Month: December 2008

I worked with a construction firm that had a simple rule for all of their new business pitches. At the very end of every pitch, the last person to speak would look at one or more of the key decision-makers and make a “personal commitment statement.”

 We’ve laid out a plan for helping you build a hospital that will be a showpiece for your community. We think it’s an excellent plan. But we also know that there are going to be problems and roadblocks that arise as we move forward with this plan. I want to tell you that my colleagues and I want this business. And we want to do a great job for you. And I promise that we are going to do whatever it takes to make you happy. We just want to get started.

 I think that these commitment states are very powerful for several reasons. First, they’re rare. The idea of making such a bald, personal appeal is a little corny and old-fashioned. To me they sound like something you might hear on an episode of “Leave it to Beaver”. 

 

“And Beaver, when you interview for the job, be sure to tell Mr. Crabtree that you promise to do an excellent job for him.” 

 

“Sure thing, mom. Thanks for the tip.” 

 

Because they can sound a little corny, most people don’t make those types of commitment statements. That is exactly why you should make them. No one else will. It differentiates you.

 

More important, I think you should make these commitment statements because they work. Commitment statements impress people if they seem genuine. People want to work with others who are passionate about their work, and those who will do what it takes to succeed.

 

Finally, I think such statements are actually a compliment to your prospect. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Someone spent time examining your business and came up with a solution to a key business problem. Now they’re looking at you in the eye and telling you how badly they want to work with you, that they’re committed to doing their best work for you, and that they want to get started right away. That prospect’s thought process will be something like, “Wow, these people really are impressed with us and our organization and they really want to work with us. That makes me feel good.”

My new book “How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals that Will Distinguish You from the Competition” is due in bookstores and on Amazon in the Spring of 2009. But it’s available now at the Speechworks bookstore.  To order, click here.

 

The book details how we have helped our clients win billions of dollars in new business contracts.  It includes simple recipes for winning your next new business contract.  If you do what I say in the book, you will win business. You may not win every pitch, but you’ll win more than your fair share.

 

Below is the book’s introduction.

 

On a recent spring evening, I was with my wife walking our dog when my cell phone rang. When I saw who was calling, I took a deep breath before pressing the answer button.

 

“How did it go?” I said, as I picked up, not even bothering to say “Hello.”

 

It was the senior marketing officer of a large commercial contractor. We didn’t need small talk. He knew what I wanted to know.

 

For the past two days, I worked with his team of experienced builders in a conference room. We hammered out and then rehearsed a new business pitch. The prize was a contract to build a $150 million office building. His was one of three firms on the short list. That morning, all three had delivered a ninety-minute pitch competing for the job.

 

“We won,” he said, almost screaming into the phone. “They just called us to let us know. They said we blew the other teams away.”

 

I did a little jig beside the road. My wife laughed. My dog barked. But I wasn’t too surprised. I had seen the same thing happen over and over again.

 

My client had put together a great pitch with a laser-like focus on the client’s key business challenges. The message was extremely simple and organized. They rehearsed it like crazy. They even spent a couple of hours going through all the possible questions they expected to receive. The team was prepared.

 

My experience has shown that with the proper preparation and planning, you can greatly increase your chance of winning a pitch.

 

That’s what this book is about. You will learn how to consistently win new business pitches with a simple plan that applies to all businesses.

 

My firm has been helping companies win new business pitches for twenty-two years. We have worked with a broad cross-section of businesses: commercial contractors, law firms, architecture firms, accounting firms, insurance agencies, financial services firms, software firms, high-tech service providers, real estate firms, and many others. 

 

We have helped our clients win billions of dollars worth of new business contracts. And we have learned that you don’t win new business pitches by being the “best” firm. In fact, whether you are the best is usually irrelevant to whether you win.

 

That shouldn’t be too surprising for most businesspeople. Generally, firms that make it to the short list for an important piece of new business do great work. And the buyer can’t really tell which firm is the best. If they’re honest, most competitors for new business would admit that their competition could also do a great job.

 

Since doing great work doesn’t win the job, what does win? Repeatedly, we see that the firms consistently winning competitive business pitches are the ones simply delivering the best pitch. That means executing a series of simple sales pitch fundamentals better than the competition does. Those fundamentals include ensuring that the pitch is:

 

• Focused on a business solution
• Simply organized
• Delivered with passion
• Interactive
• Well-rehearsed

 

These five fundamentals are the ingredients for a simple plan to winning new business presentations.

As you will see, this book is broken into five sections. Each section provides a detailed discussion and series of recipes for how to execute every step of the plan. You’ll find stories taken from my experiences in helping my clients win new business presentations.

 

In working with dozens of companies across many types of business, I’ve found that all of them have one major thing in common. They worry about how to make their firm stand out from the competition. By executing the fundamentals in this book, you will stand out.