Pitching for Business: Making an Effective Sales Presentation

n a competitive situation, winning a contract often involves pitching for business by making a presentation or taking part in a 'tender interview' process.ProSeminar's Pitching for Business courses are intended to equip managers, professionals and technical specialists with the skills not only to present their organisation well, but also to show the client/customer that they understand their particular needs and give them confidence that they will be able to build on-going relationships.Emphasis is placed particularly on pitching for business as part of a team.

Course Membership

All managers and professionals (of whatever discipline) who may from time to time be involved in pitching for business and presenting their organisation to potential clients.

Course Objectives To help participants win contracts by:

• developing their confidence when facing client presentations and interactions

• developing effective team working to support and present bids

• polishing their presentational techniques and applying them appropriately

• improving communications with clients and handling client meetings

• identifying and emphasising 'winning features' of their bids

• anticipating and handling objections and any negative reactions

Course Outline

• Introduction to Pitching for Business

• The role of the presentation/interview in winning the business

• Setting objectives for the presentation/interview

• Choosing the presentation team – who does the client need to meet?

• Understanding the client's needs and adopting a 'client-centric' approach

• Feature-benefit analysis and unique selling points related to client's needs

• Reviewing strengths and weaknesses of the competition

• Structuring the presentation and deciding content

• Establishing rapport

• Presentational techniques – body, voice and words

• Handling over to/bringing in other members of the presentation team

• Anticipating and pre-empting objections

• Handling questions

• Building on-going relationships with clients

Course Methods

Pitching for Business is a lively workshop. It combines informal lecture and discussion with a range of practical exercises through which participants can plan and develop an actual pitch. Participants are also helped to produce a personal action plan to implement and extend the lessons learnt from the course.