How to build a structured pitch?

A good pitch has a clear structure.

A good structure helps you to keep the listener on the edge of his seat right from the beginning, straight to the end.

You open the pitch with a shocking opening, followed by the problem and the solution.

Then it’s time explain how you generate revenue with the business model, why your team is able to do this and lastly you ask the listener to do something in your call to action.

I

There are 3 ways to start your pitch:

1. A personal story
2. A question
3. A Bold statement

These methods are explained in detail in this article.

 

 

II Problem

 

After you opened your pitch, it’s time to present the problem to your listener. During this part your only goal is to make the listener feel the problem.

 

You should describe it in such a way that your listener experiences the pain of the problem.

 

A good problem explanation usually is done in one or two sentences. After you explained the problem, you mention the type of people who experience this problem on a regular basis. An example:

 

‘A bad pitch can have an enormous on our lives. The difference between a good pitch and a bad pitch could be a successful company or a bankruptcy. Many entrepreneurs, consultants and even CEO’s face the consequences of bad pitches every day’.

 

 

 

III Solution

 

During the solution part you explain your solution to the problem you described earlier. This is the moment where it’s your job to make listener excited.

You should describe the solution in such a way that the listener sees the opportunity and starts believing in your idea.

 

A good solution explanation should be described in one sentence if possible. You want to make it as easy as possible for your listener to spread the word about your solution to others.

 

After you mentioned how you will solve the problem with your solution, you explain the extra benefits of your solution in a few sentences. An example:

 

‘To help entrepreneurs pitch their way into an investment I’ve developed a comprehensive video course on pitching. Not only do these videos explain how to pitch, they also help to create an investor pitch deck and negotiate the investment terms.’

 

IV Business model

 

During the Business model part of your pitch you explain how you are planning to generate revenue. In this part it’s your job to convince the listener of the financial opportunities of your idea.

 

The listener must get the feeling that there is a possibility of a serious financial advantages if he becomes part of your idea.

 

During this part you mention the following numbers:

 

• Retail price of your product/service
• Potential customers in your area
• Potential revenue (retail price * potential customers)

A few things to keep in mind:

 

• When doing your calculations, make sure you don’t estimate too high. It must be realistic
• When you mention your numbers, make sure to have them appear on your PowerPoint/Keynote presentation. Remembering multiple numbers usually is quite difficult if you don’t see them visually. Make sure to not overkill your listener with lots of numbers, just the key numbers will do.

An example:

 

‘The price of the pitching course is $399 dollars. With over 55.000 entrepreneurs in this country our market value equals $21.945.000’. Our research shows that over 60% of these entrepreneurs are highly interested in a pitching course.

 

 

V Team

 

So you made the listener excited about your idea and the possibilities. Now it’s time to show him why you are the right person to execute it.

 

If you are in team, this is the moment to mention the achievements you and your team achieved in the past.

 

The classic mistake many pitchers make is that they start of their pitch by calling out the names of their team members.

Although it’s a nice gesture to give credits to your team members, mentioning names is not very appealing to your listener.

 

Avoid mentioning a list of names, but rather focus on mentioning a list of achievements you and your team members completed. This way you show to your listener that there is a capable team behind the idea.

In this part you can also talk about your motivation to make this idea a success, preferably backed up by intrinsically reasons.

 

A few things to keep in mind:

 

• Experience or achievements in the same industry are valuable. Focus on those.
• Mentioning names of big companies where your team members worked in the past works good as well.

 

An example:

 

‘I have pitched over 300 times in the past two years. My colleague entrepreneurs who helped developing this course have experience in pitching and course development. Maarten, our writer was a professor at a big university for over 15 years. Our team is full of experience.’

 

 

VI Call to action

 

The call to action is the second most important part of your pitch (right after your opening).

During this part you tell your listener what you want him to do. Do you want him to invest? To partner up? To make a deal?

 

Be clear about your call to action and focus on only one. Research shows that mentioning multiple call to actions reduces the success of your call to action.

During your call to action it’s important to be as precise as possible about what you want from your listener.

Don’t be scared to ask what you want, what’s the worst that can happen? A few examples:

 

‘Become part of the club and download the Restoranto app’

 

‘Benefit from our generous first investment round and invest $150.000 for 15% of our shares’

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

For some situations you will have to delete or adjust one of the building blocks. If you are pitching for a charity organization who is looking for donations, you might want to replace the business model with an overview of how you distribute the donation.

 

Every great pitch has a clear structure. Usually you start with your opening, followed by the problem, the solution, the business model, your team and a call to action.

 

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You can have the best writing skills, the best body language and the best pitch slides, and your pitch can still be bad. The way you speak during your pitch is almost as important as the rest of the pitch.

Think about it.

Why was former president Barack Obama considered to be one of the best speakers in the world?

It’s because he knows how to use his tone of voice during his speeches. He knows when to speak loud, when to speak softly, when to speak fast or when to speak slow. But probably the most important quality of a good speaker is knowing when to use silence, which you will read in a bit.

