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1-Page Summary of Perfect Pitch
What is a Pitch and Why Do I Need One?
When you believe in yourself, it’s easier to achieve your dreams. That belief inspires you to show the world what you have to offer. It’s also the foundation for a good pitch – one that convinces others of your ideas’ value. A pitch is essentially a proposal, either verbal or on paper. Your resume and cover letter are key components of the most basic pitch – the paper pitch.
A good cover letter should go beyond the basics. It includes not just your accomplishments for past employers and what you can achieve for prospective ones. A good cover letter also reflects your personality, shows what you have to offer, and comes across in a professional manner. Don’t use the timeworn ending of “Please call me if you would like to discuss this further,” which sounds like a plea. Instead, end your letters with: “I would welcome the opportunity to meet you to discuss how I can help.” Then talk about what you can accomplish in the position.
When you are interviewing for a job, make sure to focus on the employer’s needs and your own career goals at the same time. For example, author David Andrusia was looking for marketing managers who had some spark or assertiveness – necessary attributes for that job. He mentioned this to his assistant, Michele, who promptly asked if she could be hired as one of those managers.
Michele, I think you’re great. However, I’m looking for someone who has five years of marketing experience and a top-notch MBA.
Michele was amused by the fact that the studio head, Andrusia, only mentioned her work on smaller projects. He told Michele that she would need to handle bigger films if she wanted a promotion.
Michele said that they should hire a new marketing manager for the big budget films and she would do the marketing on their lower budget movies. Andrusia listened to her idea, which was something he hadn’t thought of before. He realized that it was a good idea and decided to promote Michele to assistant marketing manager because she had come up with such an amazing plan.
Michele had an idea on the spur of the moment that David found useful. It also gave her career advancement and more creative opportunities. She pitched it to him in a low-key, persistent manner. The pitch worked quickly and led to a job with another company as well as more opportunity at her current one.
You can pitch anything. A full-time job, a freelance assignment, a service you can provide, or a project you want to lead. An idea or product. Even your own business. You have to seek out opportunities and pitch them if you want to go places in the business world today.
Seven steps to a perfect pitch include defining the goal and being clear. Defining the goal is stating it concisely in ten or fewer words. Being clear means not leaving any room for misinterpretation or misunderstanding. Specificity is important because you want your idea to stand out from others’.
Provide proof that you can do what you say. Explain why your product or service is unique and better than the competition’s.
Objections: When you have a great idea, but other people don’t agree with you or think your idea is bad, they may object to it. There are ways to get around this problem and convince others that they should accept your ideas. One way is by addressing objections before anyone has the chance to make them. Another approach is devising a plan for every pitch situation so that when an unexpected opportunity arises or if you miss out on one, you can still present your ideas effectively.
Seal the deal: You might not always be able to address all of someone’s concerns at once; however, there are things that can help “seal the deal”. For example, Michele wrote up a marketing plan after pitching her promotion idea because she knew she would need more than just words alone in order to convince her boss that she was right for the job. If something like this happens in real life when trying to sell an idea (or yourself), remember these tips and use them – even if it takes days or weeks before getting what you want.
