Pitching Techniques

Pitching your business is an essential skill to master in order to grow your business. And, if you want to grow your business, you must be able to pitch it successfully. The way you say things is as important as what you actually say – and could mean the difference between attaining the investment needed – or being turned away. No matter the result, every opportunity to pitch is an opportunity to get better…

There is an erroneous view held by many that there isn’t sufficient finance available for entrepreneurs in South Africa. I have stated the following before, and I will state it again: there is more money chasing good businesses, than there are good businesses chasing money. I’ve witnessed many entrepreneurs make fatal mistakes when pitching to potential funders, based on a lack of knowledge, or by trying to…

Far too often, I’ve witnessed entrepreneurs make terrible mistakes when pitching to potential funders. This is my second pitching tip in a series of twelve that you – as an entrepreneur – need to implement in order to improve your business pitch to potential funders, as well as some of the pitfalls you should avoid. When pitching to a venture capitalist, be open to taking part in a dialogue about your…

Business ideas and concepts are a dime a dozen – you probably came up with two in the shower this morning. Too often during a pitch, I’ve witnessed entrepreneurs focusing intensively on selling their ideas, the fantastic market opportunities, as well as all of the profits they will be making. They pitch their ideas as being the “hero” – the be-all and end-all of why the investor should invest. However, there is too often little or no…

No product or service will ever live in a state that’s free from competition. Whether it’s direct or indirect competition, whether it’s competition for your wallet or competition for your attention, all of your products and services will compete. My fourth pitching tip is consider who your current competitors are, and who your future competitors might be. No matter how differentiated you think your product or…

Once your initial pitch to potential investors is concluded, you will invariably move on to talking them through a detailed three- to five-year forecast of your business’s income and expenses. Upon receiving a breakdown of your financials, seasoned investors will first look at the bottom line of your income statement, and then immediately thereafter at the remuneration line. My fifth pitching tip is don’t…

The saying that “all money has the same smell” is often used to describe the fact that it doesn’t matter whether money comes from source A or source B because, at the end of the day, it has the same value. Nothing could be further from the truth when you, as an entrepreneur, are looking for an investor. My sixth pitching tip is you need to do adequate research before approaching investors. I can’t emphasise…

Stop using “maybe”, “could be” or “approximately” in your pitch … My seventh pitching tip is one that many entrepreneurs are unaware of, and it is often the deal breaker that makes or breaks their pitch to potential investors. Despite what you may think, when you pitch your idea to an investor, they are not only listening to the content of the information that you are presenting to them. They are also listening…

One of the objectives that entrepreneurs try to achieve when pitching to potential investors, and one I’ve witnessed on many occasions, selling investors the concept of a rosy future. Entrepreneurs do this by attempting to demonstrate the market size of their idea by outlining their vision, and relating it to other tangible examples of organisations that have achieved similar outcomes to their vision. As part…

Is simpler better? In my experience, passionate entrepreneurs are highly intimate with their business ideas. They have done all their research well in advance, have a good understanding of the market opportunity, and know how their product or service will fulfil the need or want that they perceive in the market. When these passionate entrepreneurs develop their solutions, the models become increasingly sophisticated…