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Using Emotions to Convince in Your Sales Pitches

Most presenters are concerned about how their audiences perceive them. They think that being formal will make them look professional, but they’re missing one key element in engaging audiences: emotion.

Since it links people together, your goal is to move them to action through their emotions.

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Presenting facts isn’t enough to successfully convey your message to your audience. You also have to meet their emotional needs to fully get their attention.

What They Show

What you project to your audience displays your true self.

Your personality plays a vital role in creating audience engagement. You can’t fully convince them to listen without catching their interest in some way.

While facts and figures are significant in any sales pitches or public speeches, how your audience feels still matters. According to Tony Carlson, “A memorable speech rests on the quality of the connection between the speaker and the audience.”

Consider these three facts when introducing your proposal:

1. Emotions Make Us Human

Whether you’re looking at your notes or making eye contact with your clients, make sure to relate to the audience at all times.

Build connection by making them feel that you, too, are a human being who can be happy, sad or serious.

2. Emotions Help Us Remember

Tell stories that appeal to their emotions. This makes them recall your message and encourages them to take action.

Share your own experiences or mention other examples that are related to your topic. Details become easier to remember through an emotional connection.

3. Emotions Inspire Us to Act

Once you get them to feel your emotions, convince them to take action.

If you introduce a certain issue that affects them, they’ll see a need to resolve it. Doing so motivates them to not just ignore it.

How to Display Emotions

When showing your emotions, use the right words, voice, body gestures and facial expression to balance the way you speak and act in front of a crowd.

Imagine yourself presenting with enthusiasm, yet with a neutral face and stiff posture. It’ll come across as unnatural and confusing.

A combination of these various factors reveals what you really feel inside. If you lack passion, or if you’re not in the mood, it’ll show.

1. Use Emotions Occasionally

Don’t overdo it. Be mindful when to stir your audience’s emotions to avoid losing your pitch’s impact.

Utilize emotions based on your topic. Learn how to insert these in-between your message’s section.

2. Combine Positive Emotions with Negative

Be dynamic in your pitch. Always follow negativity with positive mentions to establish a balance people’s emotions.

3. End on a Positive Note

Don’t assume that your audience will feel better without ending your pitch positively.

If you start giving your main points with an intention to make them feel bad, finish it with a positive assurance which helps them recall both you and your message.

Conclusion

Understanding how emotions are important in your pitch helps you use, handle and manage them accordingly.

This motivates your audience to listen, learn and recall your message even after your pitch.

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References

Carlson, Tony. The How of WOW: A Guide to Giving a Speech That Will Positively Blow ’em Away. New York: American Management Association, 2005. Print.
Davis, Keith. “Facts tell… emotions sell.” Easy Public Speaking. October 3, 2010. Accessed May 21, 2015. http://easypublicspeaking.co.uk/using-emotions-in-speeches-and-presentations

Adapting Elevator Pitches Into Your Sales Pitch

The idea of adapting a sales pitch into a 30-second elevator pitch is to deliver a clear and concise speech that makes a good impression in a short amount of time.

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When the elevator door opens and a potential client stands near you, you want to catch his attention and, hopefully, get his business card.

Stay ahead of the competition. Consider every pitch as the chance of a lifetime, so make a speech that sells more than it tells.

Here’s how you can plot your message similar to a well-crafted elevator pitch:

Establish Credibility

How can you earn someone’s trust in the span of an elevator ride?

The key is to establish credibility.

Reel your audience in at the very start and build a positive mental picture in their minds.

A short yet concise self-introduction makes you sound credible. According to presentation trainer Gavin Meikle, you can also literally walk the talk and exude credibility through confident body language.

Stating your specialization and longevity on the field, as well as your manner of speaking, are essential. Convince your audience that you’re worth listening to.

Build Curiosity

Eagle Venture CEO Mel Pirchesky’s famously quoted line summarizes the essence of an elevator pitch: “The objective of the first ten or fifteen seconds is to make your prospective investors want to listen to the next forty-five or fifty seconds differently, more intently than they would have otherwise.”

That’s why most elevator pitches build upon curiosity. They want to make the impression last until the last second.

Though short, elevator pitches shouldn’t reveal your entire offer right off the bat. It’s more of a prelude to the bigger pitch coming up once you’ve hooked your listener into paying attention.

For pitches, giving your audience a glimpse of your product’s benefits is great for hooking in a new lead. This suggests involvement and creates the right atmosphere for persuasion.

