One Minute to Win Customer — Make your Pitch Work

Customers don’t have time for all your banter. Cut it short and convey the message.

To me, job titles don’t matter. Everyone is in sales. It’s the only way we stay in business.

- Harvey Mackay

Starting a business and getting it to roll is one part of the game. The real challenge lies in winning over your customers and making them stick with you for long. This is why corporate houses spend so much money every year just to stay in the rat race.

And all this, in spite of the enviable market share they may already have.

So, as a startup, how can you win over your customers, especially in face of all that competition? Experts already say that if you don’t make an impact in the first minute of your presentation, chances are that you have blown the whole thing.

Making that first one minute count — between the devil and the deep sea!!

The first sixty seconds are absolutely crucial when you sell. If you gain the attention of your customers within this span, you can make an effective pitch.

What really goes into winning over the customers in the first minute of your pitch? Thugs have some answers, right away.

START with a Joke

All of this is human. Remember, it’s a human interaction.

Breaking the ice is what we call the initial sixty seconds of the pitch. You are nervous and your audience is waiting to see you fumble. What you need is to create a relationship with the audience that would propel them to pay more attention to you. That’s why a joke. However, don’t let this joke be a tongue in cheek comment about a recent scandal or political scenario. The joke has to be related to you, your business and your vision.

Throw in an Element of SURPRISE

Before you start making the pitch, talk a bit about yourself. Introduce yourself and talk about why you got into the business at first place. Give a sneak peek about the struggles you had to face, which the audience can relate with. Then, go on to explain about how you overcame these hurdles. Once you feel that you have the full attention of the audience, give a nice twist by cracking a joke. Here comes a completely unexpected turn where the audience gets enamored and interested.

Improvise your ACT

You may wonder how you can grab the attention of the prospective customers by talking about yourself. If experts are to be believed, most successful businessmen got into an effective pitch just with the strategy of cracking a joke about themselves. Yes, agreed that initially this may not come naturally to you. Don’t worry! Just keep working on your opening statements and improvise them until you hit gold. There is no need to keep improvising once you know what really works with the audience.

With time, you would be able to come up with better opening lines. Getting complete attention of your audience would then seem like a child’s play.

These are some strategies that have been tried and tested by most successful people and look where they are today. So, if you are really serious about making your pitch work, go ahead and try these for your next big presentation. Your audience would surely love you for your witty openings.