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The PRECISE Pitch

Written by: Brian Sullivan

Article Overview: �The Three Essentials of Telling �Em What You Do�

The PRECISE Pitch

�So, why is your company better than your competition?� was the question I asked recently at an executive seminar. The sharply dressed VP of sales I was speaking with paused momentarily and looked at me like I just asked him for the PIN to his bank card. It was obvious that he was unprepared to answer the question quickly, precisely and enthusiastically. After watching him verbally circle the parking lot a few times, he eventually told me that his company has �real good customer service.� Once he eventually got to the end of his ramble, he looked at me in victory as if he had just solved the Da Vinci Code. I rarely had seen so many words say so little.

I then wondered if this inability to succinctly deliver a 30-second �elevator pitch� was prevalent among other executives and salespeople at the conference. Interestingly, and perhaps sadly, it was. If you too are afflicted with the inability to get people fired up quickly about the benefits of your company, I have the cure. It is called the PRECISE Pitch. A PRECISE Pitch is a 20 to 45-second presentation that will describe what your company does and the amazing benefits it provides customers. It is the response that should be delivered when somebody asks, �Who is your company and what makes you so damn good."

A PRECISE Pitch needs to create curiosity and leave the listener longing for more. So how do you create a high-powered PRECISE Pitch?

1. Recognize a problem that your company solves
For example, if your company sold Electronic Medical Records Software to a hospital and the real benefit to using your product is that it can save lives, you might start the first part of your pitch like this:
� �A recent study found that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths may result each year from medical errors in hospitals alone.�

2. Tell them what your company does
This should be no more than a couple of sentences.
� �Sullivan Inc. created an Electronic Medical Records platform that allows health systems to accurately manage records from the moment a patient steps into their family practice office until the moment they leave the hospital.�

3. What�s the WOW!
Any PRECISE pitch needs to invite a positive reaction and some curiosity. When the listener�s eyebrows go up, their heads lean forward and their throats deliver a �Hmm,� you know you have a good pitch. To get that reaction you need to explain what the key benefits to your solution are. For example:
� �By accurately recording, monitoring and storing these records, we believe our system can save as many as 10 lives a year per hospital here in the US.�



So let�s put the three together to complete the PRECISE Pitch. (By the way, I just timed myself and it took 28 seconds to deliver)

� �A recent study found that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths may result each year from medical errors in hospitals alone. Sullivan Inc. created an Electronic Medical Records platform that allows health systems to accurately manage records from the moment a patient steps into their family practice office until the moment they leave the hospital. By accurately recording, monitoring and storing these records, we believe our system can save as many as 10 lives a year per hospital here in the US.�

Now I can assure you that if I had heard something like this in the halls of that executive session, I would have been curious. I would have wanted to learn more which means the pitch would have done exactly what it was supposed to do.

It�s now time for a little old school exercise. If you don�t have a pitch that contains the three ingredients, you need to grab a pen and paper and get to work. And when you are done crafting yours, try it out on your wife, husband, friends or dog. And if they yawn, look at their watch or start scratching themselves, chances are you need to put a little more punch into it. And remember, the best way to add �meat� and curiosity to your pitch is with numbers and percentages. Soft, fluffy business clich�s only put the listener to sleep and won�t get you an invitation to tell more of your story.

And don�t forget to practice that pitch so that it rolls of your tongue like a combination of Edgar Allen Poe and Martin Luther King�with eloquence and passion. By being PRECISE, you may be surprised when at the next conference or meeting, you have a lot more people wanting to hear more details about your great company.

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Article Tags: precise selling, sales pitch, sales process, sales training, value proposition



Related Forum Posts
Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succ - Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed Ronna Lichtenberg 2005 From the inside cover: "As a woman, you probably feel uncomfortable when it comes to promoting yourself and asking for what you want." WHAT IN THE HECK IS THIS, I asked myself when I read that. Women are the fastest growing business owners in the US and Canada, there are t housands of women executives and CEOs - though not as many as might be expected, admittedly, yet the book opens with this surely out of date stereotype. However, as she continued to give examples of women who had high paying jobs but were routinely not paid as much as men because it hadn't occurred to them to ask for raises, etc., I decided it was probably true for a majority of businesswomen... Anyway, more of the info from the jacket: "Other books have told you how to get what you want by being more like a guy. Pitch Like A Girl tells you why its an advantage to be who you are and how to do better by bringing more of yourself to work." The TOC: 1. Pink and Blue 2. The Quck-dry Chapter 3. What's In your head that's not in his 4. The Me, Inc Mindset 5. Visioning: Discover What You Really Want 6. Identifying Prospects 7. Pre-pitch homework and heartwork 8. Crafting the pitch 9. Pricing the pitch 10. Packaging the pitch 11. Delivering the pitch 12. Closing Conclusion A Word to the guys The Empathy Quotient The Systemizing Quotient Bibliography And on a side note - non-fiction books without indexes - of which this is one, annoy me.
Why women don't charge more - I just read a chapter in Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed, by Ronna Lichtenberg that deals with this. THe chapter is called Pricing the Pitch. "In a WAll Street Journal article about what might be holding women back from corporate success, Terry Dal, a former vice president at Wells Fargo bank, said, "Good girls don't advertise; only prostitutes advertise. We feel dirty promoting ourselves." The author's advice: The first step in getting the money you desserve is to understand the market rate for your offering. Not what you think you need, not what they're willing to pay, but the going rate for similar goods and services offered in your area by someone with your skills and experience. Then, seek expert advice. "Men routinely consult lawyers, financial advisers, exxecutive recruiters and any other paid counselors to help them assess what constitutes a fair fee." Your research into going rates should not lead you to a single price for your pitch but rather a range of prices - both a market range and a personal range, which should overlap but won't necessarily be identical. In pricing, one size does not fit all. The final step in determining your price is to consider what you think you'd be paid for the same job if you were a man. The author also discusses why women usually discount their prices (must'n't appear too over-confident), the difference between discounting and "giving a discount", and other issues. I'd advise every woman wondering about what to charge to read at least this chapter of the book.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


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