Honing Your Pitch
This is a part of a series of posts written by entrepreneurs of the Fall 2020 Business Accelerator cohort for EforAll Cape Cod.
by Keri-Ann Wagner of Path to Healing, Inc.
Get EforAll’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
You have a beautiful presentation prepared. Then, you lose your place. The audience is waiting…your heart picks up the pace and beads of sweat start to form. Even after you have found your place, your nerves make it impossible to collect your thoughts.
The idea is not to read to your audience nor to memorize a script, but to feel confident in knowing who is in your audience and what you want to get across to your audience. Identify the problem and your solution. Describe what you do as simply and clearly as possible. Answer the question about what sets you and your business apart from others. EforAll teaches how to hone your pitch by asking others what they hear when you speak. If they don’t hear what you want them to, rewrite it. Practice aloud. Change words as often as necessary until it feels natural. Record yourself and listen repeatedly.
Watch and learn from presentations by similar organizations. I noticed a larger agency with a similar mission as mine using key phrases I used in my campaigns. At first, I felt frustrated that they were using my words. Then, I realized I must be doing something right if I’m using the same words as a larger, established organization. I observed during an interview with this same organization that they never directly answered the question of how they were different than others? I felt confident that I could answer this question about my own program.
Remember that this is your idea; you are the expert and that everyone listening to you genuinely wants you to succeed. You’ve got this!
