Angus: Practice Pitch

Now that I've had a night to sleep/rest on the results of two meetings, I can now brief you on what was learned.

Meeting 1 was Thursday night and this was with my in-laws and their close friend from high school. I spent the night at their house in Central Phoenix, so my morning drive to Meeting 2 would be effortless.

Here are some major points :
1) Tell a story and move away from the data flow and concept diagrams. I did my business pitch to them and they were lost, and they started to argue between themselves about what my product/message really was. The problem they told me was when I diagramed the supply chain, they didn't see how that fit into the business; this being said one of the in-laws does supply chain mgmt for Intel. Finally, their friend started to give me sales advice; he having done sales in the magazine publishing business. The result was the following 30-second pitch,

- 59% of online shoppers with the intent to buy, do not make the purchase.
- We have a solution that will close the deal.
- We're offering a module and process that will allow manufacturers to control the message, maintain their brand, and bring excitement to the point of sale to infuence an impulse buy.

In addition, they said that I was giving too much information that just clouds the picture, like, "John, you already sold the product, but then you keep going and give more and more info that isn't needed, unless requested."

2) Deemphasize, but not throw-out, the user generated video reviews. The reason is this feature/option is a business opportunity in itself and it presents a complex picture to the simplifed sales pitch.

Well, there is a lot of rework to be done prior to the meeting tomorrow morning.

-john