This way you turn your pitch into a powerful persuasion weapon
After giving a pitch, the thought often arises that your pitch could have been even better. Shouldn’t you have said something else? And was your main message considered important enough?
A pitch is much more than a sales pitch in the business world. After all, it is a means with which you make a proposal. And with the right tricks you can turn that tool into a powerful weapon of persuasion.
Laughing losing
Ever see someone happy with losing? No of course not. Because we don’t like that at all. In fact, losing makes us even more sad than winning. According to the research by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky1, losses are more important than winning. Use this in your pitch by capitalizing on this so-called loss aversion base. Therefore, not only emphasize the benefits, but also certainly what can be missed.
And now!
This simultaneously emphasizes the urgency of your idea. An element that we, Debatrix often miss in pitches. In addition to pitching your idea, you also have to convince the other that it is important to get started quickly. It is forgotten that the final decision-makers often see many more pitches. By incorporating this loss aversion bias into your pitch, you immediately add urgency to your idea, thereby increasing the chance of movement. There is another reason why you would do well to explain why your proposal should be introduced right now. Our expert Lars Duursma explains this here.
Blah blah blah ain’t enough
In addition, the message in your pitch can be so good. However, without body language, your message is just a letter that the recipients do not interpret how you want it, but how they want it. Albert Mehrabian2 did research in 1967 (yes, slightly back) into the influence of body language on the credibility of communication. The research question is:
“What do people trust when they recognize differences between verbal and non-verbal communication?”
The distribution found:
7% through verbal behavior, namely the content of your text
38% by vocal behavior, so the language melody and rhythm
55% through non-verbal behavior, namely the physical expressions and gestures.
Do you want to learn how to take your pitch to a higher level yourself or together with your colleagues? Then register for the Targeted Pitching training.
¹ Dan Ariely, Joel Huber, Klaus Wertenbroch, When do Losses Loom Larger than Gains – Important new data and a needed summary of appropriate ways to think about loss aversion.
2 Albert Mehrabian – 1967, The 7-38-55% communication rule.
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Debatrix is a leading expert in (remote) persuasive communication. Based in Europe, we offer executive coaching, persuasion consulting and trainings on TED-worthy presenting, how to influence and inspire, storytelling, debating, framing and dealing with difficult questions.
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