Even if you have a brilliant business idea and a well written business plan you can deliver astonishingly well in the pitch, you still have a chance of losing the pitch because of an unknown advantage your competitors may have. You cannot know what your competitors have in store for their pitch, so you should only focus upon giving you best shot while in front of investors.
Click here to download you professional business template <==== It is absolutely normal for investors to want to know how you plan on positioning yourself in front of your competition, but direct reference to your competitors is not exactly appreciated. So, how can you state your advantages without directly offending your competition? You have to plan a clever strategy that will allow you to state your advantages and discredit your competitors without naming either of them. By doing so you will make investors understand that you are the best choice not only because you respect their demands, but also because you are clever enough as to present want you have to present in order to win without making any reference to it. It is like planting in their minds the seed of doubt concerning your audience without them realizing it. There are several ways in which you can achieve this goal:
- You have to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors without naming either of them. You can manage to do this either by stating that this is the tendency on the market and this is your solution for it or by pointing out that you have the best trained persons that can offer a complete analysis of the market. If you have this type of key man in your team, you should let him work for you while pitching. Make obvious references to him and his valuable expertise on which the other market analysts base their opinion upon. Let investors understand that, as long as there can only be one man who is the best at doing something and you are the one who hired that person, your competitors cannot have a person with the same degree of expertise.
- You have to understand your unique selling points. Whether you refer to a specific strategy or to a specific technology, you should let investors understand that you are the one that can bring a change in the consumerΓÇÖs habits which is according to the consumerΓÇÖs needs. Let them see that you have investigated the market before coming up with that idea and that your solution to the problem is based on the necessity of satisfying the client. Let them understand the degree of uniqueness your product brings on the market and the relevancy it has in the life of final customers.
- You have to use rhetorical questions for positioning. As you donΓÇÖt want to make investors see you as an aggressive entrepreneur that is ready to talk dirty about his competition, you should point out your strengths and the weaknesses of competitors by using rhetorical questions. You have to make sure that you direct the thoughts of investors towards considering you their best choice, but do it by letting them feel that this is entirely the result of their thinking. Make sure to let them on the impression that you are the only one who is able to answer all the difficult questions about the ways in which one can satisfy a large amount of customers.
Click here to download your professional business template <==== If you respect all these details and if you are already in the possession of a professional business plan, that analysis the market in a very complex way, and if you also have a convincing tone while pitching, this means you are one step away from obtaining the needed funds ΓÇô the actual pitch. Good luck with your pitch!
ItΓÇÖs better not to make direct reference to your competitors in a pitch as this strategy will make investors see you as an aggressive opponent who may turn against them as well. You have to show respect to your competitors, but make investors understand that you are their best funding idea. You can do this by using rhetorical references to your competitors.
Can I make direct reference to my competitors in a pitch?