No one wants to invest in your brand new product idea.
Not at first.
Not until you can persuade them, change their attitude and make them believe in your product. And this, you have to accomplish with your product pitch, which ideally should not last more than 20 minutes. In most cases, has to be delivered to a group of strangers.
What a challenge!
You might feel so. This is where you might find this guide handy. Here we aim to cover how to pitch a product, from how you should prepare yourself to deliver a product pitch to measures you should take when presenting.
Prepare Yourself
Preparation is key to a successful pitch. No matter how confident you are or how good your product is, things could go awry if an investor asks a question you hadn’t thought of.
That’s why you need to think of all scenarios and prepare yourself before you present yourself in front of your funders.
When brainstorming, you may be able to think of a lot of scenarios, jot them down using a mind map or a fishbone diagram. When recalling information during the presentation, it’ll be easier for you to remember this way.
Fishbone Diagram Template for Team Brainstorming Sessions (click to modify online)
Keep It Short
Not just the introduction, but the entire pitch should be to the point and run within 20 minutes. The more concise you are the more effective your pitch will sound.
* If you are using slides, don’t stay on one slide for more than 3 minutes. Use more visuals such as graphs, charts and diagrams that are easier to understand and process for the audience.
* Keeping it short doesn’t mean you should rush through your speech. Stick to the details that are crucial to your pitch and maintain a good pace throughout the entire speech.
Show How Your Product Works
Sure you should be dressed for the occasion. But you are not the star of the show.
Your product is.
But before you talk about your product, you should focus on the problem it solves. Who has the problem, why is it important and how is your product going to solve this.
Then focus on your product. Emphasizing how your product work is a key thing you need to work on during a product pitch.
You can demonstrate how your product works in front of your investors. You can do this by referring to a process map and a sample of your product.
And if you can hand them a few samples of your product and let them operate it, that would also be more impactful.
Sales Process Flowchart (Click on template to edit online)
Explain Who Your Target Audience is
Before investing their money to build your product, your investors would like to know who you are targeting with your product.
Add a brief buyer persona covering your ideal customer’s information such as demographic and psychographic characteristics to your slide when discussing your target audience.
Buyer Persona Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
Along with your user persona, you need to illustrate how you would like to acquire them. Using a flowchart, you can quickly give a rundown of your marketing process as well.
Highlight Success/ Impact/ Benefit
Your product or service has a purpose. This needs to be emphasized in terms of the experience of the customer.
Remember you briefly touched the problem area you are solving with your product earlier? Now it’s time to discuss the benefits and the success you’ve so far had with your customers. Have you already got evidence? Show them off.
Tip: Have something visual like a video or a storyboard to ground the discussion.
Storyboard Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
Ready to Pitch Your Product? Let’s Get Started!
Now you know how to create a pitch that turns heads and gets funds for your product or service, it’s time to start.
Start with our mind map to outline your entire speech. From there you can start working on your slide deck and what other information and visuals you need to include in it.
Have more tips on how to pitch a product? Don’t forget to let us know in the comments section below.
