Advanced Presentation Skills: Using pitch books more effectively

We have sent a number of tips to you on visual material, and having just delivered a successful pitching programme, we thought we would share some ideas around pitchbooks.

• Find out what your clients want/prefer by asking them in advance
• Think carefully about when you hand the book out – once you hand it out, your audience will stop listening to you and read the book. Try handing it out at the end as a source of more information
• Have a separate slide pack from the takeaway document.
• Direct people through the pack, “If you turn to page 4, you will see what I mean..” pause until everyone has got to page 4 and add value to VA.
• Ensure that each Visual Aid (VA)truly reflects the point you are trying to illustrate.
• If in doubt, ask yourself does the VA add value-if it doesn’t; either redesign or remove.
• In a competitive environment, your pitch book needs to be “Thin to Win”-we suggest a maximum of 18 pages. It’s much easier to dump a whole load of research data into a series of slides than to hand-craft a pack for the particular pitch. You don’t need to prove you can do the job by the thickness of the book. No one is fooled by that. Focus on your differences from the competition and getting your audience to trust you – ie getting your natural and engaging personality over! This is what wins pitches.

Discover how we can help you and your team.

1 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3ND