How to Open Doors and Close Deals with a Winning Pitch

Have you heard the saying "Investors bet on the jockey?"

Do you know what it means? It means you may have a promising startup or proposal - but if decision-makers don't trust you to deliver on your promise, it's strike three and you're out.

So, the question is, how can you quickly prove you have what it takes to succeed?

These are just a few of the tips I shared in my SXSW workshop called, "How To Open Doors and Close Deals with a Winning Pitch." Hope you help you earn attention, respect, and a YES for whatever it is you're pitching, presenting or proposing.

1.?Neutralize Objections By Voicing Them First:

"If you stick to what you know, you'll sell yourself short." - Carrie Underwood

If you stick to what you know, you'll get a no. If you don’t bring up concerns at the outset and show why they're groundless, people won’t be listening; they’ll be waiting for you to stop talking so they can tell you why this won’t work. Say, "You might be thinking ..." and fill in their objection and then segue into why you've factored that in so it is a non-issue.

2.?Turn a Lecture into a Conversation

"I'm afraid of nothing except being bored." - Greta Garbo

Most pitches are one-sided lectures. Do you know anyone who likes to be lectured? Running through point after point turns a pitch into a boring listicle. Turn your slide title banners into questions (e.g., "What's our Exit Strategy? Who's Our Team? What's Our Business Model?") to transform a one-way monologue into n engaging two-way conversation and dialogue.

3.?SHOW How Your Solution is First of Its Kind:

"A lot of times people don't know what they want until you show it to them." - Steve Jobs

I was judging something called The Dolphin Tank and wasn't initially impressed with the business model of one of the contestants. However, Cari Carter did an excellent job of putting us in the scene of the problem her product solved and showing vs. telling how it prevent an unwanted situation so everyone in the room related to it and want it. It was brilliant - and here's how you can do it.

4.?Cite Your Money Track Record:

"If we want to connect, we must first earn respect." - Sam Horn

Want investors to give you money? Indicate exactly how/where you’ve managed and/or made money before. The primary question in an investor’s mind is, “When and where have you generated sales and scaled profits before? How and why can we trust you to do it again - for us?” Now is not the time to be humble. Provide verifiable statistics of successful launches, sales figures, and exits.

5.?Eliminate INFObesity By Disciplining Yourself to Use a 10-Slide Deck

"We need a support group for non-stop talkers; we're going to call it On and On Anon." - Paula Poundstone

A fire-hose of information does not convince investors to say yes, it convinces them to say "I'll get back to you" and they never do. Voltaire said, "The secret to being a bore is to tell everything." More = bore. Discipline yourself to distill your deck into 10 slides. A startup founder told me, "But our idea is complicated, we can't explain it in 10 slides." I told him, "If decision-makers don't get the value of your offering in 10 slides, they won't get it in 30."

6.?PEOPLE Your PITCH:

"When you advertise fire extinguishers, open with the fire." - David Ogilvy

Do you know what I've observed after helping hundreds of clients with their pitches? MOST PITCHES LEAVE OUT THE PEOPLE. For example, a tech exec's deck for his annual all-hands meeting consisted almost entirely of fact, figures, graphs and grids. I asked, "What do you want your employees to feel when you finish talking?" Blink, blink. He hadn't considered that. "I guess I want them to feel proud we hit all our numbers, and excited about the big launch coming up in Q1."

I said, "You think you might want to put some pictures of people in your deck?" "Good idea!" He had the company photographer go around and take photos of the people who had worked overtime, put out the fires, developed the products and met the deadlines. He called me the Monday after the meeting and said, "You should have seen the energy in the room. People were going around and high-fiving each other." If you want people to relate to what you're saying, include photos of employees, board members and actual customers (not "fake people") so your pitch feels true and real-life instead of speculative and made-up.

7.?Name and Number Your Claims:

"If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete." - Jack Welch

Sweeping generalizations are suspect. What does it mean to say “extensive managerial experience,: "international thought leader" or "frequent media resource?" To create a competitive advantage, you must provide the names of clients, the specific countries you've worked in, the names of the TV shows or podcasts you've been on, the exact numbers of your social media followers. If a claim doesn't have metrics, it isn't credible.

8. Close with Three Action Options:

"At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results." - Chuck Yeager

Do you know how many people end their pitch? By saying, “Thank you for listening.” Talk about leaving money on the table. If you want results, feature a final slide that reads, "What's NEXT?" and offer introduce three tangible incentives that motivate people to follow up. What do you want people to do? Schedule an in-person meeting? Follow up with your team at your booth in the exhibit hall? Request a product demonstration?" OFFER THAT.

Chances are, you've invested hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in your project. If you want it to succeed, invest in designing and delivering a pitch that increases the likelihood you'll open doors and close deals. It will be time and money well spent.

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Want Sam to help you craft a winning pitch, proposal, presentation? Here's how.