Work won’t come

I’m often surprised how many new entrepreneurs have this idea that work will readily come to them.  You can understand why, there is so much emphasis on inbound marketing these days. Much more material is written on creating awareness and of driving traffic inwards these days that its easy to perceive that this is more important than going and finding the work.

In part in think this is wishful thinking. After all, going and getting work is a scary thought. Few people who start off down the road of entrepreneurship with the thought that they want to become salesman…but unfortunately if you want to succeed that’s exactly what has to happen. This means inevitably that you’ll have to go and pitch to someone.

Pitching is important

Pitching is one of, if not THE most important aspects of business. Winning more work is the lifeblood of any organisation. This is the reason I would urge anyone to practice and practice when it comes to a perfecting a pitch.

But you do it blind

This is one of the hardest aspects of pitching, you’re doing it completely blind. You don’t know often when your pitch is going to be reviewed, how much time your prospect has to review it, who you’re up against, what the budget is etc This makes it all the easier to hit the wrong notes in your pitch…

Briefs briefs briefs

This makes getting as much information as possible crucial. if possible take all those sorts of details over the phone from the client. It’s important t note that little alarm bells should be ringing if you get a one or two sentence brief.  By nailing down what the client wants it makes it much easier to form a pitch.

Time and time again

Pitching is certainly time consuming. Obviously it depends on your industry and what you’re pitching for but it’s important to factor in how much time you will spend pitching into your ultimate bill. Another aspect of time is urgency. Often the first couple of pitches in will win. It can be a real race sometimes so be sure to strike when the iron is hot even if it means putting work to one side for a while.