Express Spontaneity

Elevator speeches express spontaneity.

They sound like a story being told out of impulse, often in a conversational tone. This adds a greater sense of sincerity to your pitch.

When doing a sales pitch, avoid sounding like you’re reading a script.

Practice delivering your speech naturally while sharing your main idea and purpose. Asking a relatable question can also increase audience participation.

Summing It Up

Your sales pitch is your gateway for new leads. Craft an elevator pitch to hook your audience in the most concise and fastest manner possible.

Having problems creating pitch decks that sell? Contact pitchdeck.com and we’ll help you design a pitch deck presentation that gets you the sales you deserve!

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References

Cameron, Chris. “Going Up! How to Ride An Elevator Pitch to New Heights.” ReadWrite. January 11, 2010. Accessed July 01, 2015.
Meikle, Gavin. “How to Come Across as Credible With Your Audience.” InterActiv Presenting and Influencing. July 16, 2013. Accessed July 01, 2015.

Featured Image: “Elevator” by Gideon Tsang on flickr.com

3 Corporate Pitch Deck Tips: Maximizing Board Room Pitches

Presenting to executives and other high-powered decision makers can have unbelievably high stakes. Corporate pitches of this significance can be absolutely nerve-wracking. You should expect no less from a possible career or life-changing opportunity.

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Achieving success here isn’t a Herculean task. Use these three tips to become a more confident and effective presenter for when it most counts:

Put the Spotlight on Your Core Message

Executives and board members are busy individuals who have no time to do long conversations. Simplify your pitch and break down your message so that it’s easily digestible.

Keep your discussion on the right track.

Avoid using industry-specific jargon and focus on explaining and expounding on your core message. If you have too much important data that clutters up your deck, put them in an accompanying report or handout.

This doesn’t mean your deck has to be plain and bare. Engage your viewers’ eyes with the right visuals. Despite their status, executives are people too, and would appreciate a good pitch that stands out from the numerous other pitches they encounter daily.

Rely on Evidence and Actual Data

Rhetoric tools are still useful in this situation, but the higher-ups need actionable data based on tangible evidence. You can’t expect them to make high-risk decisions based on unconvincing or misleading information.

This is where research comes in handy. Conduct a thorough and comprehensive study on the subject of your current report. If you can’t do it alone, try mobilizing other departments in your company and ask for help.

At the same time, according to entrepreneur John Rampton, you can also outsource and tap into other references to access the information you need. This may even save you the time and cost.

In terms of deck design, don’t saturate your slides with content. Minimize the amount of text to streamline your corporate pitch deck. If your data relies on showing numbers, then explain them in visual ways like charts, graphs, and diagrams.

Rehearse the Nerves Away

These are high-stake affairs, so your preparation should correspond to the predicted benefit of succeeding.

Be self-critical of your own pitch, determine possible weaknesses in your arguments and prepare for your audience’s possible concerns. Consider the proper clothing choices to match your purpose and the occasion.

Opt for an attire that’s not too flashy or formal. Go for something that won’t throw your audience off but give them a memorable impression of you.

It’s natural to feel more nervous than usual but you can get rid of your fears with constant practice. Practice breathing techniques and a few warm-up exercises to put you in the right state of mind during your pitch. You’ll want to be at the top of your game in front of this crowd, after all.

Conclusion

Getting through and impressing the big leagues requires an even bigger amount of preparation.

Fortunately, sticking close to your message, relying on hard data, and dedicated practice prove vital in getting the best out of your pitch. Keep these tips in mind for when that big break comes.

For these opportunities, you need to be at your best. Get a corporate pitch deck to match the occasion with pitchdeck.com. Contact us for a free quote.

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References

Rampton, John. “How Outsourcing Can Save You Money.” John Chow Dot Com. Accessed June 26, 2015.

An Effective Probing Strategy for Your Sales Pitch

Lack of probing questions can be one reason why sales proposals are often rejected by clients.

Many presenters forget that throwing open-ended questions such as “How are you doing?” or “What are you up to?” successfully convinces your clients to share the information you need to meet their needs.

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First, build rapport and connect with them to get their attention and establish trust.

Briefly introduce yourself to highlight your pitch’s importance. This compels clients to answer your questions without question.

Why Probing is Important

In sales pitches, your main goal is to persuade your clients to take action.

Study your clients’ objectives and how they should be met. Know their needs and wants to craft an attention-grabbing pitch. Doing so makes them realize that you’ve made thorough research about their company, showing them that you’re just as interested in them as you want them to be interested in your proposal.

