Learn the ‘ONE BIG IDEA’ Strategy to Design Rainmaking Sales Pitch and Presentations

Sales pitch (Photo credit: quinn.anya)

Be it a student presentation at school, convincing a venture capital (VC) firm to fund your startup idea or selling a multi-million dollar CRM software to an MNC, the process essentially starts with a presentation. Although the preferred mode for presenting is through power points, a high impact presentation requires good speaking skills as well.

Now to the real facts! After reading hundreds of books, blogs and the Harvard Business Review I was able to assimilate the core principles that go into the making of a successful, rainmaking presentation. It turns out, the secret sauce to making a rainmaking pitch is trying to convey a simple message that encapsulates One BIG IDEA- a keystone idea that unlocks the entire presentation.

Each of the strategies I’ll teach will help you refine your pitch into One BIG IDEA and convey it in an effective, artistic manner. It will work even if you aren’t gifted with exceptional speaking skills as the strategy essentially focuses on preparation and repeating the ONE BIG IDEA.

So, let’s get started.

Do You Believe In the Idea?

Before making a presentation ask yourself, how strongly do you believe in the idea? Are you passionate and excited about it?   A lot of presentations are ineffective because the audience feels you don’t care about the idea seriously enough.

Belief is very important. If you lack conviction while presenting, your clients will see through your body language as Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School explains here-

‘you have to build trust before you can lead. I know this may seem to contradict what I say about power posing, but it absolutely doesn’t. It’s really important to separate what you do before the interaction, from what you do during the interaction. You want to feel powerful going in – but that does not equal dominant or alpha. You want to feel that you have the power to bring your full, spirited self to the situation, stripped of the fears and inhibitions that might typically hold you back. I believe this allows you not just to be stronger, but also to be more open and trusting. I’m definitely not an advocate, as I think I’ve made clear by now, of going in and power-posing in front of people in order to intimidate them or something.’

How to Get Your ONE BIG Idea?

Once you know you believe that your idea has the potential to change things, you need to clearly explain why and how your idea can revolutionize or transform things for the client. The best way to do this is through a process of selection and elimination.

Most sales people make a big mistake by using the oldest trick in the book- by talking about cost savings to the company. Although a compelling idea, good clients often want to know the technicalities of how such cost savings are made possible and how it makes their product/service is so very different from their competition as a result.

Often times, there’s no such ‘holy grail’ breakthrough product and the client quickly sees through your gimmick. Therefore a far better way to pitch yourself is by finding out your client’s genuine needs and tailoring your presentation to suit their expectations. This means using as a carefully calibrated, customized and personalized approach instead of a one size fits all, cookie cutter approach.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds provided you follow this simple strategy with discipline and focus -

The Two Step Focus Approach

Presentation Ideas = Core Competence (Product + Service) + Research (Client+ Competition)

ONE BIG IDEA=     Elimination/Selection for FOCUS - Presentation Ideas

• First, get to know your client’s expectations better. Find out what exactly they are looking for. I’m assuming you’ve already done your homework getting to know your competitor’s product/service and USP. Then combine it with what you believe are your company’s and also the particular product’s core strengths.

• Next, put yourself in your clients’ shoes. If you know your client well enough, what would he think about your idea, your presentation? What would appeal to him? Or would he think it was a waste of his time. Use this strategy to eliminate irrelevant information. Remember, process of elimination leads to a process of selection and enables a sharper focus on the ONE BIG IDEA.

Rehearse and Repeat

English: Students in a Harvard Business School classroom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People say, you need to propose an idea at least six times before it can be considered seriously. So if you were to make a presentation, how would you apply this idea to your presentation?

Once you’ve focused your presentation to suit the client’s expectations, the next step is to rehearse. Experts point out that it takes about an hour to prepare a minutes’ worth of presentation. Why? The aim is to understand how each slide/idea individually and collectively fits the client’s expectation. Therefore, preparation is key. 

Once you’re finished with the ‘fit part’ next comes the EMPHASIS i.e conveying your key message i.e your ONE BIG IDEA as many times and in as many INTERESTING ways as possible. Trust me, if you are confident and throw in some humour, you have got their attention. Just make sure that the presentation does not become so entertaining that the big idea is lost in the process.

All in all, presentation is the art of pitching a story to a client who in turn gets persuaded enough to back your product, idea or service. As long as you have established trust through your conviction and sold your story as ONE BIG IDEA that appeals to the audience at some level, you have got their attention.