CHAPTER 10
PITCHING YOUR PLAN
‘There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?’
Woody Allen
In this chapter:
You have a plan. It is clear, crisp, concise, consistent, coherent, credible and convincing. It sails the Seven Cs. Job done?
Not quite. Now you need to sell it.
This should be the easy part. After all, the plan has been written from the perspective of the backer. So, all you need to do is stick it in the backer’s lap and, hey presto, it’s a yes?
In theory, perhaps. In practice, the process can be greatly facilitated if you do some modest selling.
The place to do that is in the pitch. And the first thing to remember about a pitch is that it is but one form of public speaking.
Public speaking at its most extreme is standing on a soapbox at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London, and spouting fervently about whatever it is that fires you up. Or picture David Lloyd George addressing the multitude, in his frock coat, winged collar and flowing white locks, mesmerising his flock with Celtic passion and oratory.
At its other extreme, public speaking is communicating one on one, namely conversing. Somewhere in the middle is standing on your feet and addressing an audience of three, four or even a dozen on the merits of your business plan.
That means that you need to follow some basic guidelines of public speaking for your pitch. I have written a whole book on this, one designed as much to entertain as inform,* but let me summarise below its key points as they relate to the pitch.