Speak loud when it’s important

When you are at an important part of your pitch, don’t be shy to increase the volume. This way your listener understands that this part is important, which will increase your impact.

Speak slow when it’s important

Just like speaking emphasizes importance, speaking slower does the same. When you reduce the amount of spoken words per second, your listener will have more time to process what you are saying.

By giving your listener more time to process your words, you are more likely to create an impact with your words.

Use silence to let it sink

You just had an important sentence, which you spoke louder and softer. After this sentence it’s your job to maximize the impact of that sentence on your listener. The best way to do this, is by giving your listener two seconds to think about it.

The length of your silence should be determined by the complexity of your ‘important’ sentence. The more complex, the more time you should give. Since your pitch shouldn’t include to many complex sentences, your silence should be somewhere around 2 seconds. Practice the length of your silence in front of a group of friends and ask them their opinion.

You can read more about silence in a pitch in: Why 2 Seconds Of Silence Makes Your Pitch More Successful 

Make them think you are confident and relaxed

Many pitchers mess up their pitch because of the nerves. The problem is, being nervous isn’t the problem.

Everybody is nervous, even the best pitchers in the world.

The point is, you shouldn’t show your nerves. By breathing in and out slowly a couple of times before you enter the stage you lower your heart rate. By doing this you become more relaxed and you will look more confident.

Make a legend for yourself

When you are done writing your pitch, you should include all of these methods visually on your paper. Let me explain this:

Open the file of your pitch text and give your text the following layouts:

Normal sentences	This is a regular sentence with no special layout.
Important sentences	This is an important sentence which I made bold. I will speak slower and louder.
A break after your important sentence	I will end this important sentence with a silence.  * SILENCE *

By adding this structure to your text you have an easy time practicing, since you will know where to put the focus.

 

Conclusion

The way you speak, pronounce and add silence to your pitch can have a huge impact on the quality of your pitch.

Not only does this help your listener to process everything you have to say, it also ads credibility to you as a pitcher since you will come across more confident and relaxed. Use these tips actively when you are practicing and they will becomre natural during the actual pitch.

You did the research for your pitch, you wrote your text, designed your slides and you even practiced your pitch. You are almost ready to perform your pitch.

At this point you should know your text by heart and you should have practiced it many times.

Unfortunately, even if your preparation was perfect, there is still a chance that your pitch doesn’t go well. This could have to do with nerves or external factors such as the environment.

By preparing yourself with a few small tricks you can minimize the risk of a blackout.

These small things can make or break your entire pitch, so please take your time to follow these steps. Underneath you will find 5 things you should prepare before you go on stage.

 

1. Be on time

On the day of your pitch you will probably be a little bit nervous. Even though this isn’t necessary, as you prepared your pitch well, this might still happen.

As a high stress level damages the success of your pitch, you should do anything to prevent this.

In order to reduce the amount of stress and nerves on this day make sure to be on the location on time.

 

2. Get used to the environment

Whenever you arrive at the location of your pitch, try to enter the room where you will be pitching early. By getting used to the environment you will feel more calm during your pitch. Spend at least 30 minutes in this room and make this room yours.

 

3. Position yourself

The position a person takes during his pitch tells a lot about his level of confidence. When a pitcher stands all the way in back of the stage, this usually is a tell that he or she is nervous.

Not only does this hurt the credibility of the pitcher, it simply also causes that people in the back of the room can’t see you.

 

4. Control your nerves

If you took steps 1-3 you should have a minimized stress level at this point. However, the lower your stress level the better.

Control your nerves and reduce your stress by doing one of the following things:

• Meditate a few minutes before you start your pitch
• Listen to your favourite song before you start your pitch
• Do some quick exercising before your start your pitch
• Practice a few more times in the bathroom before your start your pitch

What works best is different for every person. Try a few of them during your practice rounds and find out what works best for you.

 

5. Keep control of the conversation

Depending on the size of the room it could be that some people want to ask questions during your pitch.

Usually the smaller the room, the more likely people are to ask questions.

Whenever you find yourself in the situation where you are pitching in front of 1-10 people there is a chance that people (try to) interrupt you.

This should never happen.

If you see that somebody tries to ask a question during your pitch, acknowledge his question with a slight hand movement. This way you let him know that you saw his question and that you will be answering later.

In the case that somebody interrupts your pitch with a comment or a question, you should quickly take back control of the situation. You simply say:

‘Thank you, I will come back to that later’

After saying this you directly continue with the rest of your pitch. This way you don’t give him the opportunity to continue with his interruption.

 

Conclusion

All your preparations have built a steady foundation for your pitch.

By using these 5 steps you leave no room for blackouts, interruptions or other external errors.

Practice these 5 steps during your rehearsal pitch in front of friends or family. This way you are prepared for every situation, which results into the perfect pitch!

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