Proving, in case you doubted it for second, that showbiz is everywhere:
Pitch Any Idea in 15 Seconds
by Thorin KlosowskiEver needed to quickly convince a friend to go to your favorite restaurant instead of theirs? Or maybe you’re trying to sell an idea to someone? A well crafted pitch can convince people in a short amount of time, and Forbes outlines exactly how to do it with a message map.
Forbes concentrates on using a quick pitch to sell products, but it’s just as applicable to selling an idea. They suggest using a message map to craft the pitch and breaking it down into three steps:
- Create a Twitter-friendly headline: Basically, create a short, one sentence pitch of your idea. For example, “Sloppy Joe’s BBQ Shack sells wings, beer, and Oreo-based desserts.”
- Support the headline with three key benefits: These are the three reasons why the person should care about your idea. To continue our example above, “The shack has a cheap happy hour, they were voted the best wings by Your Favorite Magazine, and they have clean bathrooms.”
- Reinforce the three benefits with stories, statistics, and examples: The above two steps should get you through most simple pitches, but if you need to extend it slightly, you can reinforce the idea with some personal notes. This probably takes you past 15 seconds, so keep it short and to the point.
And don’t forget to watch this:
Either you are jerking me off, or you don’t have a clue to what you’re talking about. I don’t even believe that pitch would sell whatever it is he’s selling. In fact, 3 seconds later I can’t even recall what it is he’s selling. C’mon, Lawrence! Where did the magic go? gs
Aw, ger. Be a more positive person. As for where the magic went – have you ever found anything about pitching to be magical? Get serious, dood. It’s a necessary evil, and I mean really evil.
The magic is where it always was. In the WRITING.