4. Follow the Money

“So...?”

The infamous Watergate affair—captured so effectively in All the President’s Men, the 1974 bestselling book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and the 1976 film version starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the reporters—produced many memorable phrases that have worked their way into our culture. One of the most enduring was the line spoken by the clandestine informer, “Deep Throat,” who advised Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein to “follow the money.”

Presenters can follow the same advice in their pitches. However, in their eagerness to load up their stories with features, and their even greater eagerness to get back to their seats, presenters often neglect to provide a benefit to their audiences. In the process, they lose the money trail.

In Presenting to Win, I provided an illustration that bears referencing here. A start-up company seeking financing asked me to coach their pitch to a venture capital firm. During the presentation, the CEO presented a slide listing the benefits of his company’s product line. After he discussed each of them, he summarized by saying, “You can see that our products provide a rich set of benefits to our customers.”

I said, “So...?”

The CEO smiled and added, “These benefits bring our company repeat business, repeat business brings us recurring revenues, and recurring revenues grow shareholder value.”

Those were benefits for the venture capitalists. That’s following the money.

Another illustration: Karen Wespi, a sales manager for Maxim Integrated, a company that designs and markets analog and mixed signal semiconductors, participated in a program to develop a pitch to sell Maxim’s products to a large computer manufacturer. During her presentation, Ms. Wespi presented a slide listing the many features of the company’s product line, discussed each of them in detail, and then summarized by saying, “So you can see that Maxim’s products provide the best technology with the most bang for the buck.”

I said, “So...?”

Ms. Wespi then added, “Maxim’s integrated solutions will enable you to add greater performance to your computers, bring them to market faster, and give you an advantage over your competitors.”

She gave the benefits for the computer manufacturer. That’s following the money.

In developing your presentation, repeatedly ask yourself the “So...?” question. Put yourself in place of the start-up CEO or Ms. Wespi; or put your audience in place of the venture capital firm or computer manufacturers, or any audience. When you go on to provide the answer to that question, you’ll take a step forward on the money trail.

Deep Throat had it right: Follow the money.