How To Pitch Your Business During the Global Pandemic
You want to continue pitching your product or services, but you’re wary of being insensitive to the current global climate? So, what should you do? As business’ budgets shrink, can they afford you? Do they need you? Do they want to hear from you? What are the new rules of business? How do we transition from a world in which we knew exactly what our role was into a new world where we feel less certain of what our role is?
These are rational questions you are probably asking yourself right now. Nobody knows the answer to all of these yet so instead, I’ll answer the question: ‘Is it OK to pitch your business, products or services during the pandemic?’ The short answer is yes, however, here are a few things you must consider when pitching your business during the global pandemic:
Be A Human, Not A Business
In this time, more than ever, it is important to be human. But what does that mean? It means to show empathy, to share, to care and to just generally be looking to help others out. It means that in spite of all the difficulties you may be suffering, you must be prepared to give a little more than usual when reaching out to potential customers and/or clients. But what does this mean practically?
Well, I suggest rephrasing your pitch to be less of a sell and more of an offer to help. You should communicate something along the lines of; “This is what I do for a living… I think I can help your business do what it does better.” In times of crisis, reaching out and offering help in the form of real value is the most powerful thing you can do.
Businesses should always be built for the long-game and sometimes you are going to have to make short-term sacrifices in the name of long-term prosperity. Of course we all have to eat and we all have to feed our employees, but sometimes in order to ensure the survival or growth of your business you must ask yourself where can I cultivate relationships in the here and now, and with an eye on the future in the hope that enough of these relationships will result in enough short term wins to keep your head above water.
How to Acknowledge the Virus?
Acting as if the world isn’t in a state of economic turmoil is likely to come across as insensitive. The whole point of communicating as a human is to convey that ‘we’re all in this together’. Very few, if any businesses haven't been affected so it’s important that you start by acknowledging the reality of the situation. This must be done without sounding like it was written by a robot - if this is the case you’re going to lose right off the bat.
As our attention spans have shortened, your ability to cut through the noise has become more important than ever. We have less time than ever to open an email from an unfamiliar business, and if the first few lines of the email sound like they could be addressed to anyone you will have likely already lost the sale. Your target must know that this piece of communication is tailored to them. This is key to convincing them that you have true value to offer them. They must know that time and thought has been put into this message. Do not run the risk of playing it safe and making it ubiquitous.
In summary, do not avoid acknowledging the impact of the Virus, but exactly how you address it may take more time and consideration than you think.
Split Test Is Best
As things are constantly changing everyday, we now may need to change or tweak our business offerings to adjust to the current situation. But how do you know what tactics work in the current climate?
A worthwhile strategy may be to create three different types of outreach and then evaluate what worked and what didn't work in order to optimise your pitch messaging during these times. There is no such thing as a perfect test as there are always going to be variables which will influence the outcome of your communication independent of the changes to your messaging. For example, the results of your split test may simply occur because one client was more liquid than another, or one has been more significantly impacted by the outbreak than the other. Split tests should not induce overreactions. They’re about finding answers to small questions and then asking new questions. Is there risk associated with asking questions? Yes. But there is more risk in not knowing. One of the greatest threats to a business is not knowing what makes it successful. You know what your business does well, but you may not yet have unlocked your optimal pitch messaging unless you test to learn what does best.
The Time Is Now
‘The obstacle is the way’ is a Stoic philosophy framework for overcoming the obstacles and adversities life throws at us. The framework challenges our thinking to overcome obstacles (mental, physical, emotional and perceived obstacles) which we can use to provide further clarity as to how we can improve once the pandemic passes. You may find that the act of tinkering with your pitch messaging now may improve your communication once these barriers are removed.
As always when pitching you don’t want to come across as “pushy” and now you are faced with the added challenge of coming across as insensitive. But remember, in this time, it is all about conducting and experimenting with different outreaches, and no outreach is the worst possible solution. Over the coming period you are going to receive lots of advice similar to what I’ve detailed above, but remember, nobody knows your business better than you. So take these tactics and push them through your own lens. Good luck with your pitching!
HOW FORESTLYN CAN HELP YOU
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