First Steps to Pitch Perfection

Perfecting Your Sales Pitch

I did not ever see myself quoting Anna Geary as she is not a person I would come into contact within my business life. Yet, her advice in a recent Sunday Independent – Life magazine was the advice I find myself giving to clients in a completely different scenario.

“Strive for progress, not Perfection.”
“Perfection is exhausting and doesn’t exist. Focus on little milestones, not the end result. Today, is the moment, rate your well-being from one to 10 and decide to go up by just one number. That’s enough.”
Anna Geary, 2021

My experience:

I recently discussed, with a team of account executives, the introductory conversation which I believe they should have with new prospects when connecting for their first online meeting.

First meeting:

Tell your story with the support of a small number of slides, which will both inform the prospect and keep the presenter on track.

The strive for Perfection:

When I introduced my proposed pitch, what happened next is what always happens, the attempt to seek perfection too soon.

Should we add or take away a slide?
Is the image too dark?
Do we need to add more slides?
The font is wrong.
Should we move slide 4 to slide 7?

My Advice:

Having spent a lot of time getting to the first draft of this introductory pitch conversation, my advice was, why not try it out.
Test the waters in a role-play situation with the team, then with some prospects before attempting to reach perfection?

Build Trust:

In the first meeting, it’s critical to build relationships and trust; this is done when engaging in conversation with your audience.

Ask yourself, who does most of the talking when you engage with the prospect? If it’s you, you miss out on an opportunity to find out about the prospect and their key issues.

People do not buy slides; they buy you!

Spending more time improving your story will lead to more significant progress long term.

Do you have first meeting tips you would like to share with me and my community?

By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie