Clare is one of those consultants who could (if only she sat where I sit) see that she has all of the attributes to become a brilliant pitcher for business. She’s a highly trained and qualified professional, she’s modest, some might even say shy, and she knows how to make her subject interesting to her audience….
We’ve talked for a few times about ‘elevator pitches’, and as so often happens, we like the idea of having an interesting, short, enticing pitch for all seasons but we don’t ever get round to creating one. I’m not a great fan of the ‘elevator’ because I think even 30-45 seconds is too long when…
I was asked a question the other day about how to deal with clients objecting to your fee when you unveil it as a part of your pitch. The answer I gave was- ‘Make sure that you can show how your fee is based on the value that you’ll deliver, not the cost of your…
I saw Ralph Fiennes in Trevor Nunn’s production of Shakespeare’s Tempest at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London last night. The whole cast was fantastic, and even the comic turns made me laugh, which is rare for Shakespeare. The reviews were generally unenthusiastic, but it was my first ‘Tempest’, and I thought the production was great…
I’ve been working in Barcelona again this week, with a global pharmaceutical company, and here’s a small, but significant lesson I learned from Xavi, an IT Director about finding the right ‘hook’ for a speech to his IT colleagues. We were talking about understanding our audience before we start to create our message,- ‘Fit‘ as…
Imagine the scene. You’ve spent days preparing a major presentation to a new client, and you’re coming to the end of the pitch. You’ve moved from what they need, to what you can do for them, how you will proceed, the costs carefully explained in context of the results to be delivered. Now is…
In the aftermath of the terrible events in Japan of the past 2 weeks, there has been a rush to ‘trash’ the idea of nuclear power as a ‘safe’, carbon-free technology for electricity generation. Germany led the way by closing its power stations for safety checks, the EU then followed up by issuing an unintelligible…
Olivia Mitchell starts an interesting discussion on whether to begin your presentation with the conclusion right up front. It’s always a choice with risks attached. Do you give the game away and risk people jumping to conclusions before they understand the ‘how and the why’? Or do you risk annoying the crowd by keeping them…
It’s a question I’m often asked by clients- The honest answer is, obviously, ‘It depends on who’s in the audience’ but in reality you have to choose an influencing strategy before you start to prepare your pitch. Most people only have one approach, and use it without thinking, and some people know a few strategies, but are…