It’s 2023 and We’re Still Pitching Like It’s the 90s
“It’s 2023 and We’re Still Pitching Like It’s the 90s” by Chris Brown, Founder of Pitchsocial
Trying to get your product, service, or idea in front of a buyer or investor is a painstaking process for everyone involved. Pitchers must fight tooth and nail to be heard. Buyers and investors are forced to spend excessive time sifting through a daily bombardment of cold calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages.
Problem: Outdated Pitching Process
Since Covid, the pitching process has become even harder, most tradeshows have been cancelled and face to face meetings have gone out the window. At the same time, there are more people than ever creating “the next big thing” and competing for attention.
Thousands of hours each year are spent by entrepreneurs just trying to secure an opportunity to present to investors and buyers – just like it was in the 90s! The Filofax may have gone digital, but the pitching process certainly has not.
At times, as a Pitcher, it can feel like you need to be an expert in all aspects of marketing just to secure an initial conversation. Buyers and investors on the other hand are drowning with the number of emails, calls, and messages (most of which are not of interest to them). I don’t know about you, but I rarely have less than a few thousand unread emails in my inbox at any one time.
Finding a Better Way to Reach Out
In a world where things have become more digital, more visual and more personalised, pitching seems to have been left behind. The main way for buyers or investors to see a substantial variety of pitches is (or was) tradeshows. Like many people, I have been forced to attend numerous tradeshows, both as a buyer and as a pitcher. But when everyone is so time poor, is flying halfway around the world for a week really the best use of our time? Covid has changed the way we interact and quite honestly, is it ever going to go back to the way it was?
When you consider the cost, not only is it expensive and bad for the environment but there are companies with amazing products and ideas who simply can’t afford to attend, putting them at a massive and in many cases unfair disadvantage.
I believe that products and services should be judged on merit, not on the ability to pump money into Search Ads or man a stall at a big tradeshow.
Maximising the ROI in B2B Pitching
We live today in a world where everyone is addicted to their smartphone – where short, sharp content is king. Why is it then that B2B pitching is still done through long emails, text-heavy presentations or long meetings? You wouldn’t sell to consumers like this, so let’s stop selling to businesses this way.
As a buyer or investor, imagine being able to see 100+ pitches in the time it would usually take you to do a single meeting. Plus, think of the hidden gems you might just find, all whilst being engaged through simple, relevant media.
As a pitcher, imagine getting to pitch to your target audience and not having to worry if you can afford to attend that tradeshow overseas or feeling guilty for bombarding people with cold outreach.
About the Author
Chris Brown is a serial tech entrepreneur from the Greater Cambridge Area. He founded SFD Systems in 2013 and TakeNote in 2020. SFD Systems is an electronic shelf-edge technology that replaces paper tickets with high-resolution digital screens. TakeNote is a feedback platform that shares customer feedback on their experience of a particular store, website visit, workplace environment, or any other interaction with your business and wider brand.
Recently, he launched Pitchsocial – to give everyone the same opportunities and reduce the unnecessary amount of time the whole pitching process takes. Pitchsocial levels the playing field and gives everyone a chance to easily find their next big opportunity. At £9.99 per month for pitchers and free to buyers and investors, it’s much cheaper than flying halfway across the globe.
You can find out more about Pitchsocial at pitchsocial.io or download it today in the Google and Apple Stores.
