The Pitch Episode 4: Presentation is Everything

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A valuable pitching skill I learned from my mother years ago. How does the outside world view you? Learn how to take inventory and purge before your next pitch.

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Presentation is everything. I learned this valuable pitching skill early on from my mother who used to say this phrase all the time. Growing up we didn’t have much, but I never knew it because my mom always took whatever we did have or could afford and served it up in a fabulous way. When the presentation is beautiful and carefully thought out, people are attracted to what you have to say. On email this means making sure you have a greeting and a signature so it looks like a carefully thought-out letter. Remove automatic disclaimers on your email that include statements like, “excuse typos, this message was sent through my iPhone.” It’s not technology’s fault! If you are truly too busy to spell check your pitch, don’t send it. Save it to drafts for when you do have time to review. For in-person pitching, review your appearance. You don’t have to buy the most expensive wardrobe to impress someone, you just need to look the part and be well groomed. The less distracting your appearance, the more people will focus on your pitch. And for social media, take extreme care on how you are presenting yourself. It’s very hard to hide from anyone these days so how you present yourself in images, opinions, comments and even the posts you share are all a reflection of you. Presentation is everything and can make or break your pitch. “The Pitch” challenge today: Take inventory of your social media posts to see how you present to the outside world. Purge the posts that aren’t the image you really want to reflect about yourself. For your email, add a polished automatic signature and remove those lazy disclaimers that basically scream, “you don’t care about presentation,” because whether it is obvious to you or not presentation is everything and will be a primary factor in the decision someone makes to reject or accept your pitch.

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