Read and discuss the following text. Are you Ready to Pitch in?

Are you Ready to Pitch in?

Times are hard and everyone is being called on to woo new business. Yes, we're all sales people now. So what does it really take? Sandra Deeble went in search of a few pointers.

Time was, when only smooth talk­ing, slickly-dressed sales people would need to concern themselves with pitching for business. In small compa­nies, the owners would be the ones to go out and woo contacts.

In larger organisations, perhaps the more mature people might be wheeled out when it was really necessary. But for most of the time at least, you could just get on with your job. You didn't need to get involved with any down and dirty selling.

Things are very different now. Accountants, lawyers, IT people and many other less-than-willing candidates are being forced to put them­selves about.

Times are hard: it's all hands to the pump.

You may have gone into your profession because you wanted to become an expert in your field, quietly and be­hind the scenes. Yet all of a sudden you're being called on to dazzle much-needed clients. As an organisation, you can't afford to rest on your laurels. Clients are not going to stick around, usu­ally demanding that if you are the incumbent supplier, you must still pitch.

New business doesn't land in your lap like it used to. Your competitors are more competitive than you've ever known them to be. You haven't got a choice — we're all salespeople now.

The following advice aims to help those who are new to pitching for business and also those old hands who are stuck in a rut:

Power Point: People still ex­pect it," confirms Judi James, who runs courses on presen­tation and author of Body Talk at Work (Piatkus). "Al­though I've never seen any­body use it properly," she adds bleakly. "Don't let it dominate you," she advises, "and don't stand in the gloom!"

By all means use it to en­dorse major points but don't whatever you do, talk around it. Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Aziz Corporation special­ists in executive communica­tions, is encouraging people to do away with it altogether.

"The new Power Point is you," he says. "Martin Luther King didn't use Power Point and Tony Blair doesn't use it now. In the final analysis, a new business pitch is a politi­cal act."

Don't duck out: If there are ways of getting out of pre­sentations and allowing someone else to do the talk­ing, force yourself to put your hand up and volunteer. If you avoid the whole standing up and speaking thing might become a pho­bia. What is more, given that the tiniest school children are gearing up for their weekly show and tell, it means the next generation will be really good at pre­senting.

"It's non-negotiable," says Ms James. "You have to do it, and be good, otherwise you'll be stuck in that hinterland. "

Smarty pants: This only works for the superstitious. Keep a note of the under­wear you were wearing when you last won new business. Dig this pair out and wear them. Oh, and don't be too clever. Don't sound as if you know more about the subject than your audience. " Humil­ity is often very useful," says Mr Aziz.

What you see is what you get: Make sure that the peo­ple presenting are the people who will eventually do the job. Would-be clients don't want to see the top brass if they're going to end up with the most junior people in the company. Mr Aziz remem­bers the days when the "grey haired Lothario" would be up there, talking about how fantastic the company was. This old-style of pitching just doesn't cut the mustard any­more. Having said that, if you know that their MD is going to be there, your MD should also be there. You can't spend enough time re­searching your audience. It's also important to give every­one involved in the presenta­tion a proper role. There's nothing worse than a silent mystery presence.

Don't be yourself: It's a per­formance, after all. "Nobody says to Pavarotti 'Be your­self" points out Ms James. People who look as if they are being themselves are merely doing it well, she says.

It's all about timing: Three and a quarter minutes is about the long and the short of it when it comes to an in­dividual's attention span. Short sentences rather than paragraphs, is the advice meted out by Ms James. "And please don't talk about the structure and history of the company!" she begs.

The company structure in particular, is something she dreads, purely because it is often accompanied by "the most complicated slide in the history of Power Point."

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29