Don't let these 4 excuses hold you back
Excuses, irrelevancies, and bad habits sink many a big idea long before it has even been pitched. This is the first of two blogs about the self-sabotaging excuses that hold us back, with tips for getting over ourselves and getting on with it.
As the very quotable Tony Robbins says: you can either make progress or make excuses. If you are looking to make your 2023 pitches better than your 2022 efforts, here are four classics to avoid and some tips to keep you moving forward.
1. “I don’t have enough time to prepare.”
If that’s your excuse, reconsider your process.
W Edwards Deming, an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and all-round brilliant thinker, advised that if you can’t articulate your process, you don’t know what you are doing. (And if that’s the case, no amount of time will help you.)
Do you have a go-to structure for preparing your pitches? Is it embedded in your way of doing things? Could you explain it to others? If not, your problem might not be a lack of time; it’s probably a lack of process.
With the right approach anyone can create a respectable pitch in minutes. And with more time to prepare, plenty of truly memorable, strategic pitches.
I have used and honed the same pitching structure for over 20 years. It saves me time, boosts my confidence, and gives my ideas their best chance of success. It has made me a more effective, compelling and persuasive pitcher. What’s your process?
2. “Other people are better qualified than me to speak.”
Maybe, maybe not. But don’t miss this opportunity for the wrong reasons. Most of us complain about not being heard and listened to, so here’s your chance to get your ideas across.
There will be a reason that YOU, and not someone else, were asked to pitch And if the invitation came from someone you respect, there’s likely a very good reason. Perhaps you are better at what you do than you think, or you are ready for this next step, and others are seeing in you what you don’t yet see in yourself.
If you are unsure, ask why you were chosen. Then you will know what is expected of you and what to bring to the occasion.
3. “I have too much to cover in the allotted time.”
Stop complaining. It’s better than not having enough to cover!
A great way to get started is to identify, succinctly, the point you want to make and then set about only pitching the evidence you need to make your case compelling. Getting your key point right is often the most time-consuming part of the process, so allow for that. Getting it right will save you time and keep you on track in your pitch.
4. “A lot of what we have to cover is technical and boring.”
Who said? No one who’s ever been deep-sea diving regrets hearing how to use the scuba tank. Sure, not everyone you pitch to will be aroused by binary code (and that’s a good thing) but just about all of us love hearing about how technology can help us.
If you are concerned about getting bogged in the technical, tell a story instead. Paint a picture of how your sproctometer will change lives, save the planet, cure cancer, or remake a better last episode of Game of Thrones. Then share whatever top-line evidence you need to support your claims. Give them only enough to leave them wanting more; the rest they can find in your hand-outs.
They will thank you for your kindness and have more faith in your ability to deliver on what you have promised.
These are just some of the many excuses that get in the way of every pitcher’s personal progress. In my next blog I’ll cover some others. But right now, I have to go, my dog just ate some kid’s homework.
If you have some great excuses you would like to share, or any questions about how to deal with some specific to your world, please email me. I’d love to hear from you (and let me know, too, if you had to look up “sproctometer”).
Happy Pitching,
