Pitch Like a Pro With These 5 Steps

No matter how much you’ve prepared to present your big idea, you’re unlikely to close the deal if you haven’t considered every person at the table. Maybe you think your idea can make your client or client successful. But it is not enough to believe in it.

The trick is to help they believe in it too Every part of your presentation should point towards the strategy and be aimed at showing them a desirable future vision of success. Today I present to you my winning strategy for knowing who is in the room and how:

With just a little effort, you can master these tips for selling your ideas and presenting with confidence to turn every person at the table into a believer. Ready? Let’s do this.

Related: The Secret to Presenting Your Business Plan in Just 10 Minutes

1. The five archetypes: knowing who is in the room

When teams come together to make a decision, each person comes with different motivations, interests, responsibilities, and decision-making power. They may even have wildly divergent ideas about what exactly is at stake. This can make decision making more difficult, especially if you’re an outsider trying to sell them a great idea. This makes it critical to know who you are pitching to.

Now, I will introduce the five archetypes. You might not have every one of these archetypes represented in the table, or you might have multiple people with the same archetype. Regardless, keep these archetypes in mind as you learn about your audience:

• The decision maker: This person is responsible for making the final decision and holding others accountable. Sometimes you will have two Deciders at the table.

• The money: This is the person with the largest financial stake in the brand, usually the CFO, but sometimes an investor or board member. For smaller projects, the Money is often a manager or vice president who handles profit and loss.

• The dissident: The Dissident comes with a point of view that conflicts with the team’s prevailing perspective. Its value is to help prevent groupthink, so make sure you have a dissenter in the room…but just one! Any more than that, and they can quickly distract the goal team.

• Individual responsible: This is the person in charge of managing the brand on a day-to-day basis. The responsible individual has invaluable knowledge of operations, capabilities, opportunities and weaknesses.

• The builder: The Builder is the interested party that usually has to live with the consequences of a decision. They are detail-oriented and have a strong interest in ensuring that decisions are practical, sustainable and realistic.

2. Turn opponents into defenders

Among the five archetypes, you’ll have different people who act as defenders, barriers, and everything in between.

lawyers they are fantastic They believe in you and want to work with you. They are probably the reason you entered the room in the first place. But you will also have barriers and opposition:

• A person who acts as a barrier has a specific need or problem that needs to be solved in order to become an advocate.

• Those who act as opposition they are in conflict with you, because they favor a different solution (which could very well be theirs own solution).

So how do you turn people who pose as barriers and opposition into advocates?

• Know your barriers head on: Connect with them one-on-one to explore how your idea can meet their unique need. The more clearly you articulate your idea how theirs solution, the better your chances of turning them into a defender.

• Make the opposition the hero: Just like you did with your barrier, find your opposition one by one, finding a way to make them the hero. Take a piece of your idea and make it theirs, so they can feel like they’re the ones helping you move your solution forward.

Related: The Fine Art of Client Pitching

3. Negotiate a win for the room

The best negotiators ensure that each person leaves the table feeling like a winner. But not everyone experiences a victory in the same way. Here are two approaches to consider:

• win lose: Some people need to feel like they’ve won and you’ve lost. If you find yourself in this space, prepare by having something in mind that you can “give up” or “give up.”

• Win-win: Others thrive when there is a win on their side and a win on your side. They get excited about the partnership and see you as part of their internal team. Find ways to turn a win for one side into a win for all.

4. Ask better questions

Make sure you ask questions that delve into the organization’s functions. Sure, they may not be immediately relevant to the project, but by doing so, you position yourself as the expert who is already thinking one step ahead. Also, asking questions that don’t have immediate answers creates a greater sense of experience.

Related: 4 Simple Throw Ideas to Capture the Attention of a Room

5. Define clear next steps

Leave no room for ambiguity. Make sure there is a clear path. Identify not only your next steps, but theirs as well. Clarify what your follow-up will look like and provide a clear schedule for when you’ll check in next.

We summarize these five tips for selling and pitching your ideas to land your next deal:

1. Talk to the five archetypes in the room.

2. Turn barriers and opposition into advocates.

3. Negotiate the right kind of win for those at the table.

4. Ask better questions to show your expertise.

5. Define clear next steps.