Pitching is one of the first thing that should be taught to any one of us for the earliest possible age. By pitching I mean the ability to clearly and concisely present ourselves, an idea, a business proposition, a problem.
When you’re able to express your message with clarity and authority, you’ll no longer worry about pitching and will instead be excited about sharing your business concept.
Many of our human interactions are ruined by a lack of communication, often quite unwittingly so. We turn things over and over in our thoughts which become so crystallised that we give a lot of granted, we forget that our listeners are not mind readers, they’re not able to grasp the meaning of our few words, see our beliefs and values. If we can’t express our message, even if we are the brightest person around, the inability to engage with the listeners will spell disaster. As an entrepreneur, you’ll use your pitch skills to hire the right members for your team, to speak with your counterparts, and of course, to pitch to your investors. The first major pitch skill is not so hard. It’s about you being able to introduce yourself memorably in an authentic, lively and fun way, so that you can make an immediately good impression, so much so, people will want to keep interacting with you. With that in mind, this skill will always be useful for the three tenets of pitching you’ll need to be at ease with throughout your professional life:
- The social pitch – also known as “the elevator pitch”, you’ll have roughly between 45 and 60 seconds to make a favourable impression. Don’t be bashful, but don’t be the know-it-all, just try to make a true and deep human connection.
- The semi-scheduled pitch – longer than above, between 5-10 minutes and usually employed as the first approach to any potential investor, or counterpart.
- The fully-scheduled pitch – full length and can range from a short 30-minute feature to the cinematic epic lasting up to 5 hours. It’s thorough, it’s filled with detail and it’s the undivided opportunity to speak about every aspect of your product. If that sounds daunting, many of us do this quite naturally when we’re trying to impress that person who then becomes our new life partner. No matter what the context, you’re using the occasion to prove your worth to another party.