Brooklyn's Progress
April/May 2008

BY JILL D’AMICO

Pitching can be hard for most people. To strike the delicate balance of coming across as confident, informative, and interesting – usually in a matter of seconds! – can be a pressure-cooker situation.

Laura Allen, co-founder of the 15SecondPitch™, knew this from meeting people in her marketing career. She would exhaust herself by the time she would work her way through a room at a networking function, and often have little to show for it.

There must be a better way, she thought.

The answer, she found, lay in a clear, concise, compelling pitch that would effectively and specifically tell what you do in a matter of seconds.

The key, she found, was to cut to the chase and make the connection for the person you are talking to – in as focused a way as possible. You’re an event planner? Mention that you orchestrated a recent awards dinner that was covered in the press. Chances are that you’ll get a meeting.

“Desperation never sells,” she warned at a recent small business seminar, held in conjunction with the Brooklyn Business Solutions Center and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “If you’re really good at what you do, people will be interested.”

Owning your niche, as Ms. Allen calls it, will bolster your credentials. Specificity sells, and as long as you are able to make the clear connection between your business and something people want, that connection will stick out in everyone’s mind.

A well-thought out, practiced pitch is a chance to reveal something interesting about yourself and your work. As long as it is precise and succinct, people will listen.

“It doesn’t have to be brilliant, and it doesn’t have to be poetry,” assured Ms. Allen. “Better to be canned than can’t.”

Her four steps to a brilliant pitch are as follows:

Who Are You?
This is easy enough – use your full name and an accurate – but snazzy – title or tagline that tells what you do, suggests Ms. Allen.

What Do You Do?
This is where being specific helps. You want to connect yourself to your work as clearly as possible. Why go with “I’m a consultant,” when you can say you are “a business expert who specializes in helping companies and intervals market themselves more effectively.”

Why Are You The Best?
This one is tricky – you can get bogged down trying to think of reasons why you’re the best. Make it snappy, and don’t be afraid to drop a name or two to get attention. If you’re a photographer, for example, this would be a good time to mention that you’ve done work for Vogue.

What Next?
It has been said many times – one of the worst things you can do after a networking event is take all those cards you gathered and put them in a drawer. Ms. Allen recommends that you head malaise off at the pass and have an “ask” at the end of your pitch – either asking point-blank for a meeting, a cup of coffee, or just a follow up phone call to discuss things further.

For more information about the 15SecondPitch™ and professional coaching and workshop opportunities, contact Laura Allen at laura@15secondpitch.com, or go to http://www.15secondpitch.com/.