Six Tips for Winning the Company Pitch Contest
By Christina McKenna
“We won!!!!!”
That was the email that came in -- complete with five exclamation points -- from an excited client last month, after his team took first place in his company’s global pitch contest, an internal competition designed to spark innovation and rally enthusiasm across the organization.
When the team came to us, they had just days to prepare and, worse, were scattered in different countries. But creative input and strategic direction from us, and a lot of hard work from them, more than offset their liabilities, as the judges affirmed.
Over the past six months, we’ve had a slew of clients asking us for help in perfecting presentations and videos for internal pitch nights or Shark Tank-style challenges, as more and more companies use internal contests to inspire innovation and kickstart a culture of friendly competition. Prizes for these events can be significant, ranging from bragging rights to funding for an innovation to straight up cash.
What’s the secret to winning? While it always helps to start with a great idea, how you communicate that idea may be the difference-maker. Here are six tips to help your team land first place in the company pitch contest:
Know the contest criteria. Before you start preparing your pitch, make sure you’re clear on what the judges will be looking for so you can bend your pitch toward that. No point in wasting time talking about the challenges your team overcame if in the end you’ll only be evaluated on this year’s new sales.
Know your audience. In addition to knowing the contest criteria, consider the judges' backgrounds. If the panel is loaded with financial types, you might want to mention your idea’s benefit to the bottom line. Consider whether decision makers hail from human resources, engineering, marketing, operations, or some other discipline as you build your case to resonate with their perspectives.
Crystalize your pitch down to one sentence. Spend some time thinking about your idea, innovation, or success. Then distill your whole talk down to one key idea or power statement. Use this as the thesis for your pitch. You’ll want to literally state this out loud early on in your presentation and make sure everything else you include supports this one key idea.
Consider using the problem-solution model. Pitch contests are about finding new and creative ways to tackle challenges, whether for the company, its customers, or some other key group. A simple, surefire way to pitch your idea is to lay out a problem and then position your idea as the best means to solve it.
Remember, it’s not about the slides. While you may want to use presentation slides to augment your pitch, you and your pitch-mates should be the stars of the show. So, only use slides to add visual interest or a bit of context. Instead, focus your energy on finding the right words to showcase your ideas and further communicate why they’re important.
Practice. Once you do get your pitch down, practice. Aloud and a lot. The more you and the team perfect your delivery, the easier it will be for the judges to see why your idea deserves their support—and the prize!
Give it a try and let us know if it works for you or if something else has worked better. For more great ideas and tips for rock solid communication, visit us at bluestoneexec.com.