We’re currently into the 19th series of the iconic BBC show Dragon’s Den, in which plucky and creative entrepreneurs pitch their businesses in a quest to secure investment.
As of 2015, the Dragons’ cumulative investment had peaked at £15,7000,069, across a number of company and product ideas that showcased the most commercial potential.
Of course, there were also some businesses that failed to get investment but still went on to achieve success, highlighting the role that the pitch can play in selling an idea’s viability.
So, what steps can you take to optimise and elevate your business pitch?
Here are some ideas to keep in mind.
1. Keep Your Pitch Concise
One of the main challenges with business pitches is that not all ventures are created equal, meaning that some are more complex and difficult to explain than others.
Despite this, there’s a pressing need to keep your business pitches as concise and clear as possible, which is why the concept of ‘elevator’ pitches (through which you’re expected to pitch your business in a few short sentences) remains so popular in the current climate.
Just remember that concise doesn’t necessarily mean short, as it’s possible to focus on adding value with your words and optimise the clarity of your message by eliminating unnecessary verbiage.
So long as you clearly convey the idea and allow time for questions, you should create a pitch that helps you to achieve your commercial objectives.
2. Use Visual and Verbal Elements to Your Advantage
One way of eliminating words without compromising on the quality of your pitch is to utilise visual elements too, whether you include slides or images to video content.
The nature of the visual media used is largely unimportant, with the key being to utilise elements that successfully convey your business concept that the value that it can in its target marketplace.
As a general rule, slides and videos should be used to support the words continued in your pitch, in order to provide greater clarity to investors or key stakeholders within your business.
Videos and demonstrations can be particularly effective when trying to explain and pitch product-oriented solutions, as you look to simultaneously discuss its key features and demonstrate how they translate into benefits from the perspective of consumers.
3. Don’t Forget to Pitch Yourself
Often, business or product ideas aren’t perfectly formulated when they’re pitched to investors, so you may have to be malleable to the notion of influential backers making recommendations to help improve your concepts.
In the case of imperfect or potentially high-risk commercial ideas, investors have a straight choice between procuring a viable amount of equity or seeking flight in more favourable commercial ideas.
In this instance, you can really benefit by pitching yourself as a competent, informed and data-led entrepreneur who boasts strong knowledge of your business.
This makes a key difference in the minds of investors, who may overlook the concept’s deficiencies and weaknesses as they have faith that you’re capable of correcting these and taking the venture forward.
So, be sure to sell both your idea and core business skills, while also demonstrating any hard or transferable skills that may help to convince investors of your merit.
To help achieve this, we’d recommend allowing yourself time to prepare both elements of your pitch and perhaps staying overnight when required to travel.
When pitching in the capital, for example, you could rest up in your choice of London serviced apartments and relax while preparing for your big moment!
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