There's a more effective way to pitch your ideas to business and technology decision makers at your small or midsize business, says this IT entrepreneur. It all begins with casting your presentation as a conversation, with the pitch as the midpoint rather than the end game
If you're human and in business, some of the skeletons in your closet belong to the bones of initiatives and projects you fought for but which died a bloody and mysterious death. In my writer's eye, you're half reading this, half zoned out, flashing back to a truly brilliant job done by yourself, a colleague, or a team pitching a rock-solid project that never got off the starting block.
My purpose here is to reach out to IT leaders, IT managers, and other individuals seeking to effectively advocate for something (anything) to leadership higher than themselves in the form of a pitch. I'm assuming two things. First, you know the technical (i.e. practical, procedural) workings of your project or subject inside out. Second, you can effectively communicate that much in presentations.
This article isn't a slide deck recipe of the critical elements of business pitches. Instead, I ask you to think with me about the critical context issues that affect pitch success, while I provide objective thinking points for action and improvement.
In short, I'm working from the basis of four key points:
- Pitches are nothing more than the midpoint in a larger conversation
- Assuming the perspective of the audience is critical
- Focusing on the larger conversation will help align your perspective with your audience and tune your approach, greatly improving your odds of success
- Most presenters do not master this
Take a lesson from the world of venture capital. Attend enough events and you'll hear the same company present again and again but the story tends to change over time, even if the company does not. Why?
Successful entrepreneurs voraciously seek feedback, coaching, and more chances, striving to get out of their heads and into the minds of investors a little more each time. Admittedly, startups have something pitchers within corporations usually don't: Second, third, and even twentieth chances to pitch, as well as alternative sources of funding. But two lessons remain: Those that succeed see their pitches as part of a conversation, and they shift their perspective.
To understand how these points work together, let's look more closely at the three phases of the conversation: the preparation, the pitch, and the follow-up.
Next Page: Step 1: The Preparation
