The kind folks at WVDO-OR invited me to do a workshop on Perfecting Your Personal Pitch. I really should’ve called it: ‘Pitchfalls: Why Bad Pitches Happen to Good People’.
Andy Goodman, storytelling guru and all-around source of messaging goodness, has previously revealed ‘Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes‘ and ‘Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes‘. Both are mind-blowing while being uber-practical.
There’s no shortage of info on creating an awesome elevator pitch. So the question is: why do bad (elevator) pitches happen to good people?
Pitches go sideways for many reasons. After hearing thousands of pitches from good people over the years, here are the top three reasons:
- You’re boring: You technically say what you do, but you say it in such a boring way, the person you’re saying it to wants to nap.
- You say too much: You’re so excited about what you do that you go on and on and on, regaling the listener with your laundry list of awesomeness.
- You think people care about you: They don’t. They care about themselves. They want to hear how what you are doing relates to them.
Great pitches also happen good people. (Here’s an example of one.) And they can happen to you.
If you’d like to banish bad pitches, for you and good people, peruse the presentation and/or get in touch.