Pitch Perfect

Tony DeSantis

In business, big or small, it all comes down to the bottom line. Does the client want to buy your products or services? Does the boss approve your budget? Does the investor believe in your dream? Have you sold them?

Success or failure depends on how well you present your case. After more than 40 years in business, involved in presentations to individual consumers and multibillion-dollar-operation leaders, I’ve learned that, all too often, people don’t know how to maximize their chances of getting to a “yes.”

Whether it’s a homeowner at their kitchen table or an executive in their C-suite office, they have only so much time for you and, increasingly, a limited attention span. They want you to get to the point. They have four essential questions you need to answer:

• What do you want?
• What are you going to do?
• What’s in it for them (and when)?
• What’s the bottom line?

You need to be able to answer these questions clearly, succinctly and early in any presentation. Stated simply, you just have to get to the point. Be sure to summarize your recommendations or “ask” in the first couple of minutes, and in three or four pages at the most. Have a summary page early in your presentation deck—“Here’s what I am going to discuss with you”—so people know where you are going and you can spend the rest of your time answering any questions they may have.

Contrary to popular thinking, giving someone a 30-page document and then leading them through it page by page to the end isn’t likely to impress them. You don’t need to go over every word. Depending on your audience, it’s likely to either intimidate someone (“This is overwhelming!”) or irritate them (“Just get to the point!”).

It’s not that you don’t need to have the details. It’s about when to share them. Some might think they need to lay out all the facts that lead them to the proposal they are making first because it shows that they have done their due diligence and have proven their credentials. Not so.

Remember, if you have an appointment where you are expected to provide your recommendations for a course of action, or your “ask,” the person you are meeting with already has a measure of confidence that you know what you’re talking about, or you wouldn’t have gotten to schedule that meeting.

So, you don’t need to spend a lot of time building your case step by step. Rather, you need to be clear and direct about your recommended course of action. Instead of presenting all the details behind your pitch up front as a lead-up to making it, you give them the headlines—the money slide—and then provide the supporting facts as needed afterward to expand on and explain your reasoning. And you can always include an addendum you can refer people to, if you feel it’s important to reinforce a key point in your presentation.

A good pitch isn’t only about the bottom line, however. It’s also about the big picture. In addition to clearly presenting the essential facts, you need to provide a compelling narrative. They need not only to see the benefit but to believe in the result. This means that the details you deliver are part of a broader story: for example, that policy premium you’re suggesting isn’t just a budget item but an embodiment of someone’s family values and principles. In recommending your client choose a certain course of action, you’re not just saving them money by bundling coverage, perhaps, or increasing their life insurance coverage, maybe; you’re helping them provide better for their loved ones. This is the “why” behind the “what.”

Think smartphone

If presenting a good deck is so central to business of any kind, you might wonder why it’s often handled so ineffectively. It’s a fair question. It’s not that people aren’t aware of the issue—nor that they don’t try to prepare team members for the task. There are all kinds of corporate training programs out there—and to be fair, some of them are quite good.

But they have some limitations. First, by their very nature, they tend to reduce everything to a formula. And while there are, of course, some essentials that need to be addressed, there are no cookie-cutter scenarios. Every interaction is a little bit different because people are different. You need to know your audience and customize your approach accordingly.

Many times, there is the temptation to rely on technology to do more than it really can or should. It’s important to have good, clear visuals—something that is both appealing and easy to follow. The danger is that you can try to be too clever. Too many bells and whistles are distracting and confusing. It’s also important that whatever you present should be suitable for viewing on a smartphone, as so much more digital business is done there these days. What looks good on a giant screen may not translate so well to your phone.

At the end of the day, it’s what is in your proposal that is going to matter, not how bright and shiny it looks. There has to be enough sizzle to be appealing, but the steak has to be tasty! It’s a matter of substance over style.

Be vulnerable

The COVID-19 pandemic only heightened the need for a good deck because it further popularized the virtual meeting. Even though we have largely returned to in-person work life, many people still prefer to connect remotely because it saves travel time (and you don’t have to wear dress pants if you’re seated behind a desk). However, you lose a lot of personal connectivity when you are not in the same room with someone.

It’s not as easy to read their body language. And it is difficult to keep their attention. Let’s be honest: We have all probably been on a Zoom call sometime when we were diverted by something that was on our desk or maybe on our second computer screen. Outside distractions are a common road bump in our ultra-connected world. I remember being in a boardroom with some colleagues when one of them started doing a crossword because the person on the screen we were connected to lost their interest.

Virtual appointment distractions aren’t the only thing that can negatively impact your pitch. Despite preparing as diligently as possible ahead of time, there’s always the possibility that you may be asked a question that isn’t covered in your presentation.

If that’s the case, don’t panic—but don’t prevaricate. If you don’t know the answer to something, admit it and say that you will find out as soon as possible and get back to them. Vulnerability is better than evasiveness. It all comes back to the relationship you have built with your client.

Build consensus

The kind of presentation skills I have been talking about here aren’t just important externally, when dealing with clients. They are also important internally, when you are focused on large-scale projects and team building within your organization.

For example, you’ve been tasked with leading a multidepartmental project for your company. Maybe the senior executives have decided it’s time to move their IT services to a new platform and you have been given the job of making it happen. Chances are, not everyone in the company is going to be enthusiastic about it.

Some departments may resent having to give some of their essential personnel to an initiative that seems only indirectly beneficial to them. To avoid having them drag their feet, you need to get their buy-in with a persuasive presentation that makes it clear why this project is good for them, too. You need to be able to present their bottom-line motivation. Maybe that’s milestone markers that measure progress on the project, so they can see there is movement toward the goal.

The most effective presentations don’t presume on someone’s time or their goodwill. They answer those same four questions the people you are sitting across from are asking, whether they are a client, a colleague, a boss or a potential investor.