+ + +

But crafting that pitch proved harder
than expected. “I’d never had to distill an
entire brand concept down to a few minutes
in front of a client. It was an entirely
new arena of communication,” she says.
Casual surfers might be pulled in by the
mission statement—“The Financial Diet
is a blog about the luxury of spending
less”—but potential partners would need
more. They’d wonder how The Financial
Diet was different, and why Fagan should
be the one to crack the mystery of how to
reach underpaid, underemployed, overly
indebted Millennials with usable financial
insights. She needed to deliver these
answers concisely, and with confidence.
Even if you aren’t looking for sponsors,
the challenge remains the same. When
startups attend pitch days in front of
prospective investors, there is a formulaic
approach to the ask. While you may not
need to adhere to a script for a slide deck,
a solid three-minute pitch can help you
attract vendors and suppliers, woo landlords
and advertisers, recruit employees,
and win over other advocates. And, yes,
maybe even investors someday (at which
point you’ll revisit that pitch deck).
Follow these three basic principles
to frame your pitch and easily adapt it
in the moment.
GET THEIR ATTENTION
A three-minute pitch isn’t just an
expanded mission statement or the
“About” section of your website. It
Outline for the 3-minute pitch
1. Introduce yourself, with a summary of your experience and qualifications.
2. Profile the market need you have identified.
3. Explain why you and your company are uniquely suited to fill that niche.
4. Explain the “What’s in it for me?” relevance for your specific audience.
5. Ask to continue the conversation.
is a short opener that tells what your
company does, why it’s unique and how
it serves your customers. Your goal is to
encourage your audience to want to hear
more. When they’re interested, you have
won permission to tell them additional
details about your company that might
intrigue them, be it the underlying technology
or the potential financial return.
That’s how and why you need to customize
this template for each audience and for
each occasion.
At the most basic level, you should explain
your concept, your target audience
and how your idea solves a problem. Vendors,
suppliers and investors will want to
know more about the potential market;
customers and prospective partners will
want to know more about the product.
You can start by pulling winning
metaphors, terminology, phrases and
examples from existing materials: both
short and snappy (e.g., your elevator pitch
or tagline) and long and leisurely (case
studies and market research).
Take that cherry-picked material and
organize it into three parts: an opener, an
explanation of what your company does,
and a very short story or technical detail
designed specifically to invite your audience
to pick up the conversational ball.
This is how PerryCrabb, an Atlantabased
company that sells complex
engineering services (mainly to healthcare
systems), operates.
“I’m not a salesman,” CEO Jim Crabb
admits. For help honing his company
pitch, he turned to Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
of bbr marketing, also based in Atlanta.
Crabb knew that his company’s
engineering case studies were too
technical, and the copy on the website’s
homepage too general, to be incorporated
into a pitch. Ruszczyk helped him find
the sweet spot of being specific without
plunging into too many technical details
and being engaging without making
sweeping statements.
“Don’t just say, ‘We improve lives,’”
Ruszczyk says. “It’s important to convey
what you actually do. But then segue in a
way that is relevant to that audience.”
An opener that resonates and conveys
personality is especially important. “The
first line is essential—‘We are an engineering
firm in the business of healthcare,’”
Crabb says. “That gets us out of
geekdom and says that I’m comfortable
Anatomy
of a
pitch
Angie Allison of Bellies
and Babies worked with
marketing consultant Megy
Karydes to come up with a
snappy opener to pitch her
wellness service to potential
licensors or franchisees:
“Bellies and Babies
simplifies the business of
simplifying life for moms.”
THE AUDIENCE: Women who are intrigued by a business that helps other women, and healthcare
practitioners who want to add lifestyle services to their practices.
HOW THE PITCH ADDRESSES THEM: Those who wish to own a Bellies and Babies location are
most interested in the fast start Allison provides through management training, marketing support
and consulting for finding qualified staff. For health practitioners looking for add-ons for their
practices, the pitch is that Bellies and Babies’ services can expand existing client relationships.
THE PITCH: “Our wellness services, such as therapeutic massage and yoga, help moms with the
physical ailments of pregnancy and being a new mom, and help moms stay healthy. If you’re a
mom, partnering with us lets you turn your experience into a successful business for other moms. If
you’re already a wellness or medical practitioner, partnering with us enables you to expand into this
wellness category. We not only provide the tools for this business model, but I come to your location
and help you hire and train the right team to provide the customer experience. We’ve gone through
the marketing learning curve so you don’t have to, with marketing through the two proven modes
of winning clients: social media and referrals from medical practitioners. That’s what we’re about. If
you also are about wellness for new moms, let’s set up a time to talk.”
WHY IT WORKS: Allison provides specific examples of the services Bellies and Babies provides.
These are translated into an action plan with the explanation that Allison will be on-site to coach
partners as they open their own location. Two examples of marketing techniques—social media and
referrals—build the claim of expertise.
THE KICKER: The pitch ends with an invitation to continue the conversation.
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK/VALIK
74 ENTREPRENEUR MARCH 2015