What is a pitch?
A pitch is a short introduction of yourself, your services, or your company. The genesis of the idea came from the elevator pitch, e.g. 60-second speeches, which were to convince the management board or the president to hire someone or invest in his idea.
Why so much time? The concept assumes that this is how much time we have from the ground floor to the top floors in a skyscraper, where senior management usually has their offices.
Types of pitch
- Elevator pitch
- Investor pitches
- Pitch during networking
- Introducing yourself
Short forms can be used not only in a situation where we want the boss of a large company to invest a large sum in our start-up. More often than we think, these are everyday situations. During the interview, the following questions are asked: “tell us something about yourself” or “why should we hire you”? During business events or during social meetings, when we meet new people, we may hear the question “what do you do”, “what do you do professionally”? Instead of talking about yourself in a boring way, you can think of an interesting story from your life or a funny introduction.
How to present the pitch?
In addition to the substantive and well-thought-out content, we should take care of a few more elements. The elements that will help us strengthen and authenticate the message should be well-rehearsed:
- Body language
- The tone of the voice
- Stress management
- Eye contact
- Gestures-> how to naturally gesticulate
- Elements of storytelling in the story
How to write a pitch?
In my work with clients, I use the principle that the shorter the presentation, the longer the preparation time. During an hour and a half lecture, deviating from the plot or telling more about something does not make much difference. In the event of a minute-long speech, each word is worth its weight in gold. Writing a pitch may seem simple, but summarizing your competencies or abilities in a few sentences can be a challenge. Before you start writing your pitch, check what elements it should contain, and also answer the question: “what is the purpose of this pitch?”
What should the pitch include?
- A problem that you or your company is solving
- Showing the unique value of your product or service
- Enter/call to action
- Explain what you do in a simple and understandable way
- A script tailored to your target group and meeting their needs
In the case of my activity, i.e. training and coaching of public speaking, I could present myself as follows:
My name is Magda. I help people who perform in public do it with pleasure and without stress. Thanks to many years of stage experience, psychological and business knowledge, I combine practice with theory and provide original methods and approaches to the client. How do you deal with public speaking?
