Pitching Skills
This programme will help participants to develop and enhance current procedures – to create a professional and disciplined approach to winning new business in formal and informal tenders.
What the training may cover
- Attitudes and approach
- What are the strengths in our current approach to pitching?
- What do we need to do better or change?
Setting up the case studies
Overview of the pitch process
- Breaking down the pitch process into six key stages
- The idea of best practice – ensuring that, at every stage, you meet the same high standard
- Modelling in your conduct throughout the pitch process the level of skill, understanding and professionalism the client can expect if they decide to instruct you
Stage one – analyse the opportunity
- Sending a holding response to the client
- Bringing commercial focus to analysing the opportunity
- Cost/benefit analysis
- Using clearly defined criteria to make the yes/no decision
- Conflict checks and risk management
Stage two – establish the project team
- Putting together the most appropriate team
- Providing the team with clear leadership and direction
- Setting clear objectives. Identifying all the resources needed
- Establishing a project timetable for the pitch
- Getting all the support in place – internally and externally
- Protecting margins and ensuring profitability – developing a pricing strategy
Stage three – clarify the client need
- Research – using the wealth of information and the extensive resources available within your organisation
- Networking useful contacts
- Agreeing a template for what you need to know
- Competitor analysis
- Setting up a meeting with the client to achieve total clarity on what they are seeking to achieve from the tender process
- Following up from the client meeting
Stage four – create your solution
- Making time to be creative, to generate a fresh and innovative solution
- Developing and organising the content of the your proposal
- The proposal as action plan
- Using the logic tree
- Each team puts together the outline structure of a proposal document for the client in their case study
- Feedback and detailed critique
Stage five – deliver the message
- Each team prepares a live presentation of their proposal
- Using the pitch document as the basis of your presentation
- Best practice in preparation, rehearsal and risk management
- Role plays, alternating the roles of client and pitching team. Each presentation is followed by a question and answer session with the client
- Video playback and detailed critique
- Follow-up from the live presentation
Stage six – evaluate the outcome
- Best practice in learning from the outcome of each pitch – win or lose
- Internal and external de-briefing
- Taking action to address weaknesses and build on strengths
Action planning