If they snooze you lose, so be kind rather than clever in your next pitch

In the Harvard Business Review’s Guide to Persuasive Presentations, author Nancy Duarte reminds us that the audience —  not the presenters — are the stars of the show. The people in the room hold all the cards, wield all the power, and have the final say. She warns us not to fall into the trap of thinking the pitch is about us.

In Bezonomics, Brian Dumaine’s account of how Amazon does business, he shares the sage advice given to Jeff Bezos’s bright but tactless younger self by his grandfather, after one of his observations reduced his grandmother to tears. “One day,” the old fella told him, “you’re going to find out that it’s harder to be kind than clever.”

How many of our pitches are too clever and not kind enough to our audiences? How often do we see ourselves as the stars? And as a result, how often is what we pitch irrelevant to the needs of people in the room? Here are a few tips for staying relevant, for a kinder and more effective 2023.

1. They don't care how hard you have worked.

Beth in your Customer Insights team hasn’t slept for weeks, Harry in R&D’s wife is about to leave him, Ravi in Analytics has had to find a new cloud to store all the research data your company has amassed, and your team pitching today has been locked in a room with no natural light for a month.

Sure, pitches are hard work. But your audience have their own work demands; they don’t care about yours.

If they snooze, you lose. Save your breath for the important stuff.

 2. They don't want to hear how much you know.

Chances are they already know about all your degrees, qualifications and Nobel Prizes. They don’t care about that either.

Same goes for your hundreds of pages of consumer and competitor research and analysis, the dozen hypotheses you tested and rejected, and the countless case studies. It’s not the quantity that matters, it’s the quality. Include only the parts you need to prove your point. Or provide pillows at the door.

3. Are you answering their question?

Advertising graveyards are full of pitches that talked a good talk but failed to answer the essential questions their decision-makers needed resolved.

Think smaller agencies talking a big agency game rather than selling the quality of their idea. Or bigger agencies talking a big agency game to hide their lack of an idea. Neither respecting or appreciating their prospective clients by devoting their energy to best answering the question they’ve been invited to solve.

Don’t fall for that trap.

If you are unclear on any elements of the brief take the time to ask again, and don’t be afraid to check your assumptions with a call or catch-up before you show up on the big day. Your audience will admire your thoroughness and respect for their time and problem. And you will build important rapport along the way.

Don’t look bad for the wrong reasons. Live or die by your ability to answer the question.

4. Are you taking them somewhere special?

We are a storytelling species. Our imaginations respond most readily to stories well-told. Facts and figures are important, and they need to stack up, but nothing helps people see possibilities like a vision they can walk into.

What transformation are you promising? We all love ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenarios, so take your audience from where they are now to where they want to be. And do it believably with an example they can relate to.

Remember, our imaginations make change happen. Give them a narrative they can believe and support. Take the time to give your idea some vivid context for true relevance, then back it up with essential facts and figures.

We all want this year to better than the last. Packing your pitches with a little less clever and a little more kind is a great start.