More than presenting your products and services’ features, advantages and benefits, make your clients feel that you care about them by meeting their expectations. Satisfying their needs makes them see that you value them above anyone else. This gives them reasons to listen and share their side of the story once you ask them probing questions.

When to Probe

A good sales pitch and ample presentation skills can make an effective sales proposal, but probing is an equally important technique. Your clients look for products and services that satisfy their company’s needs.

Probing is important when relating their needs with what you’re offering. Knowing their concerns prepares you to connect them with your products and services’ benefits, making them think that your idea can achieve their desired outcome.

Start by asking open-ended questions such as, “What are your plans for reaching your objectives for this area?” and “What strategies are you going to implement to make this happen?” to delve into more details.

When you notice that your clients have objections, ask whether they understand what you’re trying to emphasize. This can help clarify some concerns before they make their decision.

How Probing Becomes Effective

Probing encourages your clients to talk more, convincing them to share their thoughts and give you more information that can help you motivate them.

The “who, what, when, where, why and how” questions tell you more about your client’s concerns, letting you better understand their needs by asking:

  • “Who will…”
  • “What, specifically…”
  • “When will…”
  • “Where, exactly…”
  • “Why does…”
  • “How does…”

Know whether you’re asking appropriate questions or not. Be careful not to overdo it by asking more questions than necessary. Going overboard results in data that might not be relevant at all to your proposal, wasting both your time and theirs.

Prepare possible questions to quickly address any issues they might have, preventing them from delaying their decisions.

Conclusion

Applying this sales pitch technique makes clients more likely to approve your proposal. Once they realize how much you’re interested, how much you care about meeting their concerns, and how much you’re helping them achieve their expectations, you’ll convince them that your offering best suits their organization needs.

Knowing what and how to ask makes your sales pitch effective. This is because clients will see that you understand how probing helps satisfy their needs, showing that you’re serious and dedicated about what you do.

Clients are more confident to hire somebody who goes out of their way to give them a satisfying experience. Be the person that your client would never hesitate to go to for solutions to their needs.

pitchdeck.com can help you make your sales pitches more effective!

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References

21 Powerful, Open-Ended Sales Questions.” RAIN Group. Accessed June 25, 2015.
Probing.” Changing Minds. Accessed June 25, 2015.

Alan Monroe’s Motivational Sequence in Sales Pitches

Monroe’s motivational sequence is a powerful speech writing technique based on the power of persuasion and developed in the 1930s by Alan Monroe, a college professor at Purdue University.

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Presenters should focus on their audiences. Since people avoid discomfort once they encounter a particular problem, they’ll be convinced to take action that will solve that issue.

Monroe’s Motivational Sequence

The objective of a sales pitch is to compel clients to make purchase decisions.

As a presenter, you should answer answer their questions: “Why am I here?” and “What’s in it for me?”

If they don’t see why your proposal is important, they won’t bother to listen. This makes your introduction the most crucial part of your sales pitches. It’s where you hook your audience and keep them interested.

Here are five stages Monroe suggested to making audiences act on unresolved issues:

First Stage: Get Attention

How will you convince them to pay attention?

Getting your audience’s attention is the first step in motivating them. Storytelling achieves this by providing them with stories that pique their interest.

Explain the importance of having them as your audience. Include humorous stories, questions, and quotations to connect with them, giving them a reason to stay and listen.

Second Stage: Establish the Need

How will you address a problem that needs solving?

Stating and emphasizing the issue points out the discomfort and dissatisfaction it brings. Use statistics to illustrate how this can affect them. Appeal to your audience’s emotions to connect with them.

After this, they’ll start looking for a solution.

Third Stage: Satisfy the Need

How will you offer the solution?

Provide them with concrete solutions to address the issues. Avoid confusing and misleading technical terms to keep them from misinterpreting what you mean.

Explain and clarify each of your solution’s supporting details to show their importance.

Fourth Stage: Visualize the Future

How will you show the positive effects of applying this solution?

Contrast the problem against your solution to illustrate the difference between the positive and negative outcomes. What happens if you apply this solution? What happens if you don’t?

Create a picture of both to convince your audience to follow your advice and take action.

Fifth Stage: Inspire Action

How will you move them to act now?

Return to your message’s main idea to remind them of its impact. Create a sense of urgency that challenges and drives them to act immediately.

