How to pitch ideas successfully

¶ … Entrepreneur Gasca, Peter http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239666 How to pitch ideas successfully Pitching ideas is not always considered to fall under the rubric of sales, because it often entails communicating strategies within one's own company. However, pitching is a sales activity. It involves marketing a product or service to a potentially disinterested audience. In this article, the author discusses the difference between effective pitches and ineffective ones. Features of effective pitches include clarity, brevity, and focusing on the needs of the potential buyer or investor.

Just as with selling direct to consumer or business, pitching requires passion, teamwork, execution, and good ideas. According to Gasca, pitching also requires a good storyteller. The "problem, solution, plan" method of pitching has become boring and outmoded to most listeners, and is therefore bound to fail. Instead, the pitch should be encased in a powerful anecdote that lingers with the listeners. However, the author also points out that the story needs to be short. Along with stories, good pitches have passion.

The passion a person feels for his or her new idea is infectious. If a member of an organization is trying to pitch a new idea for restructuring the company, for instance, he or she needs to refrain from relying only on numbers and data. Relying on emotional content and passion helps to communicate the idea more effectively. Team and execution are also important features of a good pitch.

The pitch needs to introduce the team, discuss the team's background and experience, and talk about why the team is the best one for the job. Then, the pitch needs to discuss how the project will be executed. This can be accomplished by having the entire team present, or by integrating the team knowledge with storytelling. Finally, the pitch has to be based on a good idea. The pitch cannot be empty of content and only emotional. It does need to offer something of value to the audience.

Before pitching, the individual or team needs to think through their pitch and their idea. Practicing the pitch on friends or colleagues can be helpful. Opinion: What I liked most about this article was the emphasis on storytelling in effective pitching. A story uses symbols to convey key ideas, such as basic needs, wants, fears, and hopes. Through the story, the salesperson reaches across cultural and age barriers to discover exactly what the other person needs and how their product or service can fulfill that need.

Storytelling opens the emotional gateways to communication. However, it is also important to remember that numbers are important. Gasca downplays the importance of numbers because the author probably presumes that most pitches will be analytical and quantitative. Charts and other data are helpful, but they should not comprise the entire pitch. This.