9 Ways to End a Sales Pitch
- Bring it full circle. Begin with an anecdote, analogy, case study, or thought-provoking idea, such as:
- Challenge your audience.
- Extend an invitation.
- Use repetition.
- Offer some inspiration or motivational words.
- Surface objections.
- Tell a story.
- Ask an unusual question.
10 Things to Include in Your Startup Pitch Presentation
- Cover Page. The cover page should have your logo, business name and a tagline.
- Summary. Summarize all of the information before you present it, and use this opportunity to get your audience interested in your company.
- Team.
- Problem.
- Solution.
- Marketing/Sales.
- Projections or Milestones.
- Competition.
The Right Presentation
The ground rules for an investor presentation are simple: Length – Unless there is a really good reason, an investor presentation shouldn't exceed 25 slides and fewer than 20 is much better. Therefore, you'll have to build a greatest hits of your business and not fact your audience to death.Your business pitch might include the following:
- Industry analysis.
- Customer needs.
- Marketing strategy.
- Business model.
- Overview of the competition.
- Risks.
- Implementation plan.
- Financial projection.
A good pitch tells a story. A good pitch focuses on benefits. Value beats price every single time. Rather than focus on cost or features, your pitch needs to focus on the value you're going to create for the person you're pitching.
Start your pitch with a question for the listener
- Raise your own hand when you say the words 'raise your hand'. This way the audience directly understands what is expected of him.
- After your asked the question and the audience replied with their hands, continue your pitch with a small increase in volume.
Here are the fundamental ways you can be prepared to pitch your idea and yourself to investors.
- GET YOUR IDEA ON PAPER.
- CREATE A PITCH DECK.
- CREATE A SITE AND DOMAIN.
- BASIC BRANDING.
- CREATE A BLUEPRINT AND PROTOTYPE.
- NARROW DOWN POTENTIAL INVESTORS.
Pitching is an opportunity to introduce your business idea in a limited amount time – from a fews seconds to a few minutes. You can use a presentation to underline your speech or just do it orally. The main goal of a pitch is to gain new customers, investors or stakeholders to support your business.
How to prepare a pitch for angel investors
- Start with yourself. Ask any investor and they will tell you that they invest in the team behind a company as much as the business idea itself, if not more so.
- Focus on the business opportunity.
- Numbers speak louder than words.
- You present through your delivery, not just your deck.
- Prioritise the human connection.
So, as you put together your business presentation, here are five tips to keep in mind.
- Tell a Story. No, your business presentation doesn't have to be a work of fiction.
- Keep it Simple. Don't overwhelm the audience with a lot of points.
- Know Your Stuff.
- Speak Naturally.
- Don't Put Everything on the Slides.
You might already be familiar with the 6×6 rule. This presentation rule suggests that you should include no more than six words per line and no more than six bullet points per slide. The goal is to keep your slide from being so dense and packed with information that people don't want to look at it.
According to the 10/20/30 rule, …a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.
Here are a few opportunities to consider:
- U. Pitch | Future Founders (requires in-person pitch for finalists)
- Angels Den: Angel-led Investing.
- Invention Ideas for New Products.
- The Invention Platform.
- Wefunder – Invest in Startups You Love.
- Online investing, equity crowdfunding, business finance : Crowdcube.
Perfecting Your 5 Minute Pitch
- Slide 1: The Intro Slide. First take a moment to introduce yourself and your company.
- Slide 2: Big Problem. What's the big problem you're solving and why should your audience care?
- Slide 3: Solution.
- Slide 4: Traction.
- Slide 5: Market Opportunity.
- Slide 6: Competitive Edge.
- Slide 7: Team.
How to Write a Pitch
- Introduce your story idea and define your angle.
- Explain why your idea is timely, unique, important, and/or of interest to Generation Progress readers.
- Estimate a deadline for your piece.
- Include your phone number and email address.
- You can also attach clips and/or writing samples to demonstrate your experience.
Here are 5 steps to ensure you've done everything you can to win your pitch:
- 1) Turn your focus 180° Rather than thinking about everything you want your prospect to know, think about them.
- 2) Back it up with a story.
- 3) Make your slides visual aids for your audience.
- 4) Speak their language.
- 5) Practice out loud.
So a "pitch deck" is synonymous with a "pitch presentation." The origin probably has to do with the thick stack of papers (or translucent slides) that would be the ultimate end product back before the days of PowerPoint.
- Part 1: Introduction. Make investors sit straight in their chairs and start paying attention.
- Title Page.
- Problem.
- Show them what you've got.
- Show them who wants it.
- Business Model.
- Talk about the competition.
- Talk about why you're better than the competition.
A pitch deck should be no longer than 20 slides in length. Ideally, you should be as concise as possible. 10 slides are even better, as long as you aren't overcrowding your pitch deck. Less than 10 slides would tend to suggest that your pitch is underdeveloped.
Investors will expect to see your financials: sales forecast, income statement (also called profit and loss statement), and cash flow forecast for at least three years. But, for your pitch deck, you shouldn't have in-depth spreadsheets that will be difficult to read and consume in a presentation format.