Tell them to quit delaying the problem. Reiterate the reasons why they should do it and how it can be done.

Conclusion

Monroe’s motivational sequence convinces your audiences to take action by getting their attention, making them stay and listen to what you have to say.

Establish their need for a solution to stop the issue. Satisfy them with clearer and easier-to-understand solutions. Help them visualize how their decision affects their future, and inspire them to act now.

This sequence increases your chances of persuading your audience enough to make them take action.

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References

Barker, Alan. “Five Steps to Action: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.” Distributed Intelligence. Accessed June 23, 2015.

Limit the Numbers: Designing Financial Sales Pitch Decks

Including financial data in your sales pitch decks is both a blessing and a curse. Numbers undeniably give your statements much-needed weight, while their mere presence creates a life-sucking void in your pitch deck.

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Have you tried copying awkward-looking spreadsheet data straight into your slides before? According to Think Outside the Slide‘s Dave Paradi, plugging the holes in your deck with endless numbers is about the least helpful you can be.

Here’s how to make effective and compelling financial pitch decks:

Limit Numbers to the Ones That Help Tell Your Story

Before inputting data, ask: “What numbers tell the story?

Pick the most important supporting figures. Endless stream of numbers will make your audiences’ eyes glaze over. Cut it down to the most relevant information that conveys your message clearly.

Just because you have numbers doesn’t mean you should use them. Including every single piece of information disrupts your pitch flow. Curate only the most vital data, that is, your main argument’s supporting information.

Illustrate Numbers Through Diagrams, Charts, and Graphs

Illustrate your numbers through diagrams, charts, or graphs to create an easier-to-follow visual narrative for your figures or statistics.

Since majority of the population are visual learners, your audience will probably appreciate and understand images better than blocks of text or numbers.

These visual representations let your audiences see the patterns and trends that you wish to explain. Instead of treating data as the pitch deck’s heart and soul, consider them the supporting details in a story you’re trying to tell.

Keep Text to a Minimum

Don’t include explanations or descriptions for your images, as you may risk oversaturating slides. Minimize the amount of text on your slides to avoid distracting your audience with unnecessary information. The effects of information overload involve inhibiting your audience’s memory. Too many things on the slide will make them forget about your main points.

Include only labels for the figures’ different sections. The rest of the explanation falls on your shoulders. Expounding on data verbally will not only ease your viewers in on your slides, but it also lets you establish much-needed rapport.

Conclusion

Too many numbers bore the lights out of even the most business-savvy audiences, but just enough data supports your message or even tells the whole story for you.

Put the right amount of numbers and determine the right way to represent them.

Still confused? If you’re looking for somebody to optimize your sales pitch deck, we have a team of pitch deck specialists who can make your financial slides the way you need them. Contact us for a free quote!

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References

Spreadsheets Don’t Belong on Slides.” Think Outside The Slide. December 20, 2011. Accessed June 23, 2015.
The Visual (spatial) Learning Style.” Learning Styles. Accessed June 23, 2015.
Using Excel Data in a PowerPoint Presentation.” Think Outside The Slide. 2014. Accessed June 23, 2015.

Why Hiring Pitch Deck Specialists Can Save You Time

There are two crucial rules for an efficient business:

  1. Manage your resources properly.
  2. Use your time wisely to be faster than the competition.

The same thing applies to making your business pitch deck presentations. Pitch deck is not only the most commonly used pitching tool, but also one of the most important ways to sell.

Whether you’re a CEO looking to get new business partners, a VP making internal reports, part of the sales and marketing team seeking new prospects, or an admin assistant, each department needs to make a business pitch deck at some point.

The problem is, with all the duties each department has, assigning the task of making a pitch deck presentation can be a problem. Gathering information, editing, and rehearsing the pitch lessens the time you have to perform your day-to-day tasks, making your deck’s quality suffer.

How can you manage your resources to make quality business pitch decks faster?

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Invest in the Right Resources

Entrepreneur John Rampton outlines the benefits of outsourcing for your company—Pitch deck included. According to Rampton, outsourced help lowers risk and cost while ensuring expert services.

Since almost everyone in the company doesn’t have adequate time to make your deck, outsource a reliable pitch deck specialist in the same way that you would hire a PR or advertising agency to promote your brand.

According to business gurus Gerald and Steven Michaelson, to be a businessman who gets results, you must effectively manage your operational resources to run your company and sell yourself. Not only will you have an effective pitch deck on your hands, you and your co-workers also get to spend more time on your business’ duties.

