Learn to pitch with a clear call-to-action
I just recently crafted my best pitch ever. I was passionate and really showed my listener that I believed in my idea. He was really interested in my idea throughout my entire pitch, but after I was finished, nothing happened. Nothing. Quite naively, I had hoped that he would yell “AWESOME! Give me 100 of ’em!”. But he just smiled and said my idea sounded exciting. What did I do wrong?
It took me multiple, failed attempts before I figured out that I kept forgetting a call-to-action that underlined what I wanted him to do. A call-to-action is a request and a concrete appeal to do something. For example, this could be to invite the listener to buy your product, invest or help you further. Without a clearly defined call-to-action, you end up pitching without reaching your goal.
Define your goal before you write your pitch
Before you write your pitch, you need to make it crystal clear what it is precisely that you want to achieve – and why you actually are pitching? Do you wish to inform, convince, inspire, sell or something more? If you haven’t made this up with yourself before you craft your pitch, you can easily end up with your pitch pointing in all directions. The result of this is that your listener misunderstands your message or your intentions and reacts directly opposite of what you wished for, just like what happened to me. To avoid this, you need to ask yourself the following questions before you write your pitch: “Why is it really that I’m pitching? What is it that I am asking for?” Do you want an o.k to send a proposal, a meeting or funds? Write down your answers on a piece of paper and keep it close by while you write your pitch. In that way, you always have your goal in mind all the way through the writing process. When finishing off your pitch, you have to insert a clear call-to-action. At the end of your pitch, the listener is more open to listen to your requests and act accordingly.
Did you remember your goal?
When you’ve written your pitch then take a look at the paper you just earlier. Does the pitch support your goal? Is it clear what you wish for the listener to do? If not, then try to work with your articulations so it becomes clearer what your goal and your call-to-action is. No place for doubt should be left. Also consider if you should put extra emphasis on some of the words when you pronounce them, in order to make your call-to-action even more clear.
Lastly, I recommend that you pitch a friend, your parents or a partner. When you’ve pitched, ask about what he thought you goal was with pitching. If it’s not obvious to him then it’s back to the drawing board and work more on making your goal and call-to-action clearer. You have to remember, that if you close and goal aren’t sharp enough then your pitch isn’t effective enough as well and you won’t get what you deserve from your hard efforts.
You can craft and practice your elevator pitch at pitcherific.com.
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