Pitch Deck Vs. Proposal: The Pros and Cons of Both, Part One
Episode 675: Show Notes
The number one thing we are encouraging business owners to do right now is to be flexible. If you can adapt to the needs of the people you’re talking to, then you’re putting yourself in a great position to make sales and optimally serve your clients so that you can both succeed! But how do you reach those clients? And how do you demonstrate that you are the right person for the job?
In today’s episode, we break down how to put together a fantastic pitch deck that will showcase your skills and leave your future clients feeling both inspired and excited. Putting together all the information you need for a pitch deck may seem overwhelming, but once you automate things it will make the process so much easier. We’re here to demonstrate how you can take a structured, predictable, templated approach, while also providing the space to customize your pitch for every client. So if you've been feeling like your process could use a little sprucing up, today’s episode is for you!
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What You Need To Know About Sales in 2022
Our approach to sales has always been to prioritize relationships over traditional, non-traditional, and trendy marketing tactics. This attitude continually serves us well, despite the rapidly changing landscape of sales and marketing. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned from and adapted to new trends. It’s crucially important to know how the field is changing so that you can show up for your client in the way that they need you to.
One of the biggest things that has changed in the last couple of years has been the trend of people wanting to move through the sales process faster. Clients now have so much information available that by the time they’re coming to you, they’ve already done hours of research and narrowed down their options. As a result, it's become imperative that parts of the process be streamlined for the digital and virtual era.
Pitch Decks Vs. Proposals
We’ve been utilizing pitch decks a lot lately, but that doesn’t mean we never use proposals.
Both methods are vitally necessary and serve a unique purpose! When we talk about a pitch deck or presentation, we are specifically referring to slides. If you’re presenting and selling virtually on Zoom (or its equivalent) then providing visual aides can seriously elevate the conversation and take it to the next level.
If you’ve been going days or weeks without closing a deal, then we highly encourage you to try out creating a pitch deck. It’s a lot less intimidating than you may think, and you can make it as long, or as short, as you want! And your future clients will also benefit. Sometimes that little bit of extra support and guidance is the one thing you need to achieve game-changing results!
Laying Out Your Plan
In any pitch deck, it’s imperative that you immediately talk about the plan. The plan should ease any doubts that your potential client may have over whether you understand what it is that they want. At this stage you are breaking down your plan and how it will tackle what needs to be solved, based on what they have told you. Once that is established you can talk about the goal, which should be focused on the results that you will be providing for them.
Explaining Why You Are the Person for the Job
The next step would be to reiterate why you’re the right person, or team, for the job. Why are you the expert? Why is your team the set of experts? What is it about your background that sets you up for success? If you have a series of competitors you should lay out why you have a unique perspective on their industry that your peers do not. This would be the time to demonstrate why you and your team are the best people for the job.
Educating Your Client and Providing Context
Next is the education portion. Depending on the complexity of your project, you may need to kick off your pitch with educational content before you get into what’s included. However, if you've already covered everything you needed in the previous sections, or if you’ve set them up for success in other areas, then you can also proceed to the next portion.
If you want to dig into some educational content, like context and statistics, then now is the time to do so. Give them the information they need to get on the same page as you, and provide context for why the project you’ll be doing is so valuable. If you don’t have previous client work or testimonials, then this is an excellent opportunity for you to prove your worth.
What’s Inside: Breaking Down the Scope of Your Project
After education, it’s time to provide insight into what is inside your offering. This is where you need to break down the scope of your project. This is a crucial area, and it’s imperative that you’re clear from the very outset. The scope you define in your pitch should be the same scope you include in their contract. This should be non-negotiable. Otherwise, you’re only opening up space for miscommunication and confusion. When you’re unclear or inconsistent you’re creating the ideal conditions for boundaries to get crossed.
Provide Insight Into Your Process
For the next piece of your pitch deck, you’ll be talking about the process. If you’d like to get straight to the point (or if you’re feeling lazy) you can focus on what will be accomplished when you finish this stage. For this part, you can decide how in-depth you want to go. This section will vary depending on how straightforward your offerings are.
It’s important that this portion precedes your pricing. Before you get into pricing you want to allow them to say yes multiple times. Remind them why they are excited about this project, and how it will help them reach their goal, and achieve what they want. If you can remind them of this before you get into pricing, you are paving the way for much less mental hesitation!
Wrapping Things Up
As you wrap up your pitch you should create space for questions and feedback. You can use your slides and go back to previous topics. The ones that cover your scope are particularly helpful since they provide lots of information and are also the ones that your potential client will likely have the biggest questions about. Now is a great time to get into logistical questions like when you’ll be available for their project, timeline predictions, and any specific terms they need to be aware of. Give them the opportunity to ask any questions they may have so that you can all be on the same page!
What To Expect From Part Two
We’ve covered a lot today! Make sure you tune in for part two of our conversation where we’ll be discussing how you can condense all of this information into a one-page proposal, and how to walk your client through it. Both of these are incredible options and we can’t wait to see which ones you will be implementing! Not only will they help you land clients faster, but they will also allow you to get the creative process started so that you can make an impact and achieve beautiful results for your dream clients!
Ready for more? Listen to Part Two here.
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The better Google Search gets, and SEO gets in general, the more equipped the average consumer is going to be in their research phase.
Highlights
What You Need To Know About Sales in 2022 [0:08:22]
Pitch Deck Vs. Proposal [0:16:04]
Laying Out Your Plan [0:22:24]
Explaining Why You Are the Person for the Job [0:23:54]
Educating Your Client and Providing Context [0:27:03]
What’s Inside: Breaking Down the Scope of Your Project [0:28:50]
Provide Insight Into Your Process [0:31:43]
Wrapping Things Up [0:36:47]
What To Expect From Part Two [0:39:50]
Today’s Guest:
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
Key Topics:
Pitch Decks, Proposals, Sales, SEO, Google Search, Client Education
