Mastering the Pitch By Justin Davies Vice President Marketing / Sales

The 5 Keys Know your solution and be able to express its value succinctly Understand how your prospect buys Influence the decision makers thinking Build the compelling presentation and over practice - you have 10 minutes to change the world Creating the compelling conclusion If you are pitching for capital the same thinking applies

Key 1: Desire Creates the Power Develop the compelling proposition and vision Features, advantage and benefits Analyse your market Answer the question… “why is your solution the best solution?” ….in a single sentence “A is the B that does C for me”

Proposition and Features GoPC uses a new generation technology called “Cloud Computing” to provide a fully functional web based PC desktop with standard desktop applications, data storage and security - without the need for hardware GoPC has the desktop and applications to rival Microsoft the delivery mechanism to rival Google Apps the online storage to rival X-drive.... and runs 500x times faster. Features Looks like a Windows desktop with users, applications and data Supports common file formats of Microsoft Office and others Nothing is stored on the local machine. No setup costs or logistics issues Access your desktop from any PC whether at uni or from home privately and securely Collaborate across class groups with lecturer participation Content can be restricted through University firewalls You can try it for free

Kevin 07 meet GoPC

Key 2: Understand how your client buys Are there investment thresholds eg. >$250k... What are the investment criteria? Customers? Cashflow? Green benfit? Social benefit? Is a proof of concept a good way to start (may be paid for…) Is a business case required? Who will drive procurement? Who will be involved in the decision?

Key 3: Influence the Decision Maker’s thinking You must map the decision makers, the people that influence them and understand the people that are affected within the client Friendly ear – gives you the inside information Decision makers: The Person in Pain The Person in Power The Person with money The Technical Advisor They comprise the decision committee

The Person in Pain Person that will be positively impacted by the technology Explain the impacts Show the product in action Make the intangible tangible

The Person in Power Will have more strategic perspective Will also have a good sense of how to make this work and potential pitfalls You may not meet them until your final pitch You can only build rapport during the presentation They assess whether their “Person in Pain” trusts you

Technical Advisor Looks for traps Rarely has power to say yes Definitely has power to say no Needs to understand technical environment fit, business risks, and support requirements Sometimes has vested interests

The Person with Money Return on Investment (ROI) critical May use unique measure or series of measures to work this out Needs to understand assumptions upon which you base your figures Intangibles are often considered worthless in a business case

Key 4: Building the compelling presentation Tell them what you are going to tell them Brief summary of benefits Agenda Timing Tell them Tell them what you told them Brief summary Recap the most compelling points What specifically do you want them to do next?

The 3 Big Questions Why this? Why you? Why now?

Agenda for gopc pitch Set the scene Cloud Computing is on everyone’s lips - it is the next BIG thing Product demo - they must “get it” very quickly Any more than two minutes on the product and you are dead Markets Maturity (risks removed) The deal About 12 to 15 minutes for the above Question time is where you get engagement

Using Presentation Tools Inexperienced presenters often rely too much on their presentation software. They stand and read their slides, with their backs to you, and forget their head is not made of glass. People read at around 300 to 400 words per minute on average. A good speed for a presenter to talk is 120 words per minute. Therefore on average your audience can read three times faster than you can speak. This means by now you will have read to the bottom of this slide and are waiting for me to hurry up and finish reading it. You are also quite worried that the rest of the presentation is going to go like this. A better way is to talk about the issues that each slide addresses and use the slide to bring together a summary of the key points. You might be simply addressing each point in more depth than you have on the slide. If you illustrate a concept with a diagram so much the better.

Dealing with questions Hold them until the end If they insist, acknowledge the issue, write the question down and ask if you can hold it to the end If they really insist, stop and deal with it

Over practice Success before work only occurs in the dictionary Practice your presentation, handovers between speakers, answering questions, role playing Get someone to play devil’s advocate and ask you hard questions Practice negotiating to a deal

Key 5: Compelling Conclusion The key, most important benefits Align to corporate strategy Make reference points for each buyer Summarise ROI

“ Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined….” Leo Rosten Thank you...and go get ‘em! Justin Davies Blog: gopc.net