Many, many years ago Benjamin Franklin, Polymath and all-round talent said: “If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Sometime later Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”.
Both are making a good point; preparation makes your personal and business success more likely. We all know that? We all make it part of our routine? Right? Well, perhaps not all of us all of the time?
If you run your own business, you probably spent some of your time at networking events. I was at one yesterday and after we had finished lunch, one by one we got the opportunity to make a 40 second pitch for our businesses. As it happened, we were all pretty good. This is not always the case, and the guest speaker, a famous author, made a very valid point similar to Messrs Franklin and Lincoln. These mini pitches are a great opportunity to interest people in your business, why wait till you stand up to plan what you are going to say?
Obvious, yes? So why do so many people wing it? For some inspired individuals, it works, for most of us, it doesn’t. If you are in the “wing it” group, try this for a change and see if it works for you. Try to get inside your audience’s head and remember, all of us are sitting there thinking “What’s in this for me?” If you can answer this question in your pitch, you are on to a winner.