How to pitch in person and on paper.

"Always be early for a pitch so that when you start, you are simply continuing the conversation and everyone in the room is ready to listen"

Why does your company win the contract and not your competition? What it all comes down to is the pitch, writes Elaine Walsh for The Sunday Business Post

Pitching is bringing a story to someone who has the power to do something about it. In tendering (aka bidding), you are pitching for a contract with a buyer. Whether it’s a new idea or you are responding to a quest for tender, and regardless of pitching in person or on paper, the basic principles are the same – it’s person-to-person sales. Remember: an algorithm or random computer selection will never choose a winning pitch.

The principles of pitching

Let’s get the basics covered first. Pitch to the buyer’s people about you and your people. Your pitch should be a conversation where you swap stories, ask questions and base your answers on their interests, as this will make your pitch more effective and natural. When leaving the room always thank the investors for listening. In a tender, always thank the buyer/contracting authority for this opportunity to tender.

Before pitching, ask yourself how your idea/company fits into the world, what is unique about it? What are the differentiating factors about your idea? In tendering, all your competition will meet the requirements, but to win you need to identify the differentiating factors that exceed the requirements.

For example, list how you would be available during an emergency, showing how you are local and much more agile. Describe the benefits working with you brings. Remember, the difference between winning or losing a bid or pitch is how success is described.

When decision-makers read a tender or listen to your pitch, they are looking for what makes you different from all the rest; how did you solve those problems/pain points; how are your people better; how are you innovative? For example, “Not only do we supply audio components, we also write our own site-specific software.”

In order for your tender to be well formed, it must be informed. Winning comes down to who has the best understanding of the client’s business. To gain this understanding, research the buyer/investor and your competition (including the incumbent if relevant).

Try to figure out all their hot buttons (an amalgamation of all their requirements, problems and vision for their business), then develop your answers around the reasons that you would be a perfect fit.

Beyond the USP

Everyone will tell you that you must have a USP, or a value proposition, I agree, but you should go much further when writing a proposal or preparing a client to pitch. I believe you need to generate at least three exceptional USPs to demonstrate durability (in finance, this is called ‘High Alpha’, an excessive return on investment). The investor needs to see your durability and constant ability to innovate as they may be investing in you for the next five, ten years or forever.

? If you have three hit songs then you are a hit band, will sell concert tickets, downloads and are worth investing in.

? If you have three memorable scenes in a movie then you have a hit movie and will get funding for your next script.

? If you have at least three USPs, then you have a winning pitch.

The creative pitch

Be credible and creative. Credibility is achieved from describing how you solved problems of a similar nature and laying out all the valid benefits you bring to the buyer. The creative bit is just smart, original thinking to get this message across. People retain visual information far more easily than mere facts or data. Creatively communicate stats, data and analysis through graphs, charts, Prezi and Powtoon, keynote presentations, photography, video. Creative visuals improve comprehension and stick in the long-term memory of the investor and decision-maker.

Victory loves preparation

Tough training and preparation with coaches and strategists must be done before we get into the ring. Build your bid library of bid documentation in advance, chase down consultants and team members for details on previous projects, gather testimonies, research potential buyers, investors and competition. Develop CVs for every member of your team, describe your methodologies and internal policies, your health and safety procedures and so on.

When the tender comes out, you have a very short window to respond, anything from three weeks to seven weeks, and you will need this short timeframe to address the tender requirements, and to focus on rewriting all your bid documentation to address the tender.

For example, in a construction tender you will now be able to make your methodologies site-specific. If speed of delivery is a requirement in the tender describe how quickly your team have mobilised on previous projects. Rewrite cvs and previous projects to include professional highlights relevant to the tender requirements. Your theme when rewriting your bid library documents is to ‘rewrite for relevance’ to the tender.

Going live

Go for a run before a live pitch, that morning or the evening before. It will clear your head and burn off the nervous energy. Have a healthy breakfast. Work the room before addressing the room. Always be early for a pitch/presentation meeting, shake hands with everyone, and initiate a warm-up conversation before starting your pitch. This means that when you do make your pitch you are simply continuing the conversation and everyone in the room is included and ready to listen.

Always introduce yourself and say where you are from. Everyone wants to know where you are from, they want to know your story within the story you are about to tell. Look the part to get the part. It can be time-consuming, but plan what you are going to wear beforehand. It will make you feel competent and confident, and it shows respect for your audience. As Tom Ford said, “Dressing well is a form of good manners.”

Short cuts

Keep your pitch short and punchy. No idea is too complicated or too new that it cannot be communicated in a one-line pitch.

A good exercise is to imagine you had to tweet your pitch in 140 characters or less. Now put slides together for 5-10 tweets. Twitter forces you to get to the point, to be erudite and efficient with words and this little trick really helps put visuals together.

If you are finding it hard to get in front of key investors or decision-makers to make your pitch, consider making a video and emailing it. When it comes to potential reach, video is peerless. Videos with emails account for over 80 per cent of click throughs and demonstrate innovation and flexibility in using the latest storytelling tools and resources to access your audience.

Your key decision-maker or potential investor may be in another country, may not return any of your calls, but if you email a video dedicated to their interests with a great one-line pitch in the subject line, you have an 80 per cent chance they will watch the video. Figures in the US, Britain and EU suggest that in three years’ time, you will be watching this article instead of reading it.

Constant pitching or tendering will hone your offerings, will hone your value propositions, and will have you ready to pitch at every opportunity. SMEs sometimes need to collaborate to pitch for large projects or to penetrate new markets. Businesses that put collaboration and creativity at the heart of their cultures, generating new ideas and how to pitch them, tend to grow faster. For example, I and my colleagues at Tender Team work with Schuman Associates in Brussels on large EU bids and with Shine Bid Services for British and NI bids. For growth marketing services, we collaborate with Dara Creative, Dublin.

When you win a tender, your business success story does not end there. You can now knock on doors to win even more new business. As an SME, nothing will establish your business faster or secure finance better than winning a tender. Tendering is the biggest opportunity to scale up, expand and fundraise in Ireland, Britain and the EU. In Ireland alone, the tender market is worth €9 billion and only 10 per cent of companies based in Ireland, tender. Explore etenders.gov.ie for opportunities and register as a supplier.

Elaine Walsh is a Tender Writer /Business Development Executive with Tender Team (tenderteam.ie), a Pitching Coach, and a lecturer in Creative Thinking and Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Problem solving at Maynooth University. To access Tender Team’s expertise, experience, videos, presentations, trainings and templates please contact [email protected]

Top 5 pre-pitch tips

1. Before pitching, ask yourself how your idea/company fits into the world, what is unique about it?
2. Build your bid library, develop presentation pieces ready for any opportunity.
3. Work the room before addressing the room, introduce yourself, chat with the investors/decision-makers and then your pitch is simply continuing the conversation.
4. On the morning of the pitch, go for a run to expel nervous energy. Have a high-protein breakfast.
5. Dress the part to look the part. It shows respect for your audience.