Use Time Wisely

To succeed as an entrepreneur, value your time and move faster than your competition. Outsourced pitch decks let you and your company focus on your own field. At the same time, you’re assured that the job still gets done. The advantage of companies who sell themselves effectively is their ability to get business partners and clients faster than their competitors do.

Doing this gives you less time to be surprised and more time to prepare for any unforeseen contingencies, even ones from inside your company (ex. internal emergencies, other promotional events to manage).

Take the Advantage

The company that strikes first leads the market. To do this, sell yourself ahead of the competition.

To know more about how a pitch deck partner can give you that selling advantage, take a few minutes to get to know our company or call us for a free quotation.

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References

Michaelson, G., and Steven Michaelson. Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers: 50 Strategic Rules Updated for Today’s Business. 2nd ed. Avon, Mass.: Adams Media. 2010.
Rampton, John. “How Outsourcing Can Save You Money.” John Chow Dot Com. Accessed June 16, 2015.

Tips for Using Incentives to Sweeten Your Sales Pitch

Incentives are one way to sweeten the deal when you give your pitch.

Clients are always looking for the best benefits whenever they invest in potential business partners. According to marketing professors George and Michael Belch, offering them something extra gives them a reason to buy into your proposal.

Offering incentives is a special type of marketing tactic used in sales promotions. Often used to add value to the product or service that you want to sell, these help speed up your clients’ purchase decision.

At the same time, make sure to differentiate between features and benefits. Features are facts about the product being promoted while benefits are the results that consumers get in return.

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Here are four sales pitch ideas on how to include incentives in your proposals and to maximize your offers:

Keep It Specific

Discounts and rewards for purchases made within a set of time are some examples that allow companies to target different kinds of people.

In the same way, presenters need information about their clients’ expectations before they can offer the right kind of sales incentive.

For example, will your client be purchasing your products by bulk? Offer them a discount to save up on their expenses.

Is your client looking for a long-term partnership for supplying electronic parts? Offer them a discounted rate or free maintenance.

Knowing what your client needs is the first step to finding the right mix of sales incentives.

Brand Loyalty

Sales promotions are used to give occasional incentives that keep customers loyal.

Clients can sometimes invest in other presenter’s ideas if they see that the offers are equal.

To outsell your competition, offer your clients something others cannot.

This tactic is effective especially for clients that you’ve worked with before.

If there are special loyalty incentives that you can offer in your sales pitch, use them.

Encourage Them to Try Something New

Trial incentives are a good way to encourage investments from clients.

This works well especially if you have a new offer to present.

Even something as simple as a money-back guarantee goes a long way to establishing your credibility to your clients.

Whether you’re pitching a new product to loyal clients, or a startup company with a new product, offering them an incentive to try out your new offers are a good way to generate an interest.

Measure the Results

One benefit of using incentives is that they’re easily measured.

Try keeping a database to measure how effective your offers are for you to stay accountable to your clients.

This should contain a list of clients that accepted your incentives.

As you build this up, use this info as proof to other clients that your offerings are better than the competition’s.

As effective as incentives are, they’re only used to sweeten the deal. Clearly state the benefits that your basic offer has to give.

No amount of extra offers makes an unsatisfactory pitch worthy of investment.

To get more out of what your presentation has to offer, get in touch with a professional pitch deck partner for free! All it takes is 15 minutes to get a better pitch deck presentation.

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References

Ad Agency Tricks: Outsell Competitors in Sales Pitches.” pitchdeck.com, 2015. Accessed June 11, 2015.
Belch, G. & Belch, M. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. (6th ed). Singapore: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2003.
Marketing Features Vs. Benefits.” Entrepreneur. Accessed July 9, 2018.

3 Acting Tips for More Persuasive Business Pitches

Movie and theater actors can instantly influence and move viewers however they want. They excel at transfixing audiences, making people value their presence enough to attentively watch their words and actions.

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According to speech coach Gary Genard, speakers can also use these crucial acting skills to inject persuasion into their pitches.

Here’s our own spin on how acting techniques can leave a great impact on the crowd:

Own the Stage

Deliver your business pitch the way actors give their all, resulting in shining moments. Solid commitment to your pitch leaves your audience with something important to remember.

Owning the stage means taking full responsibility for whatever happens during your discussion.

Besides sharing relevant stories and citing related quotations or important facts, your listeners are more likely to believe you if they recognize your credibility on the topic and your composure in handling difficult situations, unexpected or not.

