In this article, we look at the value of rehearsal during the preparation stage for pitching or a sales presentation.
When you rehearse, you get better. When you get your team to rehearse, you all get better. In other words, if you want to win your pitch, rehearse.
Here are four compelling reasons why you need to allocate rehearsal time for your next pitch.
#1 The more you rehearse, the more spontaneous and responsive you can be
It’s a myth that you lose your spontaneity if you rehearse too much.
In fact, the opposite is true.
The more you rehearse, the more you can be in the moment. The more you rehearse, the easier it is to go off on a tangent when required, because you have the confidence you will come back to the story.
And, finally, you can focus more on your performance delivery because the content is locked and loaded.
#2 – The more you rehearse, the more it shows the client you care
Feedback from the clients is really clear.
By rehearsing and being fully prepared, it shows you care. If you show up, underprepared and without being sharp in your presentation, it shows you don’t care – which is a terrible way to start any relationship.
Clients can see when a team is underprepared. Clients also appreciate when teams are organised and they work to their time schedule. By rehearsing together as a team, you will come across as a team rather than a group of individual experts.
Greater cohesion and organisation send out a strong signal to clients you value their time and their potential business.
#3 – The more you rehearse, the better your storytelling
Start rehearsing early to find out whether your stories and examples sound when you say them out loud.
We can convince ourselves a story or case study is compelling and persuasive. We know what to say and how we’re going to say it, but when it comes to actually telling a story in a live environment, it can sound very different. It may not be as impactful or as engaging as it sounded when you were telling it in your mind.
By rehearsing as a team, you can test stories and choose whether you need to improve the story or replace it with another more compelling example. Testing, revising and testing again always produce a stronger outcome.
#4 – The more you rehearse, the more you can focus on the bigger picture (winning!)
When you take the time to rehearse, you don’t just have an opportunity to change and refine your presentation as a result of feedback.
By the third or fourth rehearsal, you have locked in the content enough so that the words will be flowing.
Something special happens at this point. By not needing to focus on what you need to say, it gives you space to focus on how you are saying it.
You can stand back and see the bigger picture without feeling you run the risk of forgetting something or remembering every word.
You only get one shot in a sales presentation. If you can focus on being persuasive and responding to your clients rather than worrying about remembering a script, you increase your chances.
Above all remember our advice:
Go ugly early.
What we mean by this is by getting the ugly first rehearsal out the way, you can test your content, test the presentation and the story and start to make it stronger each time.
There is no rehearsal when it comes to the main event. You have to get it right first time. On its own, getting it right isn’t good enough.
In the current climate, competition has never been fiercer. Your presentation has to be brilliant.
In our view, you should never lose a presentation based on the quality of your presentation. Quality is entirely within your control.
Always aim to score the highest marks compared with all your competition on the quality of your storytelling and your presentation. Of course, rehearsing won’t guarantee you win but it most certainly puts in you a stronger position.
Rehearsal is one of our 10 Disciplines of Pitching, as using in our Pitching To Win methodology. To discover more about the 10 Disciplines and hear our latest thoughts on selling, sign up to our newsletter here.
Find out more about how we can help you put more discipline into your pitching process. Our Pitching To Win programme teaches the strategies and disciplines that resulted in our clients winning 85 per cent of their qualified pursuits. Click here for more details.