.

You might establish the world for your pitch with a market overview and current business trends: “We have a loyal following of clients, but our customer base has been slowly shrinking in recent years.”

INTRODUCE THE PROBLEM

Make it clear that there is a specific problem to be solved.

Saying something like: “our competitors are doing this...” or “our research data shows that our customers now vastly prefer that…” or? “customer satisfaction is at an all time low...” or “we can see that the sales figures are clearly declining…” are great ways to introduce the problem and get those survival instincts going. Naturally you’ll need to tailor this to your situation.

PAINT A SCARY PICTURE

Now it’s time to magnify the problem and show the audience what happens if they don’t act.?

Engaging movies will keep you on the edge of your seat, emotionally invested in whether the story will have a good or bad ending.

You can lead with something like this: “If this trend continues our competitors could overtake us…” or “if this keeps up, this could lead to a major decline in our share price over the next eight quarters…”

The goal here is not to exaggerate, but nor is it to “play nice.” Great stories have life or death stakes, and businesses who do not change with the times go out of business, now more than ever. So it’s quite possible your story does have legitimately high stakes. Work to bring these into sharp focus, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable. Dramatic movies always make the audience uncomfortable in the middle: will Luke destroy the Death Star? Will they realize there’s a murderer in their house before he kills them with a chainsaw? Will the boy and the girl resolve their differences and wind up together as they were meant to be?

REVEAL A BOLD PLAN

Since you built up the tension by bringing the problem into scary focus, your audience is naturally going to look for a way out. This feeling of even desperate curiosity is what you want.

Plans aren’t inherently interesting. But a plan to save your bacon, is.

Consider medical or legal TV shows where you listen intently to detailed technical information about rules of evidence or brain tumors all because you are emotionally invested in the hero’s success. That same information presented outside of the construct of a story would probably be snooze. Stories make otherwise boring information interesting because now there is a reason you need to know this stuff—to follow the story.

And there’s no need to guarantee that your bold plan won’t seem risk-free. You can never be absolutely sure if any plan will succeed. Your audience knows this and it will seem less credible if you appear to guarantee results. Point out the risks. That increases the post-meeting sense of drama and makes the role that the audience plays all the more heroic. Anyone can agree to fund a “sure thing,” but it takes courage to put your bets on a plan to save the universe that might be a bit of a roller coaster.

This is why the step of “Paint a Scary Picture” is so critical—if the problem feels great enough, it’s worth taking some risks to overcome it.

USE NESTED STORIES

Having small stories within the main story will help flesh out your plan and breathe life into what you are talking about.

For example, “Customers are frustrated when engaging with the app and many of them don’t complete their transactions. Let’s take a look at Kate. She is an example of the kind of experience our app is giving to our customers. Here’s what happened to her when she tried to buy a product from us…”

This creates a stronger sense of tension without taking away from your main point. In fact, it strengthens the need for action.

LET THE AUDIENCE BECOME CO-CREATORS

When you are pitching an idea, the ending of the story isn’t really known because you’re in the middle of the “movie” with them. “The Plan” hasn’t yet been enacted.

This is actually great, because it gives you the option to position the people you are trying to persuade as the potential “heroes of the story,” and when they help refine and improve the approach you give them an active role.

In a business meeting, this is usually the Q&A portion of the presentation.

EMOTIONAL ENDING

Even though in one sense the story doesn’t end at the end of a pitch meeting, it’s still important to give them meeting a satisfying emotional ending.

After the Q&A portion, don’t end the meeting abruptly or run out the clock, but give the audience the satisfaction of a sense of emotional completion.

Highlight what this success will mean for them and the company.?

“When we succeed in this digital transformation, we will be able to stand toe-to-toe with any competitor in the marketplace, etc…”

Remind them of the challenges ahead but exude confidence from their support as key heroes in the story.?

You are essentially foreshadowing what the end of the story will look like if they lend their support.

WHY DOES THIS WORK?

Psychologists tell us our brains are genetically hardwired to pay attention stories because it was how early man passed on information essential to his/her survival. Hunting stories, or stories of warfare with neighboring tribes contained valuable strategies applied in the past and the stories were a way to pass on that learning. So paying attention to those stories could save your life, thus “attention to stories” became a genetically selected trait.

You can use this knowledge to get your next project approved. I hope you do.

Book a FREE 30-minute call with us!

YOUR TURN?

Do you think stories are important when pitching ideas? Comment yes or no below. What other techniques have you used during your pitch? I’d love to hear from you down in the comments below.

I talk more about how to pitch ideas on my ebook Pitching Digital Transformation. Get a free copy of the ebook and more after purchasing my Wall Street Journal bestselling book Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance where I talk about my proven five-step methodology on carrying out the digital transformation once it gets approved. Get the first chapter for FREE here, or purchase the book here.

SUBSCRIBE to DX Weekly for more content each week to help you and your company succeed in the digital world.?

Howard Tiersky is the founder of FROM, The Digital Transformation Agency where he works with leading brands on digital transformation.

• Check out his Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance.
• Howard did a podcast episode last week where he discussed whether personal connections are still important in the digital age, including the key aspects of a “personal” experience. Listen to the episode here.
• And of course SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter to make sure you stay on top of his weekly insights on digital transformation here on LinkedIn.?

Want to learn more? We’ve produced over a hundred videos on a wide range of topics geared toward executives and directors from management to digital transformation. Check it out now!