Use Your Emotions

Actors have the eloquent skill of playing with their own emotions. They can laugh at one point and cry at another.

In pitches, you also need to express your genuine feelings to best connect with your listeners. At the same time, choose the appropriate tone for every occasion.

If your business speech tackles a major breakthrough in the industry, you have to sound involved, proud, and enthusiastic. If you’re trying to emphasize a hurdle that needs an immediate remedy, speak in a serious tone that will call the audience to action.

Control Vocal Power

Controlling your vocal power is an effective way to emphasize a point.

This is another acting skill that stage artists use to make scenes realistic and convincing.

Your business pitch doesn’t sell solely because of its content. Your pitch delivery also plays a big part in your success. How you convey your main idea and key points through your

How you convey your main idea and key points through your voice and choice of words creates a rhythm that carries the meaning to your audience.

Consider acting as a core skill to deliver dynamic and persuasive business pitches. Show your audience that you’re an expert on the topic to make them believe everything you have to say.

Express the appropriate emotions according to your statement’s aim and content. Control your voice to match the kind of drama you want to inject into your pitch.

Incorporate these  tips to engage and entertain your audience the way actors do, and you’ll turn your audience into loyal fans, effectively converting your leads into more sales.

Got a pitch deck requirement you need to work on? pitchdeck.com will be pleased to help you. Email us at sales@pitchdeck.com and we’ll contact you ASAP.

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References

An Actor’s Secrets for Great Business Presentations.” The Genard Method. Accessed June 9, 2015.

4 Sales Pitch Ideas from Radio Advertisement Writers

According to ad veteran, Luke Sullivan, presenters and radio ad writers come up with ways to get customers to listen and buy what they advertise.

While presenters have the advantage of more time (ten to twenty minutes of presentation time vs. a thirty-second radio ad) and a pitch deck to provide visuals, the majority of the pitch depends on how the presenter talks.

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Voice tones, hand gestures, and even body language contribute to how effectively you deliver your sales pitch.

Brand communications expert, Carmine Gallo, suggests that you can either give a listless pitch deck with notecards, or you can study your product long enough to come up with an interesting idea that sells itself.

Because radio ad writers and presenters share a common problem, there are solutions that are applicable to both parties:

Use words to paint images.

Telling a story is one effective way to make a compelling pitch, but using words to describe a picture can effectively engage your audience, letting them visualize what you have in mind.

Your sales pitch deck is there to provide a visual image for your audience when you give your speech.

This becomes even more effective when the deck applies the right design methods to enhance your core message.

Use speech ideas you can describe in a sentence.

Simplifying your topic gives your clients a clearer picture of what you have to offer.

The same thing applies when you craft your pitch deck speech. The first question you need to ask is: “What is my pitch all about?”

Once you answer this, start writing your script and practice it.

Whether you want to present a car that gets you to where you want to go, or an impressive quarterly sales result for your brand, boil down your topic into one simple idea.

You’ll have more freedom to write your script.

Use the right tone for your pitch.

While using a conversational tone works for most professional pitches, there are times where you need to bring your passion into your pitch, particularly when building hype for a new product or celebrating a new sales record and making new recommendations.

The key is to know your client’s expectations.

Once you do, stay relevant to those expectations in order to connect with your clients.

You may want to use humor in your speech, but that won’t work if the client expects you to be serious and professional.

You can be funny, but you need to be interesting.

While some presenters like to poke fun during their pitches, remember to be professional and take your clients seriously so you can sell.

If the situation calls for you to poke fun at your product, then it’s fine. Sullivan reiterates that every presenter needs to be “interesting.”

Being interesting means having an idea.

Fortunately, as renowned author Jim Aitchison suggests, every product has a story to tell.

Maybe it has something that no other competitor has, the way it was made puts it above others, or maybe it has benefits that no other product has.

Whatever your speech idea, always go back to what you want to talk about. Chances are, there’s an interesting story to tell your clients.

That story might be your ticket to selling your pitch.

As with every story, getting someone to look it over gives you room for improvement, increasing your chances of selling.

Just as radio ad writers need editors, every presenter needs the help of a professional pitch deck specialist to give them that selling advantage.

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References

Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore ; New York: Prentice Hall.
Gallo, C. (2010). The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sales Presentation Skills: Stay Relevant to Pitch Ideas.” pitchdeck.com, May 11, 2015. Accessed June 9, 2015.
Sullivan, L. (2008). Